Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Raising Forage and Bait Growing FH behind netting?

In reading some of the older posts, I came across a couple of posts about raising forage fish behind an area of the pond that was "roped" off with netting.

In looking thru the Mempis Net & Twine Co. Inc. catalog, http://www.memphisnet.net I am unsure what netting would be needed? Heavy Delta 1/4" or do I need to drop down to 1/8"?

I have an area in the pond that is a finger of water, approx. 40' across, and 80' long, with 3' water depth in the center. I could block off half of the area and stock it with FH's and let them do their thing. If I block it off now, the water is cold enough so that I'm pretty sure that it's devoid of fish right after ice-out since it's on the South side of the pond and shaded a bit.

What's your thoughts?

esshup,

What species of fish do you currently have in your pond?

Russ:

LMB, BG, 50 HBG and <100 16" or so CC. I stocked 30# of FH and 20# of GS in the Spring and Fall last year (60# and 40# total). Part of the problem is that there isn't any cover in the pond with the exception of 3 five foot dia. porcupines. I'm going to be adding structure this year, but I think every minnow that I put in there gets eaten pretty quickly. If I had to guess, I'd say 500 BG from 9" on down and 6 LMB >14" and 30 or so <14" down to whatever survived from the hatch of 2007. No fish spawned successfuly last year due to the renovation.

I would go 1/8th inch. 1/4 inch would allow too many of the FHM to swim through.

That's what my initial thoughts were. Thanks. 1/8" it is!

Why would you want to grow FH in a pond that already has an established bass population. I would recommend using cage to grow additional forage species that have a chance at becoming productive members of your population.

Chad:

We're thinking alike, just talking different. There's a shallow area in the pond that I could turn into a cage just by stringing a net from one bank to another. It's "U" shaped, roughly 90 feet long by 50 feet wide, max depth 4'-5' in the center (now with the water up 2'). I figure I could give them some good room to grow if I were to take 1/3 to 1/2 of that and isolate it from any predators in the pond. I could put some FH spawning "shingles" in there as well. After going about this pond thing wrong for the past 5 years I want to try and turn it around.

I'll rectify the "no structure, no small fish cover" in the pond this year, but I wanted to see if I could grow some FH and keep them protected from the predators.

Remember that fatheads like to spawn "under" something that is horizontal or slightly horizontal.

So be sure to give them what they need for the nasty.

Okay gotcha. Sunil is right. One thing we have used in Bob's hatchery ponds is pallets. At first they float but after they get waterlogged they will sink. If you devise cage so that there is a soft bottom and then anchor pallets to bottom, FH should spawn underneath them. They sure did in Bob's hatchery pond.

One or two cinder blocks will also sink the pallet and add that much more spawning habitat... Old bricks, strips of left over scrap plywood, old boards anything you have left over that is flat that you can sink to the bottom will be spawned on.

Thanks guys. I'm glad that I found Pond Boss Magazine, then found this place!

I'll get the pictures of the pond and the renovation organized and start posting pics of the transformation next week.

With the cold weather that's rolled in, the pond has re-froze, but the ice is too thin to walk on. It looks like I'll be placing structure with chest waders!

For netting suppliers, who do you use? I know of Memphis Net & Twine, and Nylon Net Co. Any others that you can recommend?

Thanks.