Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Any thoughts on this combo-RBT/HBG/YP/CC?

Stocking my 1 acre pond after winter kill, have new aeration system, was thinking 20 RBT (8-10"), 40 HBG (3-5") 40 YP (3-5") and 20 CC (8-10"), any thoughts on this mix?

Are you going to feed?

Do you have any forage in the pond right now?

Yep, I will be feeding, for forage I have just crayfish, a few FHM, tadpoles/frogs, whatever was left after winter kill, which wasn't much.

What fish "were" in there?

I am asking so when the pros come along, they will be able to give you better guidance...

If the RBT do well, then the CC will not. If the CC do well, then the RBT will most likely be belly up. It's almost impossible to get warm water and cool water species to do well in the same pond. Now, putting the RBT in the pond in Sept/Oct and fishing them out when the water temps climb past 65°F is doable. But, if the RBT will do well in the pond thru the summer then the water is most likely too cool for CC to do well.

The pond formerly was LMB/BG/CC.

I am thinking of the seasonal RBT like you mentioned, esshup. Do you think I may need a year round predatory type like LMB or SMB to keep the HBG and YP in check (as at least initially I don't think the CC would be enough to keep the YP and HBG from overpopulating)? Though if this works, the RBT would hopefully be large enough to feed on the YP and any HBG fry through spring?

It depends on how fast the YOY grow, and how large the trout are. Don't forget, you can be the predator too, by harvesting "X" amount of fish for the table every year.

It'll probably all depend on how many RBT you stock, what size they are, and what size the YOY fish are. Plus RBT aren't as piscivorous as Browns.

SMB wouldnt' be a bad idea. You could still stock RBT seasonally.

Esshup, doesn't the LMB from the past come into play here. I would think they(some small ones that survived) would need to be considered into the future. They would keep things in check?????

BD- I have stocked RBT for the past two years. 50 into a 1 acre pond. They will cut down some of the BG fry, but you can't feed them if you want this to happen. The minute you start feeding them, their spoiled.

My signature has my mash up in a quarter acre 15 foot max depth, usually stays around 12 with average I woul say of 6. I fed my trout AquaMax all winter. We did have over a month that I was ice locked. Fry and FHM seem to have declined. Trout gained a pound. It's been fun catching them. Your goals look similar to mine. Good luck.

Correct. I was thinking it was a new pond without LMB. Looking back, unless the fish population can be verified then my recommendations are retracted.

My initial concern is if habitat is acceptable the CC will spawn. If that occurs you may have to deal with an overpopulation of CC. I have seen it happen in ponds without bass.

Thanks for the input everyone!

I don't think, key word being 'think', that there is a single fish alive after the kill, I have seen zero. I mean, even the bluegill fry were all dead. That being said, there is always a possibility. I don't have any caves for the CC to spawn, and CC I had in the past never did, but there is always a chance. Would that event happen, would it be possible to add a few LMB at a later date to correct the situation?

And I do plan on feeding, so maybe I won't get the predation out of the RBT that I need anyway?

The way I understand it, you can always add LMB. But removing them once in there is where you run into problems. Consider other predators before you do, like esshup mentioned with SMB. How about walleye?

If you stock the RBT in the fall and don't feed them till spring, I would think you'll get some predation out of them. Then in the spring, let your situation determine whether or not to feed early in the spring, or later.

Can you get feed trained YP?

Walleye would interest me, but I am not sure my pond (1 acre, about 12' deep at deepest) would work with them, the YP I will be getting are pellet fed. I like the idea of maybe seeing how the fry situation is in the spring before feeding the RBT, maybe that would work, as I usually stop feeding the other fish in the fall anyway.

If YP will survive in your pond so will the walleye. Do not hesitate to stock walleye in a WI pond especially if it is aerated. That helps with walleye survival during marginal conditions. I would not use WE with LMB. With LMB you have to stock too large of individual walleye when restocking. Bass have big mouths and stocker WE are shaped like cigars.