i want to begin a small hatchery pond with BG to supplement our lakes to feed the bass. What are some reasonable expectations from a hatchery, as far as numbers and size if we set up a feeder. how many BG do we need to start with? since we are feeding a small area, does the water need to be limed and fertilized? any info will be great, and when is the best time to start the project? How many times in the year can we expect to have quality numbers to transfer.

Can threadfin be done the sameway?

Can't help you out, but I do think that the experts will need to at least know the size of this forage pond. Or is this not established yet, and you are looking for an estimate of #'s/acre possible? Lots of past posts on here to dive into for researching.

Lets work backwards. How many fish do you want to stock and what size should they be before you stock them?

If it's to supplementally feed the LMB, why do you think you need to do that?

I would treat it like any BOW. Water test, lime if needed, and fertilize. The forage pond needs everything a big pond does for the food chain to wok correctly, and it's cheap to do on a smaller pond.

Just guessing here since I'm assuming you have a very long growing season, but would think you could start any time.

Esshup's questions are right on point. Figure out where you're going, and that will clarify the path.

Well the amount of fish is one of the questions I have. The size of the pond is at best 15 yds long and about 10yds wide. Its about 6ft deep.
We are using the bream to give our lakes some extra forage. We have one lake that we want to give as much extra food as possible. The size probably needs to be 3-5 inches
We are wondering if feed what numbers can be predicted.
How many bg should we start with?
Just as much info as possible
The whole point of the project is the make bass grow. I know the more they have to eat the better it gets

To make bass grow, it's a LOT easier to have less LMB mouths to feed than to try and give more feed to many mouths.

What size LMB are you trying to get larger? What are the Relative Weights of the LMB that you want to feed?

Aerating and feeding, a 1 ac BOW can support between 500# and 700# of fish. That pond is 0.03 acre. I don't know if it'll be worth your time and effort for the fish that you get.

I am assuming the pond where you want to grow forage is:

The size of the pond is at best 15 yds long and about 10yds wide. Its about 6ft deep.

What is the size of the lake or lakes you intend to place the forage in?

our lake is close to 10 acres in size, the bass are not over stocked, we have been managing the lake but the numbers of bass seemed to have decreased and the size as well.
I can make the hatchery twice the size if i need to, with out much of a problem. That sounds like what I need to do.
what is the amount of fish we need to put in the hatchery to get a decent yeild.
One thought was take some out of the lake and put in the hatchery. That way the same type of fish would be going back and forth. the other option would be to just buy a couple of hundred and leave them in there a few months and see what we have.
Like I have said we are new to the hatchery game, and would like to get the results as good as possible the first time and not pay the stupid tax on this project. So those who have tired this before of know anything about it, tell me what you know.

I'd get 100 from a hatchery. Get them 5" long or so. Stock in the Spring.

Harvest in the Fall, returning the stocked fish to the pond for broodstock, putting the YOY in the 10 ac pond.

Feed the fish in the pond, and keep an eye on water quality and DO levels.

that makes perfect sense to me. We will give it a shot and see what happends.
Thanks for the information.

can threadfin be raised as well? can they be in the same hatchery as BG and thrive if the water is right?
BG seem easy to raise, but would like to be able to supplement the pond with threadfin as well.
What yeild can be obtained with threadfin?