Hi, Folks.
My pond is finished--well, except it needs about 10 more feet of water! Hopefully, the rains will start soon here in Parker County, Texas!

Do any of you Texas folks have a couple of recommendations for a stocking source/hatchery?

Thanks.

You Texax Parks and Wildlife should have a list of producers in your state. I may be on their website. Anyone else?

There are also producers that advertise in Pond Boss magazine in the Texas area.

In Weatherford Dunn's fish farm runs a truck to Merritt feed and Tommy's Fish Truck delivers to Dillards feed. Arms Fish Farm (800-259-2248) is located close to Dublin Tx. and Charlie's Fish Farm (254-653-2543) is in Eastland Tx.

Good Luck!!

Texas Parks and Wildlife do have the list on their website.

hey glen... try todd overton!.. been really happy with his fish and service!.. i'm in winchester tx, 11miles from smithville!

http://www.overtonfisheries.com/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=1

chris

Talked with Overtone and they were not very Nice nor were they helpfull..Talk to Keneths fish farm he seems a hole lot nicer....

Harold Arms in Dublin is extremely knowledgable. I would deal with him any time. Fish trucks hit country feed stores all spring and summer. Call Marshall Grain in Fort Worth and see if they have any more scheduled this year. Bobs Fish Farm on Eagle Mountain Lake area has stocker fish year round.

GlenB, hopefully the rains hit your area this week, along with Dave D., that's 3 of us West of DFW. Here's a little advice...be patient with the rainfall, it's going to take a while unless you have large watershed area. Be more patient with the fish...If you want aggressive growth, don't even consider stocking predators until next Fall at the earliest. You will be amazed at your growth rate if you get your base established. I know you read the board, and I'm not telling you anything you haven't read. My pond is just over a year old, perch and minnows are everywhere, I recently introduced adult bass that will provide my initial spawn next spring. If I feel the need to catch or eat fish, bgill are plentiful. Go by the book !

Thanks, Guys! I knew I could count on good resources on this board. I think my son, who is at Tarleton State in Stephenville has a frat brother who works at that fish farm in Dublin--I'll ask him if that's the name.

Thankfully, we've had a couple of good rains over my way this past week with more projected the next day or two!

Right now, the average depth is between 2'-3', which is spread out on about 1/4 acre of the 1 acre pond. I'm hoping to get an average depth of 4'-5'before I begin stocking my minnows & BG's (no, not THE BeeGees!) :p Then as the early spring arrives in March or April, I've been thinking about stocking the chanel cat fingerlings--or, do you think I can get those in at the same time as the forage fish?

Good info. All the replies are welcome input!
Thanks again.
gb

It may be a little late in the year to get the catfish. Anyway, I can't see a lot of reason to stock them this late in the year. However, I have heard that a lot of stockers try to get rid of fish this time of year. However, they might be large enough to negatively impact your forage base.

How's that for a bunch of doubletalk?

Thanks for the "double talk", Dave! I actually understood what you were saying!

I'm just going to stock my intial forage fish now and do the predators next spring. By then, I should have thousands of "tasty" morsels for the cats and then for a few pounds of LMB.

How many pounds or numbers of LMB will a 1 acre pond support--I know I read this somewhere, but don't recall the dfetails--?

Glen, I think I remember 100 pounds of predators per acre. It's up to you just how you mix it. With 20 five lb catfish, you get no bass. In the equation, you also need to figure that big bluegills are predators. Heck, everything in the pond is really a predator. Also, the fewer predators you have, the bigger they can grow. The point is, if you want a miniature Lake Fork, only put in about 20 predators and keep eating everything under 14 inches after the 2nd or 3rd year.