I am thinking about an initial stocking of an 8 year old pond approximately 1/3 acre in size. The deepest part is just over 10 feet with a very gradual taper on one side of the kidney bean shape. The opposite side is where the deep part is. I would guess that the pond has an average depth of 4 feet but that's just a guess. There is no bottom structure that I know of (I haven't taken possession of the property quite yet but I would like to get a nice start this late summer/fall). The current owner of the home told me he never put fish in the pond but when I was looking at the property to purchase it, I saw some tadpoles in the shallows. The pond also has a pair of ducks that have taken up residence. There are some reeds on the deep end. I don't know if they were put there on purpose but the owner told me that those reeds help to filter the water.

If BG are an option what type of forage and cover do they need to thrive and reproduce? How many BG would you guys suggest for such a small pond?

I should mention the pond is not aerated now but I plan to do that. The setup currently has the downspouts from the home piped into buried PVC and into a 4 foot deep basin filled with 2-3 inch breaker rocks for a filter effect and then out of the catch basin and through more buried PVC and into the pond. There is also an outlet to keep the level from going to high. The outlet PVC are obviously on the opposite side from the inlet which is the lowest part of the property.

Thanks in advance!

Aeration expert is Sue Cruz. She'll steer ya right and maybe send ya a nice camo Vertex cap.

Sprkplug is the guy you might want to talk to, and he likely will see this thread and be around later, hopefully with comments. He has some excellent results with Hybrid Bluegill (HBG), that can get around some of the problems that can be had with regular BG in small ponds.

Here is one of his threads on the hybrids.
Sprkplug's big, beautiful, hybrid BG's

And another one.
HBG growth

HBG might fit your needs

I believe I would verify depth first, just to provide myself peace of mind. Be a shame to stock fish only to suffer a winterkill the first year. Thriving and reproducing are two things BG are pretty good at, all on their own, provided they have decent water quality.

Either native BG or HBG will need a predator to keep their numbers in check. Numbers depend upon which variety you choose. Lots here on both BG and HBG, settle in and do some reading first, then ask some questions.

Welcome to PondBoss!

Here are some links to some homework about HBG and regular strain bgill.
Growing Hybrid bluegill
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=256325#Post256325

Growing Bluegill
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=192925#Post192925

Sprkplug, that's my thoughts too. First figure out why there are no large fish in the pond, and correct that problem before stocking new fish.

Winterkill problem? Low water problem? Or something else?

Quote from original post - "The current owner of the home told me he never put fish in the pond"

This gets back into that realm about it raining fish or if birds can transfer fish to a pond. Unless someone unbeknown to the owner bucket stocked fish, I would think the pond should be devoid of fish. Unless there was a prior owner of the pond before the current owner.

Always hard for me to imagine a pond without fish in it.

snub, a client had a pond that he was planning on making into a SMB/RES/YP pond. He took things slow, stocked FHM and GHS, let them by happy for a year, then added YP and RES. Right before the SMB were due to go in we noticed fish chasing minnnows in the shallows. ?????

I pulled out 2 LMB that were between 12" and 13" long. There's no way that they could have been in the pond to grow that big before being noticed earlier. The pond is roughly 1/2 mile from any other house.

I'd bet a couple of kids bucket stocked them when nobody was around, he's an absentee landowner. That wiped out over 2 years of waiting for the right time to stock SMB. It was drained and rotenoned and is sitting now with FHM and GSH in it.

Scott, were other fish found in the pond when it was drained?

No other LMB or other fish that weren't supposed to be there.

Thanks for the links and info!