Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Help me adopt my fish family

Yep that's still me posting. I'm sort of like the candy bars....

... sometimes I feel like a nut.....


... sometimes I don't....

Well, it's been awhile, and I finally took the first sampling from the pond. I took the easy route; I used a minnow trap. I had a slice of stale bread, so I took Cody's advice and broke 3 chunks off of it and placed them inside the cage. I walked the shoreline to find a spot that had minimal vegetation so it wouldn't disappear into the weeds. I found an area about 5' wide that was bare, then random vegetation beyond the perimeter. I tossed the minnow cage into about 2-1/2 feet of water...maybe 3' tops. 3 hours later, 3 fish and one big ol' BF tadpole.

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I dunno....Perch?

You'll be picking up a fishing rod in no time, Bski.

What all did you stock again?? I recall SMB and YP as predators...what about forage?

Spring 2007 = 60# FH + 800 4" - 5" YP + 1300 2" RES + 250 papershell crayfish
Spring 2008 = 20# GS + 50 4" - 5" SMB

Redears, Bski.

I think that they are Redear. At that size you should be able to tell the difference between Redear and Bluegill based on the eartab. A Bluegill would have an eartab. Those fish have almost no eartab.

The vertical bars look very similar as well.

Would 1 year old Redear spawn?

If you stocked them as fingerlings last spring, then they are more than 18 months old. Right? They should spawn at 4 inch length. BTW, you wont catch many RES in a trap in shallow water so it is not representative of the population. Try putting the trap in a more fishy looking place near some weeds or brush and see if you dont get some fatheads.

I think it's a whole lot more likely than they only grew 1/2" in 14-15 months.

The original stockers could have easily grown from 2" to 6" last year - that's big enough for (some) to spawn this year. Awful good growth for the 2008 YOY. I'm not 100% convinced either way - maybe 90% a new spawn, 10% really crappy growth.

Yep, they were fingerlings 14 months ago. If these are the offspring of that stocking, about when did they hatch?
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The sampling area was surrounded by alot of vegetation...fishy looking.
I have been seeing FH cruising in small packs of 25 or so around the dock.

I'll bet Theo is right. This is the original stockers and they were really only 1 - 2" inventory in May 2007. Nothing else really adds up.

How thick were they, Bski?

Really great condition - superb 2008 YOY growth.
Thin condition - slow growing original stockers.

maybe 3/8", definitely more than 1/4".
I just reviewed the pics we took from the May 2007 stocking. The dipnet shot of 8 RES fingerlings showed mostly 1" - 1.5" and then there was a very large one; maybe 2 1/2". Mixed stock? If yes, the larger specimens might have been able to spawn last year...?

Calling Student Moderator. I agree that the sizes of these are possibly too big for this springs spawners. Plus you stocked a large number. Could very well be slow growth. Especially in a new pond, not many crustateans to go around.
Also, if they came for the bread, they may be pretty hungry.

I would think that there would be plenty of food for last year's Redear. Sixty pounds of fatheads would produce ten's of thousands of fry.

No way did those RES spawn last year.

Chris how good are itty-bitty RES at catching itty-bitty FHM? I'm maybe gonna find out this year, with adult Redears.

I have no idea, Theo.

I would think that 2" Redears would be able gorge themselves on Fathead fry(<12mm in length).

Almost 100% of the time you will see accelerated growth of lepomids in a brand new pond.

I'd almost bet my last dollar that those aren't the original stockers.

Just my opinion, and I can't say when those were spawned, but I have YOY redears that are 1-1.25 inches right now, and I'm as far north as you, right? If that happened in my pond, I would think that your bigger, newer pond has a great chance to have 2008 class fish that are over an inch. It is almost August, after all. I'll bet you have an unbelievable invertebrate profile. Very few bigger sunfish to crop off the bigger adult invertebrates.

...and those are definitely redears.

I had 1.25 inch RES in an aquarium and fed them FH fry. They did eat the smallest fry I put in which were about 3/8 inches long. There was one 1.75 inch RES and it ate the slightly larger fry.

I stocked the first RES into my pond in late March and they averaged 1.25 - 1.5 inches. The FH were spawning at the time and continued to spawn for many weeks. I've been able to observe these stockers very well lately because they're on beds in very shallow water. I estimate they're 3 - 4 inches now.

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The only other fish besides the RES fingerlings and the FH are 24 adult RES stocked from good ol' Mr H's pond this spring. They began spawning about the time the FH spawn slowed down and are still at it. There has pretty much been a constant supply of fry in the pond since the small RES went in.

I stand corrected. I now remember that the pond took some time to fill; it then wasn't stocked for a while. Sunil, myself and others had to practically cyber-beat him to get the fatheads stocked. So, as usual, Bruce would be correct that the critters have had plenty of time to become abundant. Brettski, I cant remember if you seeded the pond with grass or left some grass and stumps, etc. I will re-visit your construction documentary.
I also dont know about the other species stocked; do they eat invertabrates much, or mostly fish? Would they possibly have spawned earlier with no BG?

Last year, we had a very good amount of weeds and cover growth along most of the shoreline. Also, since the water was 3 -4 feet short of pool last year, there is a very long/narrow hump in the middle of the pond (about 1/4 ac) that was shallow enough for heavy weed growth. This year, same thing (uncertain of the now fully submerged at 7' deep hump...?), but the flooded timber area and other new shallows have provided outstanding cover.
Would the RES spawn in the sand beach? If yes, it was well underwater since this last Feb and directly adjacent to the shallows and flooded timber.

How does one determine when RES would spawn?
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Bruce adds

Assuming you're not calling me a spineless weenie, you mean snails...right?
I never seeded for snails. Water started collecting July of 2006. If you build it, will they come anyway?

Brettski, I hope my post above didn't come across as bragging.



PS. It probably was bragging, but I hope it didn't come across that way. If you want to swap your magnificent pond for my little mud hole just say the word. Anyway, what's the point of having a pond if you can't boast about the successes?

...it ain't bragging if you can do it

Thanks Brettski, but I didn't do much. Any successes I have now should be chalked up to good luck.