Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Creating the food chain New Pond stocking

I have been reading from your site for several months and have found a lot of great info. I would now like some direct advice on my pond.
I live in Arkansas and I built a 1 acre pond which was completed last July/August. I used the local extension office which provided free help testing my soil and then laying out the pond.
It has filled over the winter and I am now ready to start stocking. My goal is to have BG and LMB.
I read on another post about the fish farm in Lonoke,AR which offers 250,000 shiners for $250. I live about 30 min. from them so it would be easy to drive over and pick them up.
I would like advice as to any steps I should go through in order to set my pond up correctly from the start.
Thanks in advance for your help

Howdy, dglenn, and welcome to the forum.

Be aware that the 250,000 GSH from Andersons' are fry; itty-bitty fish much smaller than the Shiners one (Okay, Sunil) might have experience with using as bait. That's not a bad thing for stocking a new pond, just different than how GSH have typically been sold for stocking (pretty much everybody else sells adults and/or juveniles, a few inches long). If you are beating this deal against other fish places' GSH, just remember it's comparing apples to oranges.

You did not state whether your main preference will be for big LMB or big BG (or if you have decided yet - I certainly hadn't at this point in time). If you are after big bass, I would definitely recommend stocking GSH as part of the initial forage base. If you want big BG, I am not nearly as gung-ho on Shiners, having had a great many of them tie up a lot of my pond's biomass (keeping it out of the BG's hands) for 2-3 years until my LMB and I could beat their numbers down some. But even if you consider that a problem, it's one that would correct itself in time.

Stocking FHM in addition to the GSH is recommended regardless of whether you are after big bass or big bream. FHM = small meals for small mouths on smaller fish, GSH = bigger meals for bigger bass. I don't know if Anderson's also sells FHM fry in huige numbers, but they might have adult FHM. If not, many other fish places would. You want to be sure you are buying them from a place that sells fish for stocking rather than bait - baitfish are much, much more likely to have small, misidentified (or just plain unsorted) fish of other species (quite possibly ones you don't want) mixed in with minnows.

I don't have a real good feel for stocking numbers using GSH fry instead of adults; if I had to take a guess at it, I'd probably stock a quarter million GSH fry and 10 -20 pounds of FHM if I were after large bass OR a "balanced" BG/LMB pond and I was going to go with the fry from Andersons'.

Bob Lusk's "Basic Pond Management" book (and "Raising Trophy Bass" if you are leaning toward that direction) are excellent investments for the beginning pond manager (or intermediate pond maangers - I reread my copies 2-3 times a year).

dglenn, welcome as Theo said.

I just want to add that your pond is a Leo due to its birthdate being July/August.

I think we should talk in more detail on how best to use this 250,000 golden shiners to it's best advantage in various stocking stages.

For instance, if you have a new body of water, and you go for the frye golden shiners, how big will they be in three months, and when should you add bluegill? If you had existing bluegill, and you put in golden shiner frye, how much would get eaten by the bluegill?

I am interested in how the 250,000 GS frye could benefit a pond with existing fish. I wonder if it could help boost predator frye growth if timed correctly. For instance, what if you stocked LMB frye along with the GS frye in a new pond? Then stocked some 3" bluegill a few months down the line?

I got my fish stocking permit today .I had specified that I wanted to stock smb, crappie, blue gills and fathead minnows.The permit came with just SMB .If I dont have the minnows then my SMB aint going to live long, or doesnt the DEC count minnows

I think I would call them back on that one and ask your common sense question. What does NY have against bluegills?

2 things.

1) It appears that no one north east of the Mississippi is raising SMB. ( sounds like something out of the old pioneers)They are difficult to raise apparently and they only have LMB.
2) I can write to the DEC and ask for additional fish species

Doesn't Zett's in Drifting, PA have SMB?

If not the Zetts in Pennsylvania, then the Zetts in Inwood, WV has SMB. And they will ship. I just don't have a catalog handy to give you pricing. I've been using Zetts for a number of years. Except for the cost of their trout, the rest of their fish prices, their quality, and their service have all been excellent.

This is how they ship them. Mine have always been packed and ready by the time I arrive to pick them up. But, I've seen them put a big blast of oxygen into the bags, and some kind of tablet before they seal the bags. I've never had a dead fish when getting them home.





Ken

I found my latest Zetts catalog. Here is their Bass page:

Osymandius,

You can ask your DEC rep for a private hatchery list or click on this link. Note that the list is dated 2007.

http://fish.dnr.cornell.edu/Pond/NYDEC_2007_Private_Hatchery_List.htm

From what I recall being posted here awhile ago, Hicklings Fish Hatchery was flooded out a year or two ago so I'm not sure of their status.

Russ

i cant believe you need a permit to stock fish.
big brother in action !!!!

hope you get your gills and crappie