Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Did I overdo it?

Howdy yall,

Well, I just purchased a new property that has a 1/3-1/2 acre pond on it, fairly deep around 10-15' in the middle (not exact on depth)

Im out here in Midland, TX, so just having water and the opportunity to fish is a blessing, not many fisheries in this area. Has always been a dream of mind to own and have a fishing pond and I dove right in within the first week of owning it, my wife was a little annoyed that I had fish stocked before our cable/internet was setup.

Anyways, sorry to ramble, but I made the 6 hour drive to Overton Fisheries (awesome place) and loaded up on a variety of fish. Prob too many and too different of species for some of yalls taste, lol But Im learning and have been soaking up so much info on this forum since joining(slightly addicted)

This is what I put in

50 northern lmb (was really indecisive on these vs florida still not sure if I went the right direction)
50 HSB
100 CNBG
65 CC
65 Blue Cat
50 Red Ear
10 pounds of fathead

Also stocked 25 lbs of adult rainbow, just so the kids would have some instant fishing action this winter. Wasn't sure on this, but has been a hit and well worth the extra money.

Now from reading I know that Im a little heavy on fish, so aerator is in the works savings wise. But as far as fish species go, would yall look to add more non predator type of fish, like bluegill and more minnows to help with all the predators. Once it warms up this spring I will be making another trip to load up on tilapia to help control some grass growth and to add more bait for the fish. Was thinking of trying to get a couple hundred more bluegills in there pretty quick and maybe even more fatheads as I know the trout have had their way with some of them

To give you a small window of my goal, I have 3 small kids and my main focus is to have ample fish to catch and let the kids and their friends have fun with. Of course the angler in me dreams of big trophy fish so I also want to take a few steps to work towards that in the future as far as thinning out the catfish as they get to good eating size.

Sorry for the long read, just have so much running through my head over it all and im loving every minute of it. Outside my intro forum post this is my first one so go easy on me if this is in the wrong forum, lol

Seems like you are going to have some hungry fish in no time.

bigharge It sure sounds like you are way heavy on predators, but I'm sure the experts will chime in soon to give you guidance on recommended stocking rates.

You did not mention what size of fish you stocked for each type? A recommended stocking plan from what I've witnessed is usually to establish the forage base before adding predators. Depending on the size of your predator fish I think you would be shocked to find how short a time those 10lbs of fatheads would last. Your 100 cnbg and 50 redear may already be expensive fish food.

When the predator way out number the forage, you are going to have trouble probably within a few months.

Search the site for information on small ponds. There was been lots of discussion on what others have done with their 1/2 acre ponds.

Yeah, all fish stocked were fingerlings 3-6" range other than the trout of course. I know I'm predator heavy, so my next step is to add more cnbg, tilapia, and minnows. Also protein feeding to help a little bit.

Yes, but if I had 3 little fishermen and access to Overton's, I probably would have, too.

Couple thoughts on fixes:

Focus on forage. An ample stocking of larger CNBG [as big as you can get them,5-8" range would be best] will create a big endogenous food source fairly early this spring, and be predator resistant for a while as your LMB and cats grow. If you stock minnows of any kind, unless it's huge shiners, they'll all be chowed by your preds.

Get a feeder. If your fish will take floating food now, go ahead and start feeding with AM 500 or GFC. This will speed the growth [an spawnng]of your CNBF and RES, and may help reduce some of the predation from cats as they grow.

Don't let your kids release any cats they catch. They'll get really smart and really big quickly; they're fun, but a 1/2 acre pond with 10-20 smart hookshy CC [and BC!] is a situation you might want to avoid. Just ask Catmandoo.

Yeah, after reading up on the cats I realized that I overdid it quickly. But I will definitely be culling them as we catch them, better to eat anyways. Might leave some big blues in there to get fat and nasty. Always fun for a 4 year old to have a break off, can really get the imagination going, lol.

First, welcome to Pond Boss.

From my perspective, all those catfish are gong to become a problem. They are voracious eaters, they become hook-shy very quickly, they grow like crazy, they become serious predators when they get to a few pounds, and they become nasty pests that will dig holes in the sides of your ponds, plus muddying the water. I would recommend you take out every one that you catch when you start fishing the pond. Don't put more catfish in during any season that you expect to eat the next season. I add about 20-25 each season, and I take out about 20-25 each season, and I still have problems with them. I'm going to try and completely eliminate them from my LMB/BG/RES pond, and just grow them in a Hybrid Bluegill and Catfish pond that I can easily drain if necessary.

