Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Fish stocking Ideas for my Canadian Pond

Hello all,
It is very nice to be part of this Fantastic forum I stumbled upon over a year ago. I finally decided to sign up and post something . I have read and learned a ton of stuff here, it is amazing what and how much many of you know here. I also am a subscriber and love every issue! I have recommended it (magazine/website) to people almost anytime I have spoken about ponds/lakes and fishing. Thanks for all of it to all of you here!

Now that I have warmed you guys up a bit onto my post LOL .
I have a beautiful 1 acre pond about 16’ deep in the centre with sloped sides and a shallow weedy area at one end with cattails on 2 sides also, it was dug I would say maybe 40 – 50 years ago (when the local road was built).
I had stocked about 190 4”-6” Rainbow Trout this past spring along with a gallon of Northern Redbelly Dace (very nice looking minnows) and a couple gallons of Emerald Shiners. Also I had brought in about 100 (wild) Yellow Perch 2”–4” size. Through the past summer I had been trapping and adding minnows from a local creek (difficult to locate live minnows in large quantities for stocking here, if found can be expensive). I have identified them as: Creek Chubs, Common Shiners (similar to Golden Shiners I think), Blacknose Dace, and a few Fatheads & Suckers. Some (about 15, and will add more) Crayfish were trapped and put in as well as a couple of Brook Trout too. I caught and stocked many frogs young & adult and even some large snails. The pond has many Sticklebacks in it and tons of aquatic bugs/invertebrates in and on the water.
Now my plan, is to have a very diverse easy to catch fishing pond with a few “nice sized” ones for each type of fish. I have a newly born son (November 16, he loves our goldfish and already gets excited looking at them) that will help me with the pond and balance the fish population . I would like to have many types of minnows, crayfish, frogs and such, as well as some Rainbow Trout and Yellow Perch (already in, may add some more feed trained perch from a local pond I know of). This year I want to hopefully add Bluegill, Pumpkinseeds, Black Crappie (I know they can be a bad idea but I think I really want them), and the main predator is going to be Small Mouth Bass caught in whatever size I want (fry/fingerling to master size) from a local lake nearby. I know it may be a bad idea to mix but I think I may want to add some Large Mouth Bass in also (you guys sound like you have so much fun with them, plus I may need some to help the SMB keep the rest of the fish from overpopulating and stunting. Also I was thinking of adding a few Rock Bass at a later date but they may be a bad idea but then again I don’t know much about them either.

My stocking #’s are probably high but here they are anyways maybe some of you guys could help fine tune them and give opinions on all of my ideas.

Rainbow trout - I will not add anymore till I remove some.
Yellow Perch - I may add another 100 – 150 more feed trained 6” – 9” to the 100+ I have in already.
Bluegill - 200 – 300 1” – 4” fingerlings.
Pumpkinseeds - 100 – 200 fingerlings.
Black Crappie - maximum of 50.
Small Mouth Bass - 100 fingerlings probably next year or some this year some next year.
Large Mouth Bass - approx. 50 I would think no more?

At some point I want to try and get some Golden Shiners and some Mudminnows in if I can find some.
Now I have one other question does anyone of you know where I can get the Bluegill in particular (really want some of them ). I have a name of a company in southern Ontario that supplies Large Mouth Bass, Crappie, Walleye, Trout, and he says he should be able to get me Bluegill also. The one problem is it’s a day and a half drive away and they are (I think) fairly expensive ($2.50/ 2”-4”fingerlings) compared to the prices you guys have down south. Are there any other fish stocking farms (or someone with a pond full of fish they want to get rid of :)) in Ontario (preferably western Ontario) that anyone here know of I would greatly appreciate it. I still have to find some Pumpkinseeds from somewhere I would really love some of them.
Anyways, I gotta go enough dreaming for now as my wife would say.
Looking forward to any info you guys can share with me.
Thanks
Y

Hello Yurdon, welcome to Pond Boss.

Hang on and I'm sure one of the experts will be along to address your questions.

Thanks,
I thought you were part of that group or just hangin out with the cool guys LOL
What do you think out of curiousity, too crazy of ideas I have or manageable?
I hope so cause I'd like to have all those fish if possible :).
I like using these goofy smilies but will stop now cause I'm sure it gets annoying LOL

Y

Nope, no expert here, I'm more along the line of one of the village idiots, not the head of the village idiots mind you, just one of the members at large.

My only comment would be that a pond will only support so much biomass. If you overstock the pond you will be asking for a major fish kill unless you very actively manage the pond. Seems like your stocking numbers are a little high too me for a 1 acre pond. But keep in mind I'm no expert. Let's let one of the experts discuss your stocking numbers.

That is basically what my goal is also. We had a thread about this recently. I'll try to put my fingers on it.

It looks like you are on the right track.

