Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose New 3 acre pond

Like this is a very fun website to be a part of and finally joined after months of lurking! As the subject says I have recently built a 3 acre pond with the max depth of 30 feet. It has holes at 30 feet many humps and piles. Around the edges is tapered from a foot to about 8 to a faster slop towards the center. The pond was finished in November and we began to scatter large cedar trees at varying depths there are roughly 15 pallet stacks scattered in mostly deeper water. There is a couple of small rock piles in shallow water with plans to add more as soon as we can get back in there. There is about 5 foot of water in the pond but all the deep holes are full. The pond is fed with two 4 inch field tiles and some ground water.

Now I want to put LMB BG and either YP or WC in the pond but not sure on stocking rates. Also when is there enough water to start stocking the fish? Also I am going to probably need to get a FHM population started prior to stocking when should I do that? Is it feasible to have crappies and perch together in the pond together?

Thanks for all the help!

Hey Tyler welcome and congrats on your new pond it sounds awesome!! Your right in getting the FHM started. If you have enough water in there and you know the water is not leaking out I would start putting in FHM now. You could also do the BG. Don't quote me on this but I believe the agverage stock rate is about 800 per acre of BG. I would let them grow for the summer and not stock LMB or any other predator till the fall. Your going to want about 200 RES per acre as well to help with viruses snails and parasites and such. They do a good job of that! You could add those when you add the BG. I am no expert by any means so lets wait and see what others have to say too. Good luck and show us some pictures when you get a chance!!!

Welcome Tyler! Whereabouts in Iowa are you?

As RC noted, definitely a good idea to get FHM started ASAP. Depending upon your goals would better determine your stocking rates. Trophy LMB or BG or a more balanced fishery?

YP are a possibility, though you'll want to wait to have adequate vegetative cover for them to survive LMB predation.

It is typically discouraged among pondmeisters to stock crappie in a small pond. They spawn prior to all other species so they'll constantly have the upper hand at the dinner table. They also tend to spawn often and randomly, so what a lot of pond owners who have stocked crappie end up with is an overpopulation of stunted crappie. Unless you are on site and able to aggressively manage (as in almost daily) I would discourage the stocking of crappie in your pond.

I also second RC's suggestion to stock RES.

Good luck and post pictures of your project when you get a chance!

Tyler, do some searching on here reference crappies in small ponds. I think you'll find you probably aren't going to want to stock them.

Also research stocking numbers and timing reference BG. You are further north and I wouldn't utilize the stocking methods commonly given for more southern ponds or you can end up with stunting problems with the BG and reproduction issues with the bass.

Hey Tyler,

CJB has a great point on the stocking issue. I did not even consider you live farther North when I gave you those numbers. Hence the reason I said I wasn't an expert!! It should be close to those numbers but may very well be a little less. And like he said you don't have as much growth time there in the summer as we do so you may want to wait till the next spring to introduce predator fish. Research it for sure. I am sure you can find your answeres on this site. Your already going the right direction!

I agree that crappie are difficult to manage, especially if you have to remove 250-450 crappie each year that are 5"-7" long and not growing due to being too crowded.
Some homework about crappie in ponds:
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=92447#Post92447

IMO first get the pond fishery established for 4-6 yrs then if desired after homework, add the crappie. You will want the LMB population to be reproducing and common or abundant before adding crappie.

Consider adding FHM as early as you can get them in March or April. Build the food chain FIRST.
http://www.pondboss.com/news.asp?id=61

I would also add your RES at this time - 30:70 or 50:50 RES:BG. Get RES growing and as subadults then add the BG, YP and LMB in the fall 2012 or spring of 2013. RES numbers always lag behind the numbers of BG, thus the earlier stocking and higher stocking numbers of RES - 50:50. In more northern areas, I would not add the BG for them to reproduce before adding LMB. This increases the chance of BG outpacing the LMB. Remember you want LMB abundant to prey heavily on small crappie and other common panfish. Plan to have the newly stocked fingerling LMB feed mainly on FHM and possibly YOY YP until the LMB get to 6"-8" long. Then the spawn of BG will become the backbone of the food chain to carry the LMB population for the future years. IMO ideally the BG and LMB should both spawn the same spring for the first time, thus the new LMB will help thin the hatchling BG. Others may have other opinions and experience with stocking in your area of IA. Lots of ways to stock a pond in IA. Consider 500BG:RES and 70-100 LMB per acre for a general fishing pond. Stocking Numbers will be different for an emphasis on growing numerous memorable sizes of one particular species. Numbers to stock will depend on goals and size of fish and when they are stocked.

One thing I've found to work well is to stock some fingerling 2"-4" YP (100/ac) with the FHM. Add an extra 5-8 lbs/ac FHM if you add fingerling YP together with FHM. This insures lots of FHM to keep the food chain strong until late spring 2013. These YP will not eat many FHM until the YP are 4.5"-7" long which will be late summer- fall 2012. These YP will spawn in the spring of 2013 and provide young YP along with lots of FHM that have reproduced all summer(2012) for the fall12 or spring 2013 stocking of fingerling LMB and BG (maybe two sizes 1-3", 3"-5"). Once the LMB get to 10"-14" they will rapidly thin out the young perch & FHM and then focus of eating BG and RES. Once your LMB are reproducing and doing well then 'think' about crappie. Crappie will compete with LMB and YP for small fish and all those fish that eat small fish may not do as well as you'd like. If you add crappie think about adding shiners to diversify the food chain forage base for the crappie. It would be best to add the shiners when LMB are first introduced or before LMB. It is hard to get shiners established when LMB are common and reproducing.

I learn more everytime I read. Thanks for sharing your experience.

Come back regularly and keep us informed as to how the stocking and resulting fishery progresses.

