I’m out of my depth a little and need some help. I renovated and stocked a 1/2 acre pond last fall. We drained the pond and removed all of the existing fish which included some 12” gizzard shad. In late October we stocked 400 bg and 100 res. I started feeding aqua max 500 this week and so far I haven’t seen a single sunfish eat any. The fish were approximately 2” when stocked last fall. Should I be seeing more activity, or is it possible that they all died?
Thanks in advance.

Dear Arkansas, I feel doubtful they died unless you've seen many floaters. If you've been near the BOW the entire winter, you'd likely see signs. It can take some time for the BG & RES to even act interested in feeding to begin with. Start with very small handfuls (a cup or two at the most) in the morning and/or evening at the "good fishing" times. When they do start feeding on the smaller amounts it often initiated the feed frenzy communications that fish somehow transmit to others. It will grow from there in the weeks to come. Just be consistent with your feed times as they are habituated to "dinner time." I use a Texas Hunter with two daily disbursements to keep me honest. Cheers. Don

Cheyenne, when I first started feeding it took three weeks before fish responded. Hang in there!

If there is no visual proof and no noticed activity then fish a little or try a seine test. There are probably BG there. Any history of winter kills or DO problems in the pond before? They should be spawning soon so keep an eye out for beds.

I don’t know of any DO problems. This pond is inside the peninsula of our bigger pond and gets plenty of wind fetch. I suppose a winter kill is possible as it’s fairly shallow and we had some ice coverage last year. I do notice that the crawfish we stocked are showing up to eat the aquamax. Would you consider adding the bass soon or giving the bg more chances to spawn? Thanks for the help ewest. As much as I’ve been around I’ve never had any experience stocking a renovated pond.

I would want to know the BG are there and will spawn before I add LMB. Assuming that is the case and you are stocking 2-3 in LMB then go for it with the LMB.

If I had to restock the bg, do you think a 2-3” bg would spawn this year?

Get them as large as you can and as soon as you can and feed em and they should spawn .

Yes later this summer if put in a empty (no predators) southern pond. Quicker with feeding pellets. I would put in small BG (2-3 inch) and also transfer from your other lake a few adult BG (male and female). 20 adult BG in an empty pond will make a bunch of babies over the summer.

Thanks for the advice guys.