Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations How many HSB would you add to.....

a fifteen acre pond that is over run with blue gills?

Any other predators present already or desired?

As in my sig line, there are lmb, and I'm trying to get channel cats reestablished and perhaps some blues if I can find them.

I would start w/ maybe 10-30 per acre.

You should be able to get advanced sized HSB, say over 12"?

Tiger Muskie would do a better job of thinning out the bluegill, and would also thin the small bass so the remaining bass grow better. A recent issue of Pond Boss mentioned this approach in the context of thinning overcrowded bass while keeping bluegill thinned as well. You have an unusual situation in that it sounds like both species are overcrowded; that's more thinning that needs to be done, and esox are the champion thinners.

If you're feeding pellet food or are planning on doing so, the HSB will readily eat it, which will lessen their effectiveness thinning the bluegill and bass as well. Tiger muskie on the other hand don't eat pellet food. You would only need two or so 12" tiger muskie per acre.

What is the size structure of you fish ( 1 inch , 3-4 inch and 6+ inch BG , 4 inch , 10-12 inch and 13+ LMB , 1-3 inch and 4+ inch Crappie , # and size of catfish)? How many of each size do you see and their condition?

You need that info to decide how to move ahead.

I've thought of adding some tiger muskie, but they are hard to find, expensive and one might pull my grand daughter and her Barbie pole into the water.

It is hard to tell you what is in a pond this large, but I would say of the lmb, they are about 10% 16 inch, 20 % 12 inch with the rest being smaller. None of them are fat, which surprises me with all of the BG swimming around, none of which seem to be over 6 inches. We caught crappie in the spring, mostly in the 5-9 inch range. Haven't caught any in a couple of months. I added 200 6 inch cc in the spring, haven't seen them since.

From that info I am not at all sure your pond is out of balance (overrun with BG). Do you know if the BG spawned this summer and if the LMB did also (do you see any 1-3 inch LMB and 1-2 inch BG now)

You could still add some HSB for fun. I would not expect them to put much pressure on the BG however. With big LMB around you will need advanced size HSB . Will you be feeding the fish ? That would help the BG size and HSB if you add them.

Yes the bg spawned like crazy. There were more craters in the edge of the water than on the moon. I think that I have seen some new lmb, but I'm not real good at identifying youngins.
Yes, I'm feeding them, but probably not nearly enough for a pond this size.

I would say start looking for advanced HSB (check with Bruce)and add about 50 and see how they do. I would try that rather than use larger #s of small (4 inch)HSB because of the uncertainty of survival and the risk that they will.

This hatchery ships to all fifty states, and they specialize in muskie, tiger and pure-strain both:

http://www.trophygamefishinc.com/Lake_Stocking_Recommendations.cfm

If none of your bluegill are over 6", they're probably overcrowded, especially if you see a lot of them. As Eric noted, the HSB probably won't thin out the bluegill appreciably. Fifteen or twenty tiger muskie would transform that lake and give you bigger bass and bluegill both.