I will be ready in a couple of months to stock my 3 1/2" acre pond with LMB fingerlings. I would love to hear a recommendation for a local supplier. We are in the Monticello, Fl area, right at the Georgia line.

We have established a good stock of BG over the last 18 months and are ready in my (limited) estimation to add the fingerling Bass.

Any and all advice will be greatly appreciated. I feel like I need to contact the supplier now and get my order in.

Thanks,

Rocky

Consider the various strains of bass available. Those, like you, fortunate enough to have a southern pond have more options than what we have in the north. There are some very good strains of bass available from a variety of providers in the south. Some have unique genetic history that have been bred for different reasons and provide you a better start than the 'generic' LMB. I would think beyond the choices that one supplier may offer you and ask for input on the various strains that folks use and why they use them.

Someone can probably link you to the very informative threads on the unique strains available in Texas and Florida.

i am right on the al/ga line. about half way up the state line. i used american sportfish on my most recent pond. they have a great reputation and i was pleased with them. im sure they would come to you. they brought my bluegill and fathead minnows, but i picked up my bass.

if your bluegill have been in for 18 months, i would think you are past due for your bass, or at least that's what the suppliers told me. they said the bg could over populate if you leave them in a pond too long without predators.

To be by the book the Bass would have to come from a Florida farm and be pure Florida strain. You can Google Florida fish farms and find a few. I think there is a farm actuially called florida fish farms

Florida FIsh Farms

Get in touch with Greg Grimes 770-735-3523

You should consider adding more than just bluegill to the pond. Although it will create a strong base of the food chain, to grow larger bass you might consider threadfin shad and/or golden shiners for more variety. Also, the red ear sunfish would be a good species to prevent parasite and disease carrying snails from thriving in your pond. these are just my observations, and it all depends on your goals as a pond manager.

If you have large numbers of Bg that are 18 months and older, I would not stock lmb fingerlings. I would look for some lmb in the 4 to 6" size. Large Bg are suspect to feed on 2 to 3" lmb fingerlings.

I have caught a lot of BG on a LMB pattern crank bait that is about 3" long. So I always assumed the BG have no paticular affection for fingerling LMB. Other than to eat/run them off.

Thanks for the advice folks. We have a bit of an unusual situation at our pond. It is a semi-natural farm pond surrounded by oak trees and cow pasture. It went totally dry in 2011, killing all the fish. A very sad sight as we had no well or water source to prevent it happening. Our water comes from runoff and also when the swamp across the street overflows thru a culvert into our pond. It refilled after almost a year but was choked by the weeds and underbrush that grew up when it was dry. It appeared to be totally devoid of fish other than a very few tiny minnows.

About 18 months ago as I was mowing the edges I thought a spotted a small BG. A couple of months later I definitely saw a few beds. Last spring I bought a feeder. Before long I had a good crop of BG and what I think are a few Warmouth. The locals call them Stumpknockers. 99% sure no LMB. I have looked hard many times.

As of today we have a great crop of small to med. size fish that really boil the water at feeding time. They seem to be distributed around the pond pretty evenly. So I'm thinking this Spring is the time to introduce the predators or we will be over-run by BG.

Sound about right?

have you caught and positively identified them as bg and not green sunfish? i'd almost bet you have gsf. if so, you are gonna need 6 inch or larger bass for stocking.

during the time my pond was being built a huge rain came. you wouldn't think any fish could have stayed in that current. my stream starts right above my pond. i would have never thought any gsf could have stayed in the stream, but they did. i don't have many, but do catch one occasionally when fishing from the dock. i always throw them out.

Rocky, can you post a pic of the warmouth/gsf?

How did the small fish get in the pond after it was dry since it was in the middle of a cow pasture?

Go to our Resource Guide and take a look.
http://www.pondboss.com/Resources

I asked one of the large nearby landowners and he recommended http://shongaloofisheriesinc.com/ He indicated that he had used them many times over the years and that several of the neighbors had done the same. His results speak for themselves.....his 2 big ponds are loaded with big LMB.

To answer one of the above questions I am not 100% sure where the fish came from. The water does flow under the road from the swamp next door during periods of floods. A neighbor has a pond that abuts the swamp that has some fish in it, not sure what kind. So I'm supposing that during the big Spring rain/flood we had in 2014 some small fish or fish eggs came in with the tide so to speak.

I am now curious as to exactly what kind of fish I have. I will catch a few this weekend and post some pics here for you guys assessment. (or amusement)

Ok.....caught a few today for species determination.

The pond is full of these.


Couple more.





This fish is one of the larger ones in the pond right now.


Different species?.....caught well away from the feeder by the spillway.


Warmouth? Green Sunfish?



Please excuse my ignorance in this. They never look just like the pictures in the book to me.

Good pictures. All the fish in the pictures except the bottom (last) one are bgill. They appear slightly to somewhat stunted due to the eye is a little enlarged for the length of the fish especially the last fish. It is some form of hybridized bgill that has a noticeably enlarged eye. Its mouth is also larger than that of a BG for that length. Be very aware that you best need bass that are 3 times longer than the last fish pictures for the bass to begin right away eating the 'BG'. Stocking fingerling bass may not be at all successful since the current crowded BG numbers will have all the invertebrate foods consumed and if new stocked bass can't eat the most common BG the small bass are likely to starve. If you are going to stock 3"-5" LMB make sure there are lots of 1"-1.5" BG present for these new bass to eat. I highly suggest that you invest in one or two galvanized mesh minnow traps that you bait with old bread or pet food to see if you have 1"-2" BG. Fish the traps in shallow water 16" parallel to shore. Otherwise you may well be wasting your money. Gee Minnow Trap is by far the best minnow trap. Paint it drap color browish-black-green to imitate natural rocks.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Tackle-Factory-Gee-s-Minnow-Napper/34770965
Trap comparison
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNFC_LhNN_Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V685AfLntb0

Before stocking bass IMO consult with the referred - Greg Grimes 770-735-3523 Aquatic Environmental Services - Lakework.com
You can for sure trust advice from these people.

Thank you so much Bill for the species ID. When you get your fish from the swamp next door like we did you wonder just what you have to work with.

I will certainly buy a Gee minnow trap and see what forage fish I have for the LMB fingerlings. The fish supplier also offered to bring small minnows of some type to make sure the bass had plenty to eat. That's starting to sound like a very good idea.

Thanks again for the help folks. I'll report my findings/progress as we go along.

IMO I believe the second fish to the bottom is a "Flier " sunfish.

I agree. We never see them up here, and to me the "bluegill" look like Coppernose Bluegills.