Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Recommendations in SE Michigan

Yep, I've been aerating all this year. I guess it's almost time to shut down for the winter. A couple days ago, I was down to about 47 degrees in the water, though we've had a couple warm days lately.

The aeration may be adding to the turbidity in your new pond. If it clears over winter and stays clear during the YP spawn then even greater emphasis should be added to what Bill posted about limiting YP reproduction.

DerekG - Bottom aeration will definately help keep any suspended solids suspended as long as the aerator is running. If the solids are organic then they will decompose faster in suspension compared to lying on the bottom. If the solids are inorganic, clay and or silt then they will tend to stay suspended depending on their size, pond size, and strength of the currents produced by the aerator. In the spring you could use the aerator to your advantage to produce turbid or clear water basd on your desires. I typically do not start aerating is spring until the YP eggs have hatched. However you could run the aerator along with ocassionally manually stirring up the sediments to produce mud clouds. Then running the aerator would help keep the finest particles suspended to deter hatching of perch eggs, especially those lying directly on the pond bottom.

Postscript to earlier posts on this topic. My experiences with YP in NW Ohio are somewhat different than those described by Dr. Willis. Most all the ponds that I help manage or stock in my area use a strain of YP that have been domesticated since 1981 - 26 yrs. This compares to the YP that Dr. Willis deals with that assume are primarily wild fish.

There are numerous ponds in my area that are primarily just yellow perch. Some have a few non-reproducing predators whereas some of these small (0.2-3/4 acre) ponds have just yellow perch and no other predators except perch. None of the local YP ponds that I know of have overpopulations of YP IF there are good numbers of adult (8"-12") perch present. I think two factors are important in these ponds. One is the YP are fed pellets and the other is no over-harvest of adult perch occurs. Pellets keep good numbers of YP growing well, and maintaining numerous larger perch helps to increase the mortality rate of the YOY perch thus reducing the chance of overpopulation. Occassionally manual thinning of sub-adult perch is beneficial to reduce strong year classes.

Another feature that I have discovered with YP dominated ponds is feeding the YP causes those that eat pellets to grow faster than their siblings. Thus the non-pelleting perch stay small and slender bodied for a longer period of time compared to the always plump faster growers. Smaller skinny perch are then more vulnerable to predation from adult perch. This tends to keep the perch population dominated by faster growing well fed individuals.

The point of this postscript is to tell you not to worry too much about YP overpopulation in your specific situation if you are not able to stock SMB until fall of 2008. I often recommend not to add predators to YP ponds in my area until the YP have spawned at least once. My experience is that a pond can stay balanced with just YP present IF the YP are properly managed.

Hey Derek,
I don't have a pond yet, but have started doing some research and am finding this site great. A couple places you may want to try in Michigan that I have found that you haven't already mentioned.

Jacks Fish Farm, Jack@jacksfishfarm.com, and they can email you a price list. They have hyb bluegill, channel cats, largemouth bass, rainbow trout, perch, walleye, and black crappie.

Just wondering if you had thought about Crappie and if the perch you have are jumbo perch?

And in your, or anyones experience, are hyb bluegill really that aggressive with nipping swimmers? When we dig our pond, I would like to put Hyb Bluegills in there but I would also like my wife to swim in the pond and if she is getting nipped by fish all the time I can kiss that idea goodbye.

Look forward to reading your progress, I am not that far from you, just a bit north of Ann Arbor.

Derek,
Who did your pond for you? I am supposed to be getting a quote after the first of the year, but it can't hurt to get more than one. I would love to know who did it and if you were happy with them, and the cost? Post or pm me if you could. Thanks.