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Joined: Feb 2005
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i want to stock my pond with large and small mouth bass....its already been stocked with catfish a few years back.... i need to know if my pond conditions are right....i need to know how many bass i would need to get....my pond is about seven acres...it was man made but i dont know how long ago....i just need to know how many bass to put in it....and if im goin to need a smaller fish like perch or somthing to put in it for feeding? thanks guys

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whats in the pond right now? just channel cats? And what kind of weed growth and water clarity do you have. For an average pond, with established forage base, about 50 fingerling LMB per acre is recomended. SMB will generaly not compete well with LMB and over time will become rare.

Forage fish are a must, BG are ussaly recomeded, along with shellcrackers.

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well there are weeds all on the bottom of the pond floor and the water clarity is limited to about 2-3 feet....right now i guess just cats are in the pond if they are still alive bc the guys stocked them a few years ago. and if i get 50 LMB per acre then when i get ready to put them in the pond would i put them all in at one spot or put them in at diffrent spots? and when it comes time to feed them where would i feed them at? in one spot or diffrent spots?

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Wait wait wait........step back a moment...first off we need to find out what is REALLY in the pond..It would hard to believe that all that's in there is channels. You are going to have to do some EXTREEM fishing or higher a Lake consultant to come out and shock it to find out what is in this lake.

To have any decent fishery you have to start off with the basics, good forage base first. This includes a good stock of Pan fish blue gill and redear. Then suplemental forage like fathead minows and shad..You might have a problem, if the channels are good size because they could eat your "new" forage base...

What type of goals do you have for this body of water? I know this is a broad question, but study the posts on this sight and you will know what I am talking about.

What part of SC are you from??

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from lancaster south carolina....well ive caught some small mouth bass....im going to say small mouths i really dont know? but they were all in the 16 inch range and weighd only a pound or two...and i know the guy that lives across the pond stocked it with catfish...channels i do belive....and thats all i ever caught...i did catch somthing that looked like a crappie....this summer was the first time i fished the pond...becasue my dad got all his fishing stuff stolen at the lake and he just quit fishing and this summer my friend got me hooked on it....so im still learning a lot...i only caught about 4 or 5 bass out of the pond this summer and i havent caught any thing this summer....i havent caught any catfish so im guessin they are down there because the guy feeds em all the time....so i also wanted to know...if im going to stock all these fish how much do you think it will cost just to stock the fish

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The Real problem here is that I am not hearing about Bream here!! To have good fishery you must have the basics, that would be good water quality, good forage base, balenced with your predetor fish (Larg mouth Bass).

I take it that you are wanting a good fishery with Large mouth bass and Small mouth bass? Correct?? You can have this it will take some work. Your Large Mouth's and Small mouth's will be your preditors. Do you want the channels? Because over time they will work their way to the top of the food chain!

Any way, you are going to need to start with a good base of Bluegill and redear. To do this you are going to have to do something with the fish that are already there..

Write us back and tell us more detail..of what you have and what your goals are

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First, things are easier to read when written in sentence format.

Second, I recomend a fish field guide. There are many important differences between SMB and LMB.
"Peterson's Guide to Freshwater Fish" is very good and only $20.

Third, the size determines the cost of stocking a pond. If it was a new pond you would need between 500 and 1000 BG per acre and between 50 and 100 bass per acre. In an established pond you will need to add and remove fish. Because there are fish in the pond already you will need to stock adult fish. These are more expensive to buy, but you may be able to get them from another lake. (check local laws first)

I would start by trying to catch some BG. Then record the lengths and weigthts of all the BG you can catch. Then calculate the relative weights, this will tell you if the fish are skinny or fat. If the BG are skinny then you have too many, if they are fat you have too few. It is possible that you may not have to add fish at all. You can do the same for the bass you catch.

Before you can change a pond you need to understand its condition. There are also many ways to alter a pond, like weed control, fertalizing, and aeration. Stocking fish is not the only way to improve the fishing.

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Ok, I have been thinking, and i dont want both SMB and LMB i just want Large mouths. Also i need to know what BG is. Sorry but im new here and im still tryin to figure out what some stuff means.

The pond is not a new pond. I dont know exactly how old it was because we now live in a neighboorhood and it was here when we came. But the guy who owned the land made the pond and i think that was about 15 to 20 years ago. So the pond already has some (not alot) but some fish in it. I know it has bass bream and catfish. So do yall advise that i go to the lake and catch some fish to put in there or do i need to start all over or what.

Secondly TyW33 you said i need to know the condition of the pond. Well beside weeds what else do i need to know. I know the depths and that there are weeds all over the bottom in the shallow end and they get a little less dense on the deeper end. So for the weeds should i keep them? or get rid of them? thanks again for the advice

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Bassboy:

BG or bluegill are a species of panfish that spawn mutiple times a year depending on your geographic location and water temperature. For your predator fish to grow you need to have a continuous forage base of smaller fish, hence BG for the various size predators. These predator fish eat fish that are approx. 3 times smaller than themselves. Keep in mind this point. For a LMB to grow one lb of weight it will eat between 6-10 lbs of forage fish. Therefore you need a great deal of forage fish to help your predator fish grow optimumly, or you will have skinny predator fish with low relative weights. Establish a good forage base first, monitor...then add your new predator fish (LMB) thereafter and keep observing this forum and its question and answers from the people who have done this before with great success and enjoyment. Regards

Rowly

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Bassboy:

Do you own this lake??? In other words is it YOURS as in the WHOLE thing? Or do you share it with neighboors?
I am some what familure with South Carolina..use to live there. Call you local Department of Natuaral Resources and ask them to send you a Booklet on lakes and pond management...this will really help you.

You REALLY really need to get a GOOD survay of the pond population like the other guy said know the condition of the Blue gills, whether they are lots of numbers, or there numbers are few..

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When I said the "condition" of the pond I ment the health or standing of the pond. What is the pond like right now? And what do I want it to be like?

What the pond is "like" is can be described by the species, number, size, and relative weights of the fish. The depth and size. The density and type of plants. The water clarity and color. The bottom composition, the rate of water exchange, and nutrient contents.

All of these things affect the fish and the fisherman, and all of them can be altered by a pond owner (with enough time and money).

Before you can change the number of fish in your pond you need to know the species, number, size and RW of the fish you already have.

You need to define your starting position and your goals, then you will know which path to take.


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