If I were you I wouldn't stock LMB if I wanted SMB.In ponds that have SMB and LMB, the LMB outcompete the SMB. You can probably get around this if you harvest more LMB every year to try and keep the populations the same. Some northern pondmeisters will be able to give you a better idea on the numbers.

Also make sure the fish you buy are big enough to not be eaten by the trout and yellow perch.

Found the thread below. On the second page of the thread linked below there is a discussion about a high catch rate pond versus a trophy pond. It has some interesting discussion.

A warning though, one of our members has a rather disturbing habit of bending his bass. He has taken photos of the bent bass and they are also in this thread (actually he started the thread and it was not supposed to be about having a high catch rate pond versus a trophy pond but that is where the discussion went).

Thread regarding: Culling LMB; OR, Bending Your Bass - Innocent Fun or Evidence of a Dimented Mind; OR, Satan has Possessed CJ's Dog details at 11; OR, Trophy pond versus high catch rate pond

Welcome to the forum Yurdon, sounds like your planning a real zoo of a pond. I agree with JHAP, watch the total poundage of fish so your pond can handle the diversity.
You didn't mention if you had aeration, which would be a good addition especially with Trout.
The main thing now is sample the pond in the spring to see if you had winterkill of any species.
Good luck, and Trout Rule!!

Smallmouth bass would do better in central Canada

And you should let your trout grow before introducing bass

If it all works out in the end, let me know! A small pond with so much fish diversity will be a tough pond to manage IMHO.

What is the water source to your pond? Run off, spring fed, feeder stream?

Catching minnows from your local stream maybe a waste of your time... Blacknose daces, common shiners and most other "minnows" you catch in a stream may survive in a pond, but will not reproduce... The emerald shiners are also not adapted to pond life. The northern redbellies should do fine, but may not survive the predation of SMB and LMB. If you really desire a forage base for your pond, stick with the fathead minnows, the northern redbellies and golden shiners. They are at least adapted to small pond life and may take hold...

The sticklebacks should survive in your pond with the aquatic vegetation being present and will add a forage base for your predatory fish. The only sucker species that is adapted to pond life in the lake chubsucker which is threatened in Ontario, so catching and moving them to your pond would most likely be illegal. White suckers would most likely survive in your pond but not reproduce.

As some others on here have said, be careful of the amount of biomass you place in your pond. A 1 acre pond can only support so many fish. When you start adding numerous species into a 1 acre pond, it can get real crowded really quick!

You may want to decided which fish species you REALLY love and stick with them... I would shy away from the LMB if you are going to go with the SMB. BCP may reproduce in your pond and if they do, you're gonna have your hands full!

If I owned your pond I think I would stick with a little more basic fish community.

Leave the number of YP you have stocked where it is. See if they reproduce successfully this spring. If so, then you will not need to stock anymore. If they don't, you can annually trap and transfer 50 or so a year... If you are craving to have feed trained perch, then get some but finding a source of them where you are maybe a challenge.

If you add BG, SMB will not be able to keep up with them and they will overpopulate and stunt unless you heavily manage them yourself through fishing, seining, trapping etc... You may want to stay away from BG.

If you can find a source of pumpkinseeds, they are a little less prolific and the SMB may be able to keep them under control, but you will still have to manage them intensively.

Black crappies are hit and miss pond spawners. I know you said you really like them, but I would recommend you stay away from them in such a small pond.

SMB could be a good addition to your pond but as others have said they will not compete with LMB. So if you do stock LMB that is all you will have. You do have the option of catching larger SMB, say 8" plus and transferring them to your pond. This is a method to at least keep SMB present in your pond with LMB pressure.

If it was my pond, I would annually stock the number of rainbow trout I was going to use. I would see if the YP spawned successfully and then base the need to stock further from that. I would shy away from the BG and consider the pumpkinseed. I would also shy away from the black crappie. I would consider SMB for the pond but would keep in mind that if I stocked LMB, the SMB would be out competed. Another thing to consider is if you do stock LMB they will get to a size that will make future stocking of rainbow trout more expensive as you will have to stock larger trout to keep them from being expensive bass food...

Best of luck!

Wow, CJ, now that is a thorough answer, great job.

I tend to agree with CJBS. For at least now and for 2-4 yrs forget BC, BG, LMB. Add pumpkinseeds later after the SMB, if you decide you need more forage species. Reproduction from them could create too many panfish that would then result is a possible food shortage. For starters stay with trout YP, SMB and your minnow/shiner type fish. Spend you efforts managing that combination toward some sort of balance. Whenever you become unhappy with that combo then add an appropriate new species depending where how the balance is playing out. For starters I would only stock up to 50-65 SMB/ac after you have a decent forage base established. The SMB if transferred could be addes over a period of 1-2 yrs. Since your YP will hatch in spring 2009 get at least a few SMB in before fall 2009. Look for bluntnose minnows in your local collections, they are good additions as reproducing forage for your plan.