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So at our new house my wife and I will have a .10 acre pond. As far as I can tell there doesn’t appear to be anything swimming around in there. After cleaning out the muck and some of the junk foliage, I’ll be wanting to stock it with some mix of fish for leisurely fishing for myself and kids. Bluegill seem like a good place to start, and I’m fine with having some monster frying pan blues in there. I’m wondering if I should also look in to an apex predator type fish. Maybe some small or large mouth in very small numbers? I don’t want to choke out the pond or let the fish overpopulate.

Side note, I had considered trout as a stock fish. The water would certainly stay cold enough to support it, but I’m thinking the stream on the property might be a better candidate for that. Some brook trout exist in there already and I thought I spotted a rainbow fry swimming around. I will probably get my trout fix by encouraging this existing population to grow, but that’s a whole other project.

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In a small 0.1 ac pond you have to be cautious what species or type that you stock to minimize overpopulation, in-balance, poor growth, and stunting. Pellet feeding will insure best or optimum growth rates in a small or mini-pond. If you stock bluegill (BG) be prepared for an overpopulation; they are very prolific.

In that small of a pond for BG, we here have discussed using only male BG. Just google Pond Boss forum male bluegill. They will grow big and not reproduce providing you correctly choose only males. If you do a search here there are several posts that show differences between male and female BG. Also back in 2006 PBoss magazine's three issues Mar-Apr, May-Jun and Jul-Aug there were articles about choosing and growing only male BG.
Here is a 2005 good starter thread that discusses male & female BG.
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=21505

IMO an excellent casual angling small 0.1 ac pond would have only male BG and female yellow perch. In this scenario BG would get to be 10"-11" and the YP 14"-15". Fathead minnows could be used as a forage fish where the breeder FHM would not get overgrazed and stay present for spawning each year. A few trout could be added to this pond each fall for exciting bonus fishing. It is doubtful the pond trout would survive the July-Aug summers in MD.

Last edited by Bill Cody; 01/04/19 02:42 PM.

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Pleasantvalley, Welcome to the PondBoss forum.
It sounds to me like you have an unusual, if not unique opportunity with your new property. Having a small pond apparently devoid of fish, and a stream with brookies and possible rainbows seems exceptional.

Does the stream with trout flow into or through the pond? If that's the case, pond water temps could be cool. If too cool, BG, LMB, and other warm water fish may not recruit well.

Bill Cody's suggestion of male BG and YP is likely a very good one for cool water. If your trout stream connects to the pond, the trout could use the pond part or all of the year and grow larger than if only in the stream.

Rather than sourcing male only BG, another consideration could be GSF. Experts could weigh in on this combo (GSF and YP). BG are disappearing from my cool water pond; GSF have persisted. I have no idea if the GSF tolerate cooler water than BG and that is why they are thriving.
GSF predation on the YP might advantageously keep the YP from overpopulating.

You may want to consider keeping the bottom clear of snags so that if things got too far out of whack, you could effectively drag a seine through the pond, or nuke it, and remove out the unwanted fishes.

I am no expert whatsoever on any of this. Just throwing out ideas that are in my head.

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I started my research with the below thread with respect to managing BG...

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=189988#Post189988

I think you will find it very educational!


Fish on!,
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Your pond is about the same size as mine in surface acre size, but that may be the only similarity. How deep is your pond? Mine is a bowl with steep tapering sides down to 11 feet at full pool. Mine is also watershed where yours is apparently stream fed (haven't seen an answer to this previously asked question). I'm also in the deep south, so my pond gets considerably warmer.

My pond was one of those that fish "miraculously" appeared. Initially GSF and BH took root. Then we got flooded by Harvey rains and we've since found RES,CP, BG and RBSF. I've personally bucket stocked adult BG, RES, WM and 3 LMB.

I hand feed pellets and can say I now have a mix of several hundred panfish and I can tell you this, the GSF,BH,WM and LMB keep the BG in check pretty well. I have caught panfish up to 9 inches so far and one 11 inch CP. I've also caught hybrids of BG/WM and BG/GSF.

In my personal opinion, you cant go wrong with BG and GSF (tho many will argue against GSF). LMB can survive in cool water, but SMB may be a better choice for your location. I have yet to spend a dime on fish, and I catch fish almost any time.

Btw...my pond just turned 2.


.10 surface acre pond, 10.5 foot deep. SW LA. The epitome of a mutt pond. BG, LMB, GSF, RES, BH, Warmouth, Longear Sunfish, Gambusia,Mud Minnows, Crappie, and now shiners!!...I subscribe!!
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If at all possible I would stay away from actually adding green sunfish(GSF). Deal with these problem fish only if they get unintentionally introduced. If this happens then you will need to manage them using a dense LMB population. GSF are aggressive prolific and bitters of swimmers. GSF have large mouths and they eat a lot of any size fish that will fit in their mouth. I usually consider them a 'pest'. I had to renovate my perch pond when they became establisted.

Last edited by Bill Cody; 01/04/19 08:27 PM.

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I have both a 1/10th and 1/20th acre sediment and forage ponds.

If it were me, if I wanted fast action pan fish fishing, I would stock it with HBG. Then to control the limited fingerling reproduction one or two male LMB. Maybe some PS for snail control.

Pan fish fishing is what I like and HBG, especially if fed fish food, grow incredibly fast, fight hard, are tough and easy to raise, and population can be managed pretty easily. I have a mix of HBG in my main 3 acre pond and when nothing else is biting I can count on the hybrids. I agree with Bill Cody. Don't put GSF in and just manage them should they get in accidentally. I also have GSF and don't mind them at all but they are in with LMB that keep them under control. They are manageable, but I would not stock them purposely in a small pond because they can complicate management.

my small 1/20 acre forage pond

1/10 acre sediment pond

As far as you not presently having any fish, I would not bet on it. Cast net, sein or trap and try to find out for sure. Fish already in there could make a BIG difference on your stocking plan.

Last edited by snrub; 01/05/19 08:56 AM.

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If you don't plan on swimming in the pond then HBG with a few LMB or HSB are a good option. A small 0.1 ac pond is small enough that it could be relatively easily drained and at low pool renovated with quicklime when a fishery change is desired.

Last edited by Bill Cody; 01/05/19 02:28 PM.

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No respect; no respect. The often maligned greenies just get none around here. Where are JeffHasAPond and DaveInElCentroCa when we GSF lovers need them?

My curiosity runs along the lines of a tenth-acre, cool water pond would be relatively easy to fish heavily. The GSF and YP that survived each other's predation could then also be hammered, as necessary, by human predation. Greenies take pellets readily; some perch also will get into the act.

Depending on water temps, the YP may recruit more effectively than the GSF. YP hit a bait relatively hard at times. GSF fight well. Neither, unlike LMB, would impact the brookies, if they were in there too.

And, the small pond could be reset fairly easily, as Bill C suggests.

More info on water temps could help with this discussion.

Good luck, and don't listen to me, as I like green sunfish. Ha!

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I'm with you 4CP!! A 9" greenie puts on a heck of a fight on light tackle, and help keep the BG population in check. They take on anything they can get in their mouths. For me, that's a win win, as they eat pretty good too. Anything too large for the greenies falls on my three LMB to handle. And hopefully I'll get a couple survivors from this years spawn and I can try to catch out the big ones and let my panfish get even bigger!


.10 surface acre pond, 10.5 foot deep. SW LA. The epitome of a mutt pond. BG, LMB, GSF, RES, BH, Warmouth, Longear Sunfish, Gambusia,Mud Minnows, Crappie, and now shiners!!...I subscribe!!
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Thanks, Mike. That's what I like to hear!


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