Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Small .8 acre pond in Iowa

We are restocking a small .8 acre pond in central Iowa. We had drained the pond this a month or two ago and are now ready to re-stock it with some fish. The deepest part is 16 feet. Does anyone have any good ideas of what should go in it? It's main purpose it to be able to have children who attend camp fish in it and actually catch something! Any ideas??

Welcome to Pond Boss.

You have a great opportunity to get kids into fishing.

How much maintenance are you willing to do on the pond, as in how much management.

Channel Catfish and Hybrid Bluegill are one option.

You also have the standard Largemouth Bass/Bluegill option.

Of course, there are more options.

Stay tuned...

I stocked my 3/4A pond lst year in Oct with 250 3-5" BG, and 150 2" RES. and 10 lbs of FHM. I also put i about 50 adult BG from other ponds, lakes to add to a spawn base and to jump start the spawning. This June I put in 25 LMB 9-12".

On Labor day my grandkids caught as many 8-10" BG as they wanted, and my granddaughter caught a 16" LMB. With the forage base that I have, the LMB can go to sleep at night with their mouth open and wake up full.

I feed Aqua Max 400 four times a week, and have good alge bloom for micro-organisms. Don't orget your structure for the little fellers, too. That's VERY important. Add some gravel (I used 15 tons of creek gravel) for a spawning area.

I won't put in any CC cause that's not my goal for my pond. I, like you, want kids to catch fish and lots of them, and the big BG and occasional real nice bass really get them fired up. Personal preference, I guess.

Just some random thoughts from a rookie. The experts will be here for you shortly. Good luck and welcome to the forum.

In smaller ponds if the owner is willing to restock fish every year or every other year and is also willing to feed I like the HBG/CC pond. Very easy to manage other than the having to stock every year or every other year and the need to feed. If you wanna add to the excitement, you can also add some HSB. That'll really thrill the kids... All three fish species readily take to pellets and since two are hybrids and one doesn't generally successfully spawn in ponds, you don't have to worry about over population. The HBG are VERY aggressive and easy to catch. The CC are fun for kids to catch and good eating to most. Just make sure you keep them when you catch them, otherwise they get hook smart. HSB are great fighters and would be a great bonus fish.

Just my 2 cents...

Very good idea CJ and one that works well. I suggest low CC #s and use the HSB.

^ This is funny.

I like your stocking strategy there Jimmy (and the results ). I might have to consider that for mine. About the same and the same goals. Same basic region too.

One thing I was considering after talking to a number of people in the early going was possibly overstocking a species to make it 'kid friendly'. I was told I could go with a trophy bluegill pond and overstock bass. 2 nice things here, you have your trophy BG for adults to target while the kids can catch a LMB (albiet small) on nearly every cast. So that was something to consider in the early going. In the end, in my situation I decided to go with a more balanced approach and go with a goal of trophy LMB and a nice population of BG for the kids (and adults ). So that's what was suggested to me in the early going, but I like Jimmy's plan.