The Indiana DNR says that a mix of largemouth bass, bluegill, and channel cats is the easiest mixture of species for both sport and eating. We are planning on digging a 1 acre pond that will be ~10 feet deep and plan on putting sufficient structure in the pond. For others in this area, what mixture of species did you go with? How long are you supposed to wait from when the pond is filled up with water till you start putting fish in? Thanks.
The mix that you indicate +RES, is often recommended in our area, but do not make the mistakes that I did on my first pond with this mix. First, to get your fish off to a good start, add FHM and let them increase in number to provide forage for the rest of the species before adding any other species (can add FHM pretty early, once a few feet of water is in pond). These minnows will likely be wiped out by the predators and adding more after predators are present will just be expensive fish food. Second, do not overstock the remaining species based on recommendations from fish suppliers. The species and the numbers stocked should be based on your goals for the pond (folks here can help with this). I no longer have CC in my pond because they are voracious fish predators and I prefer larger BG and LMB. Finally, my second pond is a YP/GSH/RES pond with the goal of trophy SMB. The initial growth on the few SMB that I added has been incredible and the one that I caught fought like a sea monster (stopped fishing after catching this one last Summer). A hard question for you to answer is what do you want out of your pond? My ponds are primarily for wildlife habitat and fun fishing for guests (as well as providing a swimming hole, although less so now that my kids are adults). I now have 3 fish ponds so I am experimenting in my last pond since this is very fun for me. For a LMB/BG/CC pond, regular harvesting of fish is often needed to prevent stunting. I have heard 20 LMB and 50 BG per acre per year as a rule of thumb. If you have CC, you need to account for them as well since they eat a lot. Most importantly, have fun!
I'm not up to speed on all the acronyms... What does GSH stand for?
How would you compare large mouth vs small mouth bass fishing?
Primary use of pond will be fishing with some recreation as well (dock/small beach area on one corner, etc.) Would prefer it to be as low maintenance as possible. But definitely love the thrill of good fishing, would prioritize that over producing the most pounds of fish per acre.
Acronyms at
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=92442#Post92442 Good fishing is relative. What is considered good fishing? Is it numbers or sizes? Numbers of fish caught per hour? Or is it quality of fish? Catching less common fish?
A beach area means swimming. Some species of fish are more likely to nibble or even bite scrape swimmers.
Is fish feeding an option?
Low maintenance often means maintaining a good balance which often does not happen naturally when humans are messing with the ecology. Think of your pond as a low maintenance lawn or garden. Rarely do you plant and ignore it and achieve high success. IMO my current least maintenance, swimming, domestic water use pond is adding only tilapia each spring.
Fish feeding is an option. Might want the ability to swim on part of the pond but good fishing (entertainment of fighting the fish, not necessarily eating the fish meat itself) is the primary function desired.
"How would you compare large mouth vs small mouth bass fishing?"
Like a naturally aspirated vs. a turbocharged engine, but my experience with SMB is limited. Other opinions?
http://everything-smallmouth.com/why-smallmouth-bass-are-more-fun-than-largemouth-bass/
You want a fish that fights harder and longer than SMbass add some hybrid striped bass to the fishery, HSB are community compatible and do eat pellets and do get hook shy as do most predator fish that regularly receive fishing pressure.
I second the HSB recommendation. Mine have only been in there a year and they fight like a son-of-a-gun. I can't imagine there would be a more fun fish to have in your pond.
If my SMB do not reproduce, I will have to add some HSB to cut down on the YP and GSH. With only 20 SMB in the 1 acre pond, I wonder if they will ever limit the forage or get any fry to survive? I wonder if adding just 5 HSB would do any harm?
Every predator in some way competes with every other predator present. some compete more than others depends on each species niche.
Maybe I'll just wait and see how the SMB do. Its often easier to mess things up than it is to fix things. P.S. Just posted some pics of what I hope to be LCS in this pond.
