Hello, I am in Eastern South Carolina and just bought a home with a 1/2-3/4 acre stocked pond. This is my first time owning a stocked pond and I am trying to learn as much as I can. I know that there are some small-medium size bass in it as I saw them as I was walking the shoreline and saw a few smashing as they ate mosquitos/bugs on the water surface. I was told by a neighbor that it also has bream, shell cracker, and catfish in it. When I talked to the owner, he said it has crappie and bream in it. But, I don't think remembers everything that he put in it and hasn't really fished it. So, while I know that there is fish in it, I am just trying to figure out what to do next. I would really like to manage it for large bass as well as have a healthy population of copper nose bluegill and shellcracker. Since this is my first time owning a pond, I'm all excited and immediately think about going to get more fish and stocking it some more. But, I'm assuming that probably isn't the best strategy to start with.

That said, if you get a new pond that has some fish in it already, how do you go about evaluating it for current size/population to determine when/if you need to stock it more and with what fish type? Any help/recommendations would be appreciated.

Here is a picture. It's not a huge pond, but it is about 15-16 feet deep on one side and about 6-8 on the other.

Thanks!

Very nice looking and the depth sounds great. My 2 acre pond is only about 11 ft in the deep end. Do a lot of fishing and keep records of types and sizes. You might also try to seine as much of it as you can and inspect the catch.would not take many lmbass and catfish to wipe out the forage food and then everything will be stunted in a pond that size. In 2 acres I let my cnbg spawn one full year before I stocked only 50 largemouth bass.But they seem to be fat and happy. Others will jump in to help I'm sure. Welcome aboard and enjoy the ride. Don't forget to subscribe to Pond Boss Magazine!!

SCLane17, welcome! Probably the simplest way to get a handle on what you have is to go fishing, and keep records. If you're not sure of the species you catch, take a few pictures and post them here and we'll help you out. Using a small hook with a bit of worm under a bobber works pretty slick on most everything.
Another option you could go is to find a local pond management pro, and ask them about doing a shock survey. It doesn't hurt/kill the fish, just stuns them long enough to be evaluated for numbers, species and body condition. This can be extremely instructive for future planning/fish goals for your pond. Hope that helps!
- Luke

I use a tiny 1/8th to 1/4 inch piece of brown plastic worm under a cork. One piece might last all day. Don't ever worry about getting live worms or can corn and having to rebait every cast and don't even have to wash your hands. You can cast it out without worrying about it slinging off too. I catch every species including lmbass with it. Just some thoughts. Have fun!!! Black,yellow,white work also but brown is best at my pond. Probably because it is the color of my feed pellets.