Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Value of Snails?

How many RES would you stock to dispose of the snails?

Give more information about your situation...

Any bass present, their size, how big is your pond, do you know what species of snail(s) are present?

1.5 Acres
500 BG 6-18-2010,
2000 FHM 6-18-2010
No Bass yet, stocking those in August.
I have no idea what species the snails are, but given a resource I will find out.

Many studies I see say RES should be 25% of your toal sf/bg planting. For example 200 RES, 800 bg. I think you said you put in 500 bg, so 150 RES. I tend to close that gap to doubling 60% bg 40% RES. I have seen 50-50 before but within a few years those ratios are long gone. bg just outproduce RES in almost every case.

Are you trying to grow bigger bass or a balanced fish community? If you are leaning towards bigger bass, lean towards less RES in the sunfish ratio numbers with more BG. Say 15% or so... If you are leaning towards more of a balance or are also going to stock GSH, you can consider upping the ratio of RES to 30% of your sunfish numbers. Many times you may think your RES have disappeared, but they are there they are just hard to catch. I really like RES personally and if you figure them out, they can be caught year round. Particularly when they are not in competition with BG. I've even gone so far as to stock 50/50 ratio and still saw good bass growth. That may have been a fluke though, so I wouldn't necessarily recommend it.