Your idea of adding more CNBG and tilapia is good. Both will provide forage for the LMB and the HSB.

With all those fingerlings in there, I wouldn't add trout until at least next season. They will eat most of what you put in this year. Once your other fish get a little bigger, the trout will be wonderful. The kids will love them. It is just plain fun to feed them because of the antics and acrobatics. If you can get them, get some golden trout, which are mutants of rainbow trout. They are very easy to see in the water and are a thrill for you and visitors.

Lastly, you really should add a supplemental feeding program to grow the CNBG, HSB, and catfish. If you are there nearly every day, a hand feeding program in invaluable in observing the fish growth and health. I'd recommend a good fishmeal-based floating pellet food of no less than 34% protein, and probably above 36%. Get small pellets -- less than 1/4 inch. Excellent Purina and Cargil products are available at many farm and feed stores. Up here our local farm co-ops carry "Big Strike" and "L'l Strike." If you can't find the proper Purina or Cargil feeds, the L'l Strike would be a good place to start for your fingerlings. I would not recommend a catfish pellet for the mix of fish you have.

Good luck,
Ken

Stocked all 3"-6" of the following: 50LMB,50 HSB,100 CNBG,65 CC,65 Blue Cat,50 Red Ear, 10 lb FHM into an existing pond.
My first question is what was the fish community like in the existing pond? Lots of results can occur based on what predators were already in the pond. Hopefully you left out the part of your story that the pond did not have any existing fish in it. If the pond had a fairly common situation of being bass heavy, then many of the new fingerling fish will be fish food before they spawn. LMB 12"-16" long will readily eat 4"-6" catfish. If some hook smart LMB were present you may not in reality after summer of 2013, be predator heavy. Of those you stocked if LMB were present, the ones mostly likely to survive were the HSB and LMB. Time will tell the rest of the story.

Yeah, I didn't include that the pond was completely empty of fish as far as I know. Previous owner built the pond, and said that it was empty of fish. So dealing mostly with all new fish. I agree the trout have probably wiped out quite a few, but I kind of expected that a little when I added them. Hopefully nothing drastic, guess time will show

I'm also hand feeding at least once a day, although haven't had a lot of visitors to the feed do far, not sure what that means. I was told they don't feed much when it's cold and nasty outside. Also will add the cnbg and tilapia as soon as I can, hopefully can get the cnbg within the next week or so.

I've already had 3-4 catfish floating and dead. From what I described I was told it may be ich? Not real sure but seems to be from the last batch of cc's that were put in.

Been catching a lot of trout lately and starting to wonder if they haven't hit some of these fingerlings pretty hard. My brother caught 4 this afternoon on a baby bass crankbait, lol. That can't be good

If you are cleaning the trout check the stomach contents to see if there are small fish in them.

Haven't cleaned any trout yet, but definitely will once we start taking them out.

I think you should do a lot of reading before jumping into the "Deep end of the Pond", so to speak. What were you thinkin when you did'n get the cable first? But, then again my default is "Well Honey, I wish you had let me know how important this was to you. Think about how I can make it up to you." I'm going down to the pond to do the same!!! But, seriously I think you should do some research by reading the books that Bob Lusk has written, fine books and a fine man. Maybe you could hire him to come help you with ideas and to have a look see at your pond. I'm not sure if he still provides this service, but if he does, it would be money well spent. But knowing your situation, I think I'd get "Cable" first.
God Bless Everyone. BigMouthBob

Everybody has "happy feet" when they have their first pond. I stocked my brand new pond without of ever hearing of Pond Boss. I was lucky and used an excellent fish stocker (can't think of the name they use )(Propigator sp). And I went real easy on the catfish because of some other predators I wanted to put in.

bigharge, those 130 catfish you put into your pond are going to put a dent into your fish and your pocket. I've been taking mine out the last couple years and I think I'm down to six or seven. But these guys are food hogs and you can't hardly catch them on the same bait twice. The last 2 were 28" and caught on raw turkey bacon. Gotta keep'em guessing.

Good luck with your new pond .

Welcome to PB. Best bet is to add adult CNBG and some tilapia as soon as possible (still too cold but time is now to order the fish). Supp feeding will help. You could run a seine a few times or trap some fish to selectively remove some species while small.