Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose New to site- need help with fish stocking options

Hello,

I am new pond owner and am looking for advice on how to stock this existing small pond (species and numbers). This pond is approx. a 1/4 acre mature pond in N. Missouri which I just recently acquired. It is a clear water pond which is approx. 12 to 15 feet deep in the middle. I am looking for a combination of fish that would be reasonably self sustainable/low maintenance (not able to feed them) but would offer some good fishing occasionally. Any thoughts or suggestions for a newbie? I appreciate any and all help/advice as I have just started researching my options which led me to this site.

Muleydoc1

Welcome to the forum!

1) What are your fishing goals for the pond?
2) What are the size, species of fish, and approximate number of those fish presently in the pond?

Thank you- my goal is simply to have a few decent sized fish to enjoy catching once in a while with my son. Would enjoy any fish- LMB, BG, Crappie, etc. but not sure what combination works best. Open to any combination really. Not sure what else I should be working towards goal wise at this time. Do not think we would take very many out for eating.

Currently I do not think there are any fish in the pond. According to my neighbor it was "fished out" a couple of years ago and no new fish added. I do know at the time there were some catfish in it but not sure of other species. I have not seen any evidence of fish rising, etc. so think it is pretty empty currently.

Muleydoc1

You will want to know if those catfish are still in there. If really large, it may be why it is "fished out". Adding new fish which are too small will only result in an expensive snack.

There are others here who can suggest the best ways of fishing one of those out or not.

contemplating a new pond!
I'm thinking about digging a new backyard pond here in Canton, OH. I am limited by my lot size to an area of only 0.05 acre pond. I can make it at least 8 feet deep, and happy to invest in aeration. I'm not sure if I want to do it at all if all I can put in there is Koi fish. I don't feel the need to fish it often, but I'd like to know that there's fish in there to catch if the mood strikes my two young sons. Can I make any fish work in this small of a pond?

sorry for my question on top of your question-new to site and was confused where to post my question

AB13, yes you can. I would consider getting same-sex fish or fish that don't reproduce in ponds to make management easier in a small pond.
I had a 10x8 foot garden pond with a couple of pumpkin seed gills in it to eat mosquitoes until the pond froze too deep one winter killing them.
You should be able to stock with FHM and something else as a minimum, though you should be able to get some great recommendations from others here.

Muleydoc, with your relative small size and the unknown fish population, I would suggest draining and starting over or adding about 100, 6"+ bluegill and about 15 largemouth bass around 12-14". Practice catch and release a couple years until you begin catching LMB smaller than stocked and remove any LMB under 14" caught, if not fished often from then on. Bluegill you could remove or not if wanted.

That should give you lots of action fishing from medium sized gills and bass with an occasional bass in the 5 pound+ range or even a rare monster gill.