My pond has filled back up from the 3 inches it was to an average of 5 feet deep. Close to 6 feet is the deepest part. I have what I believe to be widgeon grass, american pondweed and some FA. My pond is about an acre. I stocked 1,000 FHM and they have reproduced very nicely so far. Everywhere I go, I see little fatheads. I have also stocked 7 small carp which should grow very fast with all the food they have. I am wanting to stock HBG and LMB. A local fish farm has told me to stock 500 HBG and 250 LMB and they will be in the 3-4" range. I think now is the best time with all the habitat the fish have. I want to be able to fish my pond with my two man boat and trolling motor. Obviously with widgeon grass and american pondweed, I will be spending half my time cleaning my trolling motor. So after all this rambling comes the question. Do I go ahead and stock all my fish and leave the grass and pondweed alone and then try to get them under control next year? Are they something I can get under control? I like the idea of stocking tilapia and would that be a good idea for next year to help with my aquatic vegetation? I have noticed my pond clearing up alot where the pondweed is growing. Also I have a sandy bottom with clay underneath. I will be installing a 50 GPM pump to keep the pond full and at this time have no plans or money for aeration.
WHoaaaa!
250 LMB are WAY too many to be supported by the few offspring that 500 HBG will produce; even regular BG might be hard pressed to support that number of bass (unless you were concentrating on big BG - but 250 LMB is more predation than you would need for a big HBG pond). Get a grip on a good stocking plan before adding any more fish.
If you are going to run the pump often enough, you can inject the water into the pond via nozzles and get horizontal aeration for free.
I think a lot of the current vegetation will abate, with the GC eating some and the increasing depth of the pond reducing the light available on the bottom for it.
We had talked about HBG and regular BG, so maybe it was just BG he said to do 500 of. I looked and here is what there website says:
IF YOU DO NOT PLAN TO FEED YOUR FISH A COMMERCIAL FISH FOOD:
COMBINATION OF: Channel Catfish-400/acre
Large Mouth Bass-200/acre
Bluegill/Hybrid Bluegill-500/acre
White Amur/Grass Carp-10/acre
COMBINATION OF: Large Mouth Bass-250/acre
Bluegill/Hybrid Bluegill-500/acre
White Amur/Grass Carp-10/acre
HYBRID BLUEGILL:
(ONLY) Hybrid Bluegill-750/acre
White Amur/Grass Carp-10/acre
CHANNEL CATFISH:
(ONLY) Channel Catfish-400/acre
White Amur/Grass Carp-10/acre
I like a bass-heavy BG pond and stocked a 2:1 BG:LMB ratio myself (with another :1 of RES), but I think that's a few more LMB than is needed to start with for big BG management (maybe 500:200?). It's way, way too many if managing for big bass - those guys would be talking a 10:1 ratio.
What are your interests & goals for management?
I am a LMB guy. I think my 4 year old son would enjoy catching BG but in a few years he will be fishing for LMB too. I understand the science of a body of water can only hold so many pounds of fish. Either you want alot of 15" LMB or you want less numbers of 5 pounders. I would like to be able to catch more size of fish than numbers. If I can go out and catch 6 fish over 15" I would be happier than catching 15 12" fish. If I get to where I am catching alot of smaller bass in say 5-6 years, then I will start taking some of the smaller fish out. So you recommend maybe 500 BG and 200 LMB? I would say the survival rate will be higher than a pond without all the vegetation that I have. What impact does that have on my stocking numbers?
Mike, the "normal' recommendation is for 1,000 BG/RES per acre stocked well in advance (6 months to one year) of predators. LMB convert forage at a 1 to 10 ratio. The bass have to eat 10 pounds of BG to gain one pound. That's an awful lot of 1 to 3 inch BG. With your vegetation, the bass will have to hustle a lot harder to get anything to eat.
The only thing I see in the recommendations that make sense is the one for HBG only pond.
On the Channel Cat recommendation, what does he figure they will eat? Water bugs, I guess.
I would stock the 1,000 BG and Res at the prescribed 80/20 rate. Then, I would later come back with about 50 LMB. The LMB will, along with their BG cousins (they are both sunfish) spawn and continue to spawn. You can manage for the sizes that you want of each.
The best bet on managing LMB is to take out every one that you can catch that's under 13 inches after 2 years. Don't worry. You can't catch enough to make a dent in their population. You can vary this in your future managing contingent on the results you get and your evolving goals.
The HBG, unless they are your goal, cannot be considered a desirable fish in a balanced pond. They take a lot and don't give much.
It is my PERSONAL opinion that the fish salesman is all wet. I can only consider him a salesman, certainly not a Biologist. BTW, I'm also not a Biologist; just a pond junkie.
ok so I should stock the BG now and hold off until next spring to stock LM. If the vegetation continues to grow next spring, do I try tilapia? From what I have read on here, I think they will be great in a few years to get the LM growing bigger, but can they take care of the vegetation I currently have? What are good numbers to stock?
I really appreciate everyone's advice. The fish salesman is just that, a salesman. He wants me to spend money on his fish.
Some people report success with tilapia eating FA and others don't. The tilapia won't do much with the other weeds. Grass carp will eat the pondweed but I'm not sure about the widgeon grass.
The salesman was setting you up for failure so he could meet his goals, not yours.