I walked out to the pond yesterday and the lack of snow we have had this winter has me concerned how much water will be in the pond come spring. I was hoping that I could get the FHM and RES in the pond this spring but not sure how much water there will be. I would say there is less than a half acre of water in it right now and with no snow i am concerned it will no be enough water to begin stocking come April. Can I at least get the FHM going in minimal water? When I say minimal there is 5 foot of water in the whole thing with two holes that are probably 12 to 15 foot deep.

You have plenty of water for FHM now. Just need to wait for the water to warm up a bit. If you think you might want to have GSH in the pond at any time, now is the time to stock them too (well asap). It's durn near impossible to get them established once there are predators in the pond.

Ok I have figured out most of the abbreviations but what is GSH?

GSH is golden shiners.

Ok how many of each should I put in to start?

It depends on stocking goals. How long do you plan on having them in the pond before introducing predator fish? The longer the time between stocking forage and predators the less number or pounds is required.

I would start off with 25 lbs of FHM and 25 lbs of GSH. Let them reproduce for a summer. Also stock your RES as Bill Cody stated above. I know it can be hard to wait a few years for the pond to get right but in the end, it will be more than worth. Being located in Iowa, I would probably stock in April if the temperatures (air and water) are suitable for that.

Jludwig, do you see any problem with GSH and BG competing for the same forage? I'm uncertain whether or not to stock GSH this spring for just exactly that reason.

If you are stocking GSH early consider the stocking of GSH fry from Andersons Minnow Farm. Their minimimum order would be more than enough GSH. Do your homework, compare prices of fry vs larger GSH. IMO you would not need as many stocker larger GSH as FHM. Since GSH are a larger size and will likely spawn twice (2012 & 2013) before the 3" bass are big enough to eat the adults you will have lots of brooder GSH by the time the FHM are practically eliminated. IMO you can do well with 6-12 lbs (2-4 lbs/ac) of spawner GSH when the FHM (20-25 lbs) go in, assuming you start with fingerling LMB. If you stock GSH, make sure you have spawning places for them and FHM. They spawn differently. Again do your homework.
http://www.andersonminnows.com/foragefish.htm

Nate Herman may have some good advice for this tread. The biggest problem that I have with GSH is they are PESTS for the BG live bait anglers, ESPECIALLY ice fishermen. IMO GSH are mostly beneficial for the providing supplimental forage for crappie.If crappie are not stocked GSH are not really needed. IMO I would not add crappie nor GSH to a BG-RES-YP-LMB pond which will do just fine with out crappie & GSH.

In iowa we have a program that the dnr will stock your pond for a small fee with BG CC LMB. What is your guys thoughts on that? I have heard good and bad things about it but to save on cost would be the biggest benefit.

The fish stocking phase of building a pond is actually quite small compared to other aspects of getting a pond up and running. I would suggest against having the DNR stock your pond if you can swing the cost of stocking it yourself. They're going to stock their numbers, without taking your goals into consideration. That's one reason. There are others, but that is a big one. Whereabouts in Iowa are you? Did you answer that already?

I am 35 miles straight west of the Waterloo cedar falls area. I am in the north central part of the state.

Ok, gotcha. Just wondering if you were close enough to me to help you out. I'm in the Omaha area.

Anyway, I would consider other hatcheries before deciding to go with the DNR if you can find it in your budget to do so.

Ok guys the pond is open and need to start getting fish soon! Bill suggested putting FHM RES and some YP at the beginning. The pond is coming up slowly but not even close to full yet! There is about 6 foot of water in the whole thing with a few holes reaching 15 foot. I won't be putting anything in until probably April. All the stocking rates are per acre. My question is do I stock according to the surface area of water I have now or when it is full? Also if I stock the YP now at 100 per acre do I do more the following spring? How many RES do I put in to start? I saw it said 500 then do I put in 500 BG as well the following spring?

Also I have pics on my phone of the pond if I email them to one of you guys will you post them?

I wouldn't recommend stocking any predators until the pond is full. That is just me.

I would probably stock this cocktail for forage:
fathead minnows
blunt nose minnows
golden shiners
lake chub suckers
Mississippi grass shrimp
papershell crayfish
fingernail clams
thin shelled snails
mud puppies

I would probably let this combo cook for a year, making sure to get some corkscrew eelgrass started with the forage fish.

The following fall I would stock the redear sunfish.

Then in the spring I would stock the bluegill and the largemouth.

At this point the pond is going to be absolutely full of tiny fatheads, bluntnose, shiners, chubsuckers, shrimp, crawdads, and perhaps even some redear sunfish fry. It is at this point that your largemouth are ready to gain entry to the pond. If you've done your job they should almost be able to swim around with their mouths open and get full.

It is important to remember the stages of "opening" a pond.

You have the construction, where you build the rockpiles, holes, ledges, add rip rap, construction spawning nests and build cover.

Next you have the filling/vegetating. This doesn't mean that you watch your pond fill with water and go into a coma. This means that as your pond fills you start planting the plants you want in the pond. Corkscrew eelgrass is a great choice for spawning several species and as cover for forage and fry.

The third step should be adding forage. I personally believe in letting the forage brew sit predatorless for a year to build up a suitable population.

I usually recommend adding grass shrimp when you add your vegetation to the pond. I have never seen a pond with too many grass shrimp. It may also be wise to add mud puppies to the pond while you are adding the vegetation and the shrimp. Mud puppies can take a few years to grow and reproduce and establish themselves so it is never a bad idea to get them into the water as soon as there is something for them to eat and someplace for them to live.

The very last thing that you want to do is add predators. It can be hard to wait but your pond will thank you if you wait until there is more than enough food cooking for those new LMB fingerlings to eat!