Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose crappie and blue gill question??

We have a 1/2 acre pond, max 20ft deep through the shallow end of 3 ft. When we first started we put in 2000fhm(fall). This spring we fished in 15 LMB, smallest 12" largest 18" most were 15-16." They are deystroying the minnows as expected. So my question is what is the diff between blue gill or crappie for a forage fish. All I read are crappie are terrible for ponds due to competing for food and overpopulating. Wouldn't the big LMB help balance that out? I am terrified of putting blue gill in. My father in law has them in his pond and they have over run the bass. They are very aggressive and my kids wont even swim in his pond because the blue gill sit all around them!!

Since your in NY you might consider adding pumpkinseed to feed your LMB, they don't populate as much as BG, and don't get as large, plus they are hardier than BG in cold climates.

Crappies eat basically the same food as LMB, and they don't have a reliable spawning cycle. BG/PS are forage fish when talking about LMB.

Im worried about how aggressive BG can get. Especially with the kids swimming in the pond. Should I not be concerned with this? Are the pumpkinseed less aggressive?

IMO you are stuck. Those large LMB are now going to essentially make it very difficult if not almost impossible to stock any alternative fish in there except BG. Where are you going to find 6"-7" RES or pumpkinseed or anything else for that matter. Adding those large bass was a big mistake IMO. Everything you put in less than 6" long will be bass food. Just finding forage larger than 6" will be hard not even considering expensive.

Bill, so what you are saying is that any pond where LMB grow to 15+" has to be stocked with BG? My goal was to raise some big LMB, so nothing else will spawn and produce enough to fill them up other then BG? If thats the case do you think those large LMB will do enough in a 1/2 acre pond to keep the BG in check? If so, ill put them in. Thanks.

Go catch or seine a bunch of the BG from your FIL's pond and put them in yours. Also try to get some adult PS and add them as well. The larger the better. 150 BG and 50 PS would be good. That may not be enough given the size of the LMB. The FH will not last long. Other option is take the LMB out and or add some other forage (a bunch and big). Feeding the BG will help.

What I'm saying is that trying to put forage fish that survive long term into a pond that had big bass initially stocked is difficult. Bass larger than 15" can be easily raised in ponds but the bass should be stocked as small individuals not large ones. The mistake was putting big bass in first without large sized forage added to. Bass and forage should grow up together, not first add large bass then try to put in forage that is not BG and to make those bass ccontinue to grow. It is fairly easy to do if one wants BG. Adding big bass first without wanting BG is backward pond management and it it is very difficult to do correctly especially if one wants No BG. Difficult mainly because large sized forage that are not BG is hard to find and it is expensive. Try to find large RES and or PS that are 6"-7"+ long - almost impossible in some locales.

You fell into a common pond problem - thinking that bigger bass will survive well long term on FHM minnows - not gonna happen.

ewest, bill, thanks for the replies. I will buy some and get som BG fished in right away. I have been reading on this forum forever, but there are just so many questions. This was my first pond, some things right, many mistakes. I really appreciate the assistance.

RES are not an option for your pond. You're too far north.

I believe PKS would be a good addition, but buying enough larger adults would be costly, find a local lake with them and spend a day getting as many adults as possible, there still may be time to get a spawn before cold weather.
If your worried about disease keep them quarantined in a stock tank for awhile, some members here can instruct you on adding salt or other things to reduce the chance of disease.
Don't forget to add enough structure so your forage has some cover for protection and spawning.

When we built the pond we put a huge pine tree down in it. I also got a lot of ideas from this forum and have tons of plastic structure from pvc to egg crates...etc. I am planning a day fishing trip w the family to get some PKS and BG.

I still have to ask, are there worries about the BG running rampant and getting to aggressive around swimmers and stuff? Will the big LMB I have do a good job cleaning them up?

I have monster BG in my pond.. We swim in it constantly sure you get nipped from time to time it doesn't hurt feels like a little cluster of arm hair getting plucked kinda.. My kids are are 4-6 and have been in the pond getting nipped for the last 2 yrs..

Most all smaller fish will nip at a swimmer but as BGKiller mentioned it does not hurt and has never stopped my kids and their friends from swimming in the pond. Most of the time when the visibility is good enough the kids will actually take food out with them and enjoy putting their goggles on and swimming with the fish.

If nothing else it will make it more enjoyable to fry them up and bite them back

excellent information guys and great advice. I will get ging on the forage stocking.