Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Will Fish live with no structure or weeds?

I have a new 2 acre pond that was completed right before winter. It is in central Michigan. The snow has melted and the pond is about 75% full. The water is a beautiful clear blue green color that you can see pretty deep. Sand has been placed around the edges of the entire pond and below that is nice clay. Except for the areas that I want to stay all sand for a beach I plan on putting some rye grass seed - but right now there are zero weeds or cover around the pond, no plants and no structure in the pond. In the summer the pond will be expanded and about another acre of pond will be added. Sand is being taken off the property and a second pond will be dug and then tied in. I do not want two ponds just one very big one. Here are some questions. In the expanded pond area I will add structure for fish and the current pond area has none. Will fish live even though there are no plants currently on the edges of the pond? Yes, the fish will do just fine, with the exception of fish that need cover to lay their eggs on, or spawn in, such as YP and GHS, they will have a hard time reproducing, GHS more so than YP. Will fish live with no structure? Will fish reproduce with no structure? Yes and yes. I do have a nice area for the bluegill to spawn. The fish I want to put in for now are bluegill and minnows and maybe some catfish. Then later add the bass after the bluegill are established. When the two ponds are tied in a island will be left in the middle. Of course the first pond's water level will go way down when this happens. Is this going to be too much of a shock for the fish? I don't think so, I did the exact same thing when I renovated my pond. Is the pond a groundwater pond, or does it rely on runoff to fill it? Should I wait until the expansion is done before adding fish? I think you can add the fish when you want, although I might be tempted to wait on stocking the cats so the forage base is built up. I am pretty certain that the water level in the new larger pond will be deep enough before it freezes for the fish to make it through the winter. Just do not want to wait another year to get the fish going. Pics of the pond are on some of my other posts. Any other recommendations? The minnows that you are stocking won't be able to spawn unless you put the appropriate cover in the pond. GSH use grassy areas to spawn, FHM use the underside of objects in shallow water to spawn. If you stock 2"-3" BG this year, it probably won't be until next year until they are big enough and the water temp is right for them to pull off a successful spawn. LMB prefer food that's 1/4 to 1/3 their body size, so keep that in mind when it's time to stock the LMB in regards to the other fish in the pond. What are the goals for your pond?

The goal of the pond is to have a recreational area for the kids to swim, boat and fish. Like to have fish that we could catch and eat on weekends that we go to the pond. Bass to catch for fun. I really like perch to eat. On another part of this forum I asked similar questions and a guy recommended that I take a large number of hay bales (smaller square ones) and spread them around and in the pond. Also take some full or half hay bales and toss them in the middle. This he said would provide a place for minnows to hide and spawn and for food to grow on and speed up the process. Good idea? With regard to the cats what exactly is the "forage base"? If things were done right how many years would it take to get some good size fish? I haven't used hay bales, so I can't give any suggestions there. The best "forage base" for cats is an automated pellet feeder. What's your defination of "good sized fish"? I've stocked 6"-9" CC in the Spring and have caught them at 14"-16" in the early Fall. I've seen crayfish, and small minnows in their stomachs.

Bill I thought I read that it is not good to put walleye in a pond if you want to have big bass? Is this true? For eating - walleye is my favorite but there is nothing like the fun of catching a bass. Was just going to go with large mouth bass.

This property that my pond is on is right across from a 7000 acre lake that we have our cottage on. My friends fish it all day and catch lots of fish. I can catch 30 bluegill in an hour of my dock. Is it OK if I throw those bluegill (mostly small ones)and some of the medium and large fish that we catch in the pond? I have read that some people say do not do it because of disease. Will this throw the bond off balance? My biggest concern about transferring fish (been there, done that and paid the price of admission) isn't disease, it's invasive plants. Even with putting the fish in a large cooler with well water, I still brought Eurasian Water Milfoil to the pond. You have to be 100% sure of your fish identification skills to do it. I will be transferring fish again this year, but I will be using a 3 container dip system, with salted water to minimize any nasties going into the pond. When fishing BG on the beds, it's easy to catch Males, but not so easy to catch females. Depending on your goals, that's either good or bad. Transferring fish is the cheapest way to get larger specimens, but like jignpig has mentioned, they might not be the fastest growing ones.

Once you start stocking your pond, I strongly suggest keeping a journal, expecially a stocking journal. That way it'll be easier to keep track of just how many of what fish are going into the pond. Set stocking goals at the start, review them at least yearly, and monitor the fish in the pond.