Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Please Help!

Hello, I'am new to this site tonight. I have been given some info on stocking my new pond, and I want to check to see if it is good info or not, and to see if I'am getting a good price. Nothing final yet. So Here it goes. I have a 2 acer pond, it is just finnishing filling up now. 2/3 of it are 6' to 10' feet deep and 1/3 is 1' to 3' deep. the 6' to 10' area is dug, the rest is undisturbed soil. it has some cattails, and other rushes growing around it's edges. there is no underwater structure, and I have no planes to put any in. I use the pond to train dogs in. I don't want to take a chance on injuring them on any structure. I was advised to stock with 200 1" to 4" LMB, 400 1"to 4" red ear bluegills, and 1000 fat or flat head minnows. at a cost of $ 350.00 the MLB'S and redear bluegills were about 45 cents, and the fat head minnows were about 15 cents. I will not be fishing this more than a couple times a year myself. I might have a couple of trustworthy friends come over to fish a couple of times. C&R only. I was told that this was an average stocking program. Please help me out with some feed back. thanks,

i'm not one of the pros, but i sure wouldn't follow that recomendation. first of all, if you haven't yet, you need to decide what your goals are for the lake. with no structure, little fishing pressure and only minimal "management", you and your fishing buddies will not be very pleased what your future fishery if you intend to have a traditional lmb/bluegill pond. if you were going to manage for lmb, you need to have the bluegill forage base well established before you add the bass. many recommend 800 bluegill and 200 red ear fingerlings per acre to accomplish that. you can also add the minnows to help out the young bass you will be adding the following spring. recommendations for minnow numbers vary widly so hopefully somebody else will chime in here. add 50-75 lmb per acre the next year. you can also add up to 100 channel cats if you'd like. you might want to consider just stocking and feeding channel cats with no other fish types. that gives you and your friends something to catch "a few times a year" with few management concerns. if you want lmb, spend an evening or two studying this site and you'll learn more than want to, but definently the minimum you need to successfully manage a fishery of that type and complexity. most of us love the work. we plan, properly stock, feed, fertilize, areate, cull, restock, add structure, control weeds and algae etc. etc. etc. good luck with your pond, and most of all, enjoy it! btw, in my area, bluegill fingerlings are under .30c, lmb are about .80c, channel cats are .25c and minnows are $30 a lb.
-jb

The usual recommendation that I've seen on fathead minnows is 5 pounds per acre. I generally stock more and continue stocking yearly. Not a lot of people agree with me on the yearly stocking but I like to add the additional yearly forage and they seem to keep spawning.

They cost $7-$8 per pound in North Texas. I might not overstock them at $30 per pound. Well heck, I just might. I refer to my pond as a money pit anyway.

$30 per pound for fatheads? No wonder you all thought I was crazy for stocking 100 lbs last fall. I originally stocked the pond at $4.50 per pound. I had a bad loss on them so they restocked them for $2 per pound. I have a 2/3 acre pond and now I have minnows every where.

Dan-O
If my intrest was not primarily in making a pond for recreational, frequent fishing I would under stock the LMB & BG (cut recommended rates by at least half). Over stock Fathead minnows (double recommended rates). If my guess is correct such a pond which will have little fishing pressure & harvest should be much eaiser to maintain without overpopulation/stunting & could provide some LARG LMB & BG for catching when you do decide to wet a line!
Ric