My pond is about 1.4 acres. It was deepend and expanded in the spring of 2008 while it was dry. I added 600 CNBG, 100 RES, 50 CC and 4000 FHM in July 2008. They are being fed and are doing very well. The CC are about 15" long and the larger CNBG are about 7.5". Last Thursday I called my supplier and told them I wanted to pick up 100 LMB and 20 Tilapia on Saturday. The intent of the pond is fun fishing for the family with an emphasis on LMB quantity more than trophies.

The good news; I stocked LMB in my pond on Saturday. My father picked them up for me on the way to my property. The bad news; they only had 60 LMB when he arrived. The question; should I try to find 40 more LMB to get in the pond, and if so, how quickly does this need to be done to keep them from being eaten by the new stockers? How will 60 initial stockers instead of 100 affect my goals?

I leave the question for the experts to answer.

I am required to inform you however that you are in violation of forum membership rule number 5, section 3, subsection (a), paragraph 7 that cleary states "and the aforementioned member will take photos and post on the forum the aforementioned photos of all pond stocking events within 48 hours of the conclusion of said stocking event."

Good to see that someone else was busted!!! I was on Double Secret Probation for a month.

Be careful. The Pond Boss Secret Inforcers will lurk around your pond. they look like Canadian Geese and big cranes. Shoo them away!

This time of year at my place, a Canadian Goose would stick out like an armadillo in Quebec, but I did have a suspicious looking water turkey (a.k.a cormorant) hanging around for a (short) while after the stocking.

I must plead guilty and throw myself on the mercy of pond boss justice for the lack of pictures. My wife commented as we were unloading the bags of fish from the truck that we forgot the camera again.

By the way, JHAP, I thought it was membership rule 4, section 2, paragraph (a)?

I'm sure JHAP will be merciful. He is a good guy.

I am adding some additional LMB to my originial stocking in April. I put in 40 then and adding an additional 10. I just am getting ones a little bigger to account for the delay in stocking. It sounds good to me, but more experienced owners might steer you (and me) differently. So we will see what they say.

Your 60 LMB stockers will have more to eat than if there were 100 of them. They should therefore grow faster. They will not prey as much on the forage fish, so without further adjustment or management, your BG/RES would be a little smaller on average, for a while, until after the LMB reproduction makes it all a wash.

As Coach B noted, you could add slightly larger LMB in the future if you wanted to avoid these affects. Due to missing any mortality that will ensue between now and then, you could also reduce the numbers somewhat. For example, if you "miss" stocking 40 LMB 5"-6" now, you could stock, say, 25 LMB 11"-12" next Spring to catch up.

How big were the (60) LMB?

The LMB were about 3".

If these original 60 stockers grow faster without any additional LMB stocked, does it make sense that a culling program would be delayed from year 2 to year 3 (or later)? In other words, how long will it take for the LMB reproduction to catch up to the level that it would have been if I stocked 100 LMB? Sixty just seems like a very low number for 1.4 acres.

Thanks for the input.

Questioning the validity of a membership rule citation is in violation of membership rule number 22, section 4, paragraph 11.

You are once again placed on top secret double probation for a 30 day period.

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Hang on 3D (see what I did there?) and an expert will answer your questions.

It is rather low... If you can get bass I would try to get another 40 if your goals are not for size but for quantity...

I recently stocked a pond at 33.33 LMB per acre on purpose. This was not an attempt to grow trophy LMB but for balanced quality. IMO the old 100 LMB per acre is not intended for a recreational fishery but for food production as that was the premise upon which that recommendation was established.

I would wait and get a few bigger LMB in a year if the need arises after sampling next springs yoy. Those 60 are brood stock and IMO are not for harvest. It will be their offspring that are managed for numbers. Starting later to harvest those offspring 2 to 3 years will depend on the success of the spawn and their recruitment to adults.

Eric, I think you may be right about the 100 per acre numbers. I think 50 is probably a better route. I am a fan of under stocking than over stocking. Fish make lots of babies rather fast most of the time.

I agree. Leave well enough alone. You will be culling just a little bit later.