Hi. We recently dug a new 3.5 acre pond in Columbus Texas. There is some good structure and depths up to 25ft". In early April 2019 We put in the following forage fish: 1,000 small bluegill, 200 medium bluegill, 400 small redear sunfish, 100 medium redear sunfish, 40lbs of fat head minnows, 10lbs of threadfin shad. Now it is time to choose the bass. The pond will mainly be fished by kids age 10 - 16. I think catching lots of fish is going to be more important than catching 8+lb fish. From what i read it sounds like i should just go with 100% native bass or F1 bass. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. thanks
Kenny

Kenny, welcome to PB. The general “rule” that I like to follow is wait about a year before adding bass. I generally say to ad bass when they can go to sleep with their mouth open and wake up with a full belly.

I like the idea of doing it mainly for kids.

I went with 100% northern strain. They were hard to get as most of the hatcheries have branded versions of Floridas and F1s. Overtons was able to get fingerlings for me from a third party. Larger Northerns are easy to get but may have lost some of their potential growth at the hatchery.

Mine are a year old. I had a neighbor's grandson come over to catch some (and keep the smaller ones). He had a blast. I let a landscaper try the pond. He caught five bass in five casts. I think you can put a piece of aluminium foil on a hook and they'll bite. Only downside is catching the bluegills is tough as the bass hit the hook first.

I have friends who have Floridas and are unhappy. The fish are big, but rarely bite. So - if your priority is kids catching a bunch of decent sized fish, I'd recommend the Northerns.

I don't have experience with F1s. They may also be a good option, at least for the first generation. Again, hatcheries will push them as they are branded. I may add some Florida genes when I do a genetic refresh in a few years.

As an aside. Consider feeding the bluegill. They will grow fast and have many kids. Your bass should be feed trained and they'll eat too if you use one of the high $ feeds.

Catchability is an issue with LMB of all types. It is more pronounced in Fla LMB and to a much lesser extent in F-1s and F-Xs. Over time mixed genetic LMB ponds in the south tend to move in the direction of increasing Fla genetic % being dominate. Several theories exist on why. If catchability is your key goal then northern LMB will be better. Read up on catchability as there are some good threads.

Watch your forage base as good LMB growth is more based on food supply than genetics.

thanks so much for your help

Thanks again for the helpful information. My current plan is to wait until September and then stock all northern bass. My new question - Should i get a feeder and start feeding the BG now? Kind of confused about feeding once i stock the bass. Should i try to buy pellet trained northern bass and then feed them? or is the idea to feed the BG which will in turn help the LMB? sorry for the rookie question. Just dont want to mess up anything.

Hey, Keenum. I'm just a pond owner, not a fishery expert, but in myh opinion you'd be smart to feed the BG first. Northern LMB, or even F1, should also be feed trained, otherwise your BG might be eaten before they can get a really good foothold. This is especially true if you don't have a lot of pond weeds where YOY fish can hide.

I know because it happened to me!