Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Concerned Observation

I stocked my new 1/2 acre pond last April with 150CC, 300CNBG, & 1500FHM. The CC were 4-6 inches long. I've fed them daily one feeding per day and have watched them grow at an unbelievable rate. This forum had advised me in the past that 150CC in a 1/2 acre pond may be too many and suggested that I take out a few. Seeing the size they had grown to I decided to let the grandkids fish. They caught 15 in about an hour all nice size fish 12-14 inches. The concern is, when I feed now, I'm only seeing a couple of CC feeding along with the CNBG. During the summer months I had a couple of GBH that were regular visitors to the pond. I also had a few torrential rains that hit our area which overflowed the pond at the spillway where the water actually went over my 12" high screens. Do you think it's possible that I've lost that many CC to predation and overflow?? I'm now concerned about the CNBG also. I was waiting until next spring to stock my LMB. Should I add more CNBG now or just hope that there are enough left to spawn and feed the LMB?

Kent, it's hard to say how many fish might have left via you spillway during high water or how many the GBH got while you wern't looking. Have you tried a siene net for sampling?

Except for certain flowing-water loving species (GC come to mind), only little fish are likely to be lost to an overflow. So I bet few if any CC got washed out; I'm sure they hunkered down deep, riding the storm out.

I don't think GBH would have much chance at CC, unless they spend more time in the shallows than mine do. They're only there when there's fish food to be eaten.

OTOH, you have broken the bad news to your cats that the world is not always a friendly place for them by catching 15 of them. Catching a CC (returned or not) depresses feeding by the rest of the population for a while. It has always lasted a day or so in my pond, but other PMs have reported longer CC feeding suppression intervals. The variation may have to do with how dependant the cats have become on pelleted feed.

How are your Coppernose doing? What is their current size vs. size when stocked? Any signs that they spawned this year? What are your LMB stocking plans - numbers & size?

Theo, the CNBG were very small when I stocked them, probably about 1-1/2" or smaller. They have also grown tremendously. I don't know what the growth rate should be, but the grandkids have caught a couple that are the size of an adult's hand. I don't think they're all like that, I'm not sure because I haven't allowed any serious fishing yet. The ones that I can see coming up for the feed look 4"-5" long. As far as whether they spawned or not, I can't tell. I wouldn't think that they did because of their small size when I stocked them. That's why I was going to wait until this coming spring to stock the LMB, just to be sure the CNBG had chance to spawn. I do know the GBH did get a few of the CC, I saw it catching them and I found a couple dead with holes in them. This was going on daily, for a while. To answer Shorty's question, no I have not tried a seine sample, I have some structure in the pond that may prevent me from seining effectively. Theo, how many LMB should I stock this spring and what size? I would like to stock a larger fish so the growing time would be shorter.

LMB stocked next Spring will have the following to eat:
1) Beau Coup FHM, up to adult size (3"-4" max),
2) A virtually certain 2008 CNBG spawn, size immaterial until later in the year,
3) Adult CNBG stocked this year, probably mostly in the 5"-6" range, and
4) Adult CC well over a foot in length.

Any LMB you put in should have plenty of the right-sized food available to thrive and grow well. Food source #4 is pretty much out of contention. You don't want the LMB to eat food source #3 - these CNBG are the foundation of your forage base, that you want to spawn as much as possible next year and, over time, fill the pond with BG of all sizes for bass of all sizes. Food source #1 and #2 will have to do, as far as forage fish. I would think (more input on this, PLEASE) that FHM would be decent forage for LMB up to about 6" in length.

An alternative might be feed trained LMB, if available. If fed a high-protein fish feed to provide most of their food requirements, they could be stocked at a larger size. Your developing forage base (mostly the CNBG, I bet even feed trained LMB will put a world of hurt on FHM) will live to feed the next generation of bass. 5"-6" BG should be pretty safe from predation by LMB as large as 10"-12", if the latter are occupied eating pellets.

I would stock 75-100 LMB in small sizes if I intended to manage for large BG, or 25-35 LMB if I wanted to manage for large bass. We usually lower stocking numbers if larger fish are used (One reason is you don't have to figure some of them will die before reaching a larger size, since they're already there). I am less comfortable with large LMB stocking numbers, but as a WAG I'd go 50-60 if managing for large BG, 20-25 if managing for large bass.

Theo, it sounds like I'm good to go for LMB stocking in the spring. I was thinking about adding more FHM, what do you think? I would love to get some feed trained LMB, but I don't know of any hatchery near my home or in nearby Miss. that sells feed trained fish. The feed I'm using now is in unmarked bags that I get from a hunting buddy of mine that runs a catfish farm in Miss. I'm not sure what brand it is, but it sure does work, and all the fish in the pond are eating it. Will LMB eventually come to the feed like the CC and CNBG did?

If your fatheads have been spawning like fatheads do, I'd think adding more now would be superfluous. Kind of like adding a snowball to the snowboulder that has built up rolling down the mountainside. Maybe that's a bad simile for Louisiana?

Look at it this way - you have 5-6 months to look for feed trained LMB. There may be a source of them close enough to you already listed here - I have no idea.

LMB will under some circumstances pick up pellet feeding on their own, but it would have to be considered unusual. Maybe 3 dozen of mine have learned to eat pellets. Here are the circumstances - I have always had a bass heavy pond. Over about three years, the bass wiped out a huge initial forage base of GSH. All this time, the shiners were eating pellets. Somewhere along the way (a little over 2 years ago was when I first noticed) a couple of the bass started eating pellets directly. More of them have learned since then.

IIRC Dave Davidson also reports he has some self-taught feed trained LMB, but like I said, it's not the norm. Maybe you have to be a moderator?

I suggest you find out what the makeup and % of protein the feed you are getting off your friend is. CC will thrive on food that is not optimum for BG (and not suitable for LMB). If you know what you are feeding now, you can make informed comparisons to other feeds.

Kent, I noticed the same thing when I first caught some of my cc. We only caught 5 or 6 and it really slowed down the cc feeding for the next few days. But, I am happy to say they are feeding like crazy again. So I would give them a few days and I bet they pick back up where they left off.

Thanks guys. Sometime I think I worry way too much about the pond and the fish. Theo, thanks for the tip on the feed. I want to feed what will be benificial to all species in the pond. Do you have any reccomendations? John, I think I will try those CC again this weekend, I do want to take a few more out to make room for the LMB.