Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Creating the food chain genetics

I am building a pond behind an existing pond that will eventually be connected to the old pond to make just under 2 acres. I still have to raise the damn some more but now it is half full and the old pond is full so I am planning on stocking each of them with the about 50 bluegill that I saved from the old pond and redear from my catfish pond.
Since I'm not through with the dam I'm not planning on adding bass untill I'm finished.

My goal is to have bunches of smaller bass with large bluegill and bunches of large redear.

I can't afford to spend much on fish so if I stock with (all free)

50 bluegill
200-300 redear
100-200 channel cats
a few fatheads
a few shiners
threadfins if I can come across some

and much later spawn and culls from feed trained bass pond

Do I need to add some bluegill and redear yearly to mix up genes? I can see genetics being very important in male only ponds that are pushed for record fish but in a pond like mine looking for big not record...
If so how many?

Genetics plays a part but water quality and the food chain (including if you will use supp. feeding) are just as, if not more, important.IMO there is little difference between a big and a record BG/RES pond. Only a small difference in % between the two.

There are 2 ways I know of to get a very good BG/RES pond (your goal I think). One is to have a male only pond the other is through predator crowding. You have described the second one predator crowding . That means lots of small 12in+- LMB (or other predators) which greatly reduce the recruitment success of BG/RES. I am not sure you will get to that goal in a reasonable amount of time if you let the BG/RES population get to far out in front of the LMB as in a couple of years later adding LMB.

What sizes of fish do you intend to stock and when. Often adding additional BG/RES adults is a way to improve the number of large BG/RES in the pond. Thus you will pick which will get big based on what you add. Remember that with the predator crowded approach you will have little recruitment of BG/RES they will mostly be eaten by the LMB so genetics passed on through the existing population becomes less of a factor and the number and quality of the adult BG/RES added later become more important. It is a matter of managing the balance in the pond so that the BG/RES that survive to adulthood are not in competition with a bunch of small BG/RES for food. Part of the management process is understanding how the parts fit together and how to adjust them to reach your goal through harvest, recruitment, balance and additions. I hope this helps a little. Good luck and let us know how it works.

Good points. I don't know what sizes of fish I want to stock and when. That is what you are here for. I can grow them a whole season in a small pond first though.
I hope I'll be adding bass before two years. We'll see.

Ewest make a good point about timing for the stocking of species and the main goal. Since you are not primarily interested in larger bass then I think the best way to do it is opposite of what is normally recommended here. For producing a bass heavy pond, stock bass on the higher density side(80-100/ac) and panfish together and maybe go a little light (up to 50%) on the numbers of bgill and/or RES. Then you have a better chance of the predator over crowding and not letting the panfish get too abundant or "too far out in front of the bass". Seriously consider this plan if you want a pond to have lots of larger panfish which is a very differnt management style/method than a pond managed to produce numerous bigger sized bass.

If you use your stocking plan noted above then I recommend that you stock fingerling bass )80-100/ac) when the bgill are spawning or soon (2-3wks) after.