Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations How many HSB should I stock?

Been a member for a while, but this is my first post. A little background on my pond. It was built in the summer of 2010. It's 5 acres and at the deepest part near the dam is 9 feet deep. The pond reached full pool in April 2011. That same month I stocked 175 8-10 inch LMB, 50 6-9 inch SMB, 250 8-12 inch CC, 1450 4-7 inch BG, 225 4-6 inch BCP, 25 GC, and 24,000 FHM. Last year I stocked another 15,000 FHM. This year I added another 10,000 FHM and approximately 250,000 day old GSH fry. I now know that I should have established a forage base for at least a year before introducing the predators, but that was before I found this very informative site. After doing a lot of reading here, I've decided to try some HSB. I contacted the guy that I purchased my fish from and he doesn't sell them and recommended staying away from HSB, or at the very most no more than 5 6-8 inch HSB per acre. So I contacted another fish farm that does sell them for a second opinion and he recommended no less than 20 6-8 inch HSB per acre if you ever expect to catch one. So I thought that I would get some expert opinions from here. How many HSB should I stock?

Thanks

Do you feed your fish? Do you aerate the pond?

What are you seeing out of your current fish population? Did the GSH take hold? What are the size ranges of the different species?

Answering those questions will help some...

Thanks for the response. Yes I feed some, probably not enough for maximum growth. But I can adjust that as needed. No on the aeration. I have harvested a handful of the CC and they were 18-20 inches and around 2 pounds. Most of the LMB that I catch average 8 inches and seem pretty healthy. Don't usually catch many of the stocker LMB. Not sure on the GSH, I have seen a few in the 3 inch range. Sorry to be so vague, I had been keeping records of my catches this season but my computer crashed with all my data and no backup.

What type of feed are you using? In particular, what percentage of protein does it contain? If you set a minnow trap, do you catch GSH, FHM or any other species? Have you caught any SMB since you stocked them?

I am currently feeding Purina Catfish 32, it has 32% protein. I haven't set a minnow trap yet, but I see a lot of FHM along the shore. I pulled a seine through a creek behind the pond where it overflows and captured 3 inch LMB, 2 inch BG, some FHM and one 3 inch GSH. I caught a few of the SMB last year but I have only caught one this year and it seemed in good condition.

If you plan to stock HSB, I would switch feeds to a higher protein percentage. Catfish can do fine on 32% feed, HSB will need something in the 40+ range, the higher the better IMO.

HSB do best when they have a forage species that is spine free and open water preferring. The 3 major species that fit that are the two shad species, gizzard and threadfin shad. Neither of which would be suitable for your pond. The last is the GSH, which hopefully took hold in the pond. If you are seeing 3" fish around, it appears they have. I would consider searching for a hatchery in your area that sells GSH and stock an additional 5-10 pounds of the largest ones they are offering for sale.

With a feeding program though, the HSB shouldn't have too much impact on the rest of your fishery. I would do ladder stocking method with the HSB and stock about 10 per acre per year each fall. So this fall, you would stock 50. Next fall, 50 again and so forth. Purchase the largest HSB you can find in the fall. These will usually be 8"-10" fish and are the faster growing fish from the prior spring's hatch. This should give you more females which tend to grow faster as well as better growing fish. If you stock every fall, you can maintain a well distributing age and size classes of fish producing a quality fishery.

Ok, thank you very much for your insight. One more question if you don't mind. About how many pounds of the high protein feed should I feed a day for 50 of the 8-10 inch HSB in your opinion?

Pounds of feed will be determined by the fish, and will vary from season to season. Typically you don't feed more than what the fish can consume in 15 minutes. You can feed much less than that, it all depends on your goals.

OK, thank you.

Keep in mind, your other fish will also enjoy and do better on the higher quality feed. CC, BG, etc...

HSB do fine on 32% protein. In fact they are one of the only predator fish that metabolize carbs just fine. They can get very obese on standard fish food. They have a varied diet. Ours grew well on GFC with AM 600 mixed in plus natural forage TShad , BG and minnows.

I would switch from catfish food to GFC or AM . They have a better source of protein - fish meal and oil vs just plant and animal proteins.

Thank you for all the responses, I really appreciate all the helpful information. I released fifty 8-10 inch HSB in my pond yesterday. About an hour later I threw out some feed by hand and I could swear that I saw some silver flashes among the CC that were feeding. Do you think I am wishful thinking or would HSB acclimate that quickly after a 4 hour ride? I'll head to the feed store later today to pick up some different feed for them. Again, thank you for the help.

If they were on feed and you released them at the feeding location they could well feed that quickly - at least some of them.

I think you will grow to love your HSB. I know I love them!

How many times a day do you think I should program the feeder to dispense the food?

A hard question to answer. It changes with the conditions (daylight , temps , spawning , etc.). Right now I am feeding 3 times a day (10 , 1 and 4).

Went down to the pond Sunday afternoon to try and catch a few fish. They weren't biting very well so I kept downsizing my bait until I started catching a few 8" LMB and a few 5" BG. Then on one cast I hooked into what I thought was a BG on steroids. Turned out to be one of the newly released HSB. What fun, can hardly wait for them to get a little larger.