Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations finally some answers on the walleye pond

Folks,
I have finally found someone who is going to get me some fat heads. I am having them delievered in sept. to the house-place out of ohio-they waived the fee if you bought over 200 bucks worth of fish. I am getting 50 lbs of fatheads and putting 40 lbs in the walleye pond and then dumping the other 10 lbs in my established pond (LMB, HBG and YP. Then I am putting the walleye in OCT. That is the plan!!! We will give it a shot and see if the 40 lbs of fatheads will take care of 50 walleye through the winter.
Dave J

I think you'll find come spring there won't be an FHM left... With a Sept stocking, you'll get no FHM reproduction in your pond before winter sets in. The walleye may be a bit thin, but they'll come through the winter OK. I would strongly look into stocking some larger say, 4"-5" GSH into the pond this fall as well. They will not get preyed on by the walleye and will be ready to spawn come spring...

Will those GSH eat up my fatheads during the winter also? Thanks for the info...I guess I thought I was done now I need to think about this-this pond could be the death of me yet
Dave

GSH=Golden Shiner

GSH at 4"-5" do not have a mouth large enough to eat all but the smallest of FHM fry. So they won't eat any of your stocked FHM.

And you can get them from the same supplier, probably on the same truck. I'm pretty sure that they are the people that deliver to my house.

I actually think 40 lbs of fatheads would take care of the walleye through the winter.
Your walleye will most likely be 22-26 to the pound so you will be getting apprx 2 lbs of walleye.

I would suggest however that the extra 10 lbs would be better served adding to your walleye pond as opposed to your existing pond. You will see no visual results from stocking 10 lbs of fatheads in your existing pond whereas if you stock them in your walleye pond you would essentially be adding 1 additional pound of weight to your existing walleye population. (if walleye convert at a 10 to 1 ratio like bass do) That is a BIG difference when you are going from 2 to 3 lbs or 4 to 5 lbs, but is a very small difference when you are talking going from 150 to 151 lbs! Hope that makes sense?

I dont think shiners will help you much during the winter if your walleye are 5-7 inches long, they probably wont be able to eat many 4-5 inch shiners over the winter.

Just some more thoughts to think about? Enjoy the process Dave, dont worry about it, or lose sleep over it, and definitely dont die from it!

n8ly, I think CJ was counting on just that.
Purchasing the GSH now in the same order would just be more economical. They would be in the pond next spring to start spawning. At least that's the way I took it.

I doubt if you would get any reproduction out of the golden shiners in a new pond up in Michigan.

However if they could be in the budget for this fall's stocking, they would indeed be the next step for the walleyes to eat on!

Nate I don't want to disagree with you cause you have alot more experience than me, and I'm not familiar with Dave J's pond, but I put large GSH & FH's in my pond in april of 06 right after it was built and the GSH spawned that year.

It might be too late for the GSH to spawn this year, but if any survive the winter, and there is suitable spawning structure in the pond, they should spawn next year. I'm catching them out of a lake 35 miles south of the Indiana/Michigan border and they are self sustaining.

Just depends on what is in the pond... If there is some pondweed growth, decent amounts of FA or an area flooding over grass the GSH can spawn on any of that. Some spawning materials are better than others. You can also add artificial spawning structure to the pond to assist. The idea was not for the walleye to eat them this winter but rather them being in the pond come spring and ready to start making babies right away...

Agreed it's too late this year to put them in and get a spawn, it's probably best to wait till spring so you don't risk loosing many to winterkill.
My first year I placed small trees in the pond with lots of branches to give them some structure, then took the trees out in the fall.

Any BG going into the WE pond? You could stock a lot of 1" BG with very little growth during winter for the WE to munch on.

Thanks for all the input guys. I did decided to order 10 lbs of GSH to come with the FH. I dont think they would spawn either I am just hoping that they survive the winter and then the walleyes have something else to eat in the early spring before the spawn.
Question: Is there any type of structure I should put in now before the FH and GSH get here in sept? Tree branches alright? I do have a 5 foot shelf at the one end of the pond that I purposely had dug so the minnows had a place to at least get away for awhile and hopefully spawn-
Thanks,
Dave

What size are the GSH going to be?

Sink some cedar or pine trees in the shallows to give your FHM and GSH a place to take cover.

Before spring, pallets, flat rocks, broken cinder blocks can all be added as spawning structure for the FHM. If there is some FA, pondweed, or flooded grassy areas, the GSH will use that to spawn on. If that isn't present, you can break up barly hay and place it in the pond in late April to early May for the GSH to spawn on and/or place some artificial spawning structure like filter material from a home heating/AC duct for the GSH to use...

To increase the spawning area of the pallets I put small 2x4 feet on the pallets so they could use the underside and middle of the pallet.