Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose New quarter acre pond

Well it looks like I might actually be getting my permit to dig the pond so here goes.

I am thinking about stocking GS, FHM, HBG, and HSB. Maybe a COUPLE of channel cats just in case one of the kids might get lucky and catch one, but I don't want many because I don't want muddy water.

The pond will hopefully be dug late this summer or early fall. I will not be building my home on the property for at least a year maybe longer so timeframe of stocking is whatever we decide it to be.

I am not opposed to feeding or aerating, but those might have to be added later due to cost.

I plan on one section being a sandy/peagravel swimming area w/ a 6-1 slope to around 5 feet deep, everything else will be closer to a 4-1.

Lets hear the reccomendations for stocking on this one. The goal is to get a fishery where I can get GOOD FUN action w/ the bluegill, and still have the option of trying for the harder fighting fish. I really like catching HSB.

Would it be wrong to wait a year and a half after stocking the minnows to make sure I get a well established breeding stock of minnows?

I am hoping to make the center deep part of the pond 12-14 feet deep, but this will be a ground water pond so the level will vary possibly up to 3 feet.

In this stocking scenario, feeding is an must or you will be greatly limited in the number of fish you can stock. Aeration would also be a big factor...

Well, I can feed for sure, but it will be sporatic at best for at least a year, then can be daily, but by hand, and not w/ an automatic feeder. Areation would only be possible once I build.

I also want some red ear sunfish that I KNOW will survive to keep swimmers ich at a min.

maybe a few grass carp to help w/ vegetation.

I think that if you stock it with the forage minnows, and wait an year, then stock the "predators", that will put you in a time frame of 2-3 years before you need the aerator. If your schedule is more consistent than mine, then hand feeding is O.K. Don't forget to make your fish cover/structure before the pond is built. Read the threads on that in the archives. Cover for large and small fish, and cover in travel routes.

The fish in my pond would forget what a pellet looks like if they relied on me to feed them by hand.

Don't put the cart before the horse. I wouldn't stock GC until you had a weed problem, AND the weeds were the species that the GC like.

I agree with CJ on his assessment of aerating and feeding, and by doing so from when the predators are stocked will result in their best growth. But the biomass will be low enough the first your that they are in the pond that you probably will be able to get away without it.

When should I stock the HBG and RES? Can I wait to stock the HSB until I move in? Even if that's a year after the panfish have been stocked? How many of each should I stock? How many HSB?

Also, I was planning on making a few Vynal "trees" that are longer than normal and having maybe three places on the shoreline where they to the entire depth of the bank that way no matter the water level they have cover. Would three sections like this be enough? Should I put them closer to the spawning ground? Put them all together or space them out? I am kicking around the idea of a single floating island as well, maybe 4 feet by 4 feet. Should I put the cover near the dock to ease in catching them off the dock? I would like to try and congregate the fish near the dock if I can.

How does this sound. 2 pounds FHM this summer (would you add GSH as well?) Early next spring I will stock 30 RES and 75 HBG. End of the summer stock the largest HSB I can afford, say 50 of them? There should be plenty of forage for the HSB and once they eat up all the FHM and get nice and fat they will resort back to pellets.

Ill start feeding next year when I add the panfish, and will start aerating by the end of fall 2014 beginning of spring 2015. By then the HSB should be big enough. Ill follow up w/ stocking annually with 30 HBG, 30 RES, and however many HSB I have taken the year before.

Once the HSB are big enough not to get eaten. I will stock ONE LMB as big as I can find. And ONE blue cat.

The blue and the LMB should keep most of the HBG offspring in check and provide two non pellet dependent fish. I think this should help keep the sizes of the HBG up right?

I have gathered a lot of this from other posts on this board, but am not sure of the complete stocking plan in my case.

If if were my pond with intended RES, I would stock them with the FHM. RES from hatcheries are usually small and not prolific so I'd give them a head start so the population becomes well established before all the competition arrives. Instead of one large LMB, it might be better if you stock a few male LMB since they will not get over 2-4 lbs in the north. Smaller LMB are actually what you want to primarily eat the 3"-4" sunfish. Select male LMB off the beds in early May and verify their sex by squeezing the abdomen for milt.