Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Hello everybody:

Hello everybody:

I am subscriber to Pond Boss Magazine and I have been reading this forum for the last few weeks. I have met Cecil Baird 1 and Rainman - by phone – and they were very kind to me and shared their wisdom. My ponds are in NW Indiana. Both are new and approximately 1 acre large and up to 14 feet deep. Both are fed from ground water, which is not unusual for NW Indiana ponds. But they therefore fluctuate in depth – 6 feet this year alone. Both ponds are made mostly of sand with some clay and gravel. Also both ponds will have air diffusers powered by windmills and/or Koenders EL compressors, all supplied by Superior Windmill in Regina, Canada.

My goal with these ponds is the following:

Swimming for the kids
Providing dinner for the family
Making a dent in the mosquito population

I am not interested in:

Hands-on pond management
Trophy fish
Catch & release

I have come up with the following stocking plan for each pond:

Spring 2010:

Farm Raised Fathead Minnows (5lb)
Golden Shiner (25lb)
Redear Sunfish (50)

Fall 2010:

Smallmouth Bass (100)

I know that I will have to build some gravel nests so that the smallmouth bass will be able to reproduce.
I was planning to buy the fish from Keystone Hatcheries in Richmond, IL. But it seems that they will not be delivering to Indiana in 2010.

Here are my questions for all the experienced smallmouth bass pond owners & managers:

Do I have the right stocking plan for my goals?
Any suggestions how to reach my goals in a more efficient manner?
Did I forget something?

And the most important question:

As I will not be able to get the fish delivered from Keystone Hatcheries, where should I order the fish from? Which hatcheries are trustworthy?

All competent advice and suggestions are most welcome.
Thank you very much.
Regards,
FRIZ

Welcome to the forum!

There are lots of guys who can give you great advice on here... Best of luck in your plans.

Friz:

Welcome! Where are you at in Hooserville? I believe Rainman could deliver smallies to you, he made a trip to Pa. with some this Fall.

I share your pain with the water level fluctuations, mine dropped 3' this summer. It would have dropped more, but I ran the well into the pond for a while to keep the level up. Since I drained that pipe for the winter, it's dropped another 8" in the past 2 weeks.

What slope are your pond banks, and what have you planted for erosion control? I'm guessing that they'll bounce from 1 ac to 5/8 ac depending on the time of the year. Like me, if you want to have a dock it'll have to be a floating one due to the water fluctuations. I'm guessing that you probably could go 10x more on the RES stocking, but I'll leave that up to someone that has better knowledge on stocking rates than I have. 50 RES in an acre pond aren't very many, and if you don't release the ones that you catch, they could be wiped out pretty quickly.

What size RES and SMB were you planning on stocking?

Thank you.
Regards,
FRIZ

Hi esshub:

Where are you at in Hooserville?
I am close to Bass Lake. Approximately 30 minutes away from you.
What slope are your pond banks, and what have you planted for erosion control?
The slope is approximately 1/3. What plants are you recommending for erosion control?
If you want to have a dock it'll have to be a floating one due to the water fluctuations.
I am very interested in hearing, maybe seeing, what you recommend.
What size RES and SMB were you planning on stocking?
As big as possible. As I assume that will increase the survival rate and reproduction.

Thanks & regards,
FRIZ

Howdy Friz.

Jones Fish in Newtown OH would deliver to you and carry all the species you are interested in.

Like Esshup said, let the 50 RES stockers spawn before removing any.

I think you will want your SMB beds at a variety of depths, to cover all the possible water levels they might see at spawning time.

A good GSH population will last few/several years in the face of LMB predation; they might last indefinitely against Smallies.

No, I am close to Bass Lake. Approximately 30 minutes away from you.

That is pretty close, Yep, you are in the yellow gold area of Starke County! If you ever decide to feed, I'm getting my AquaMax from Bar M Feed in Culver.

The slope is approximately 1/3. What plants are you recommending for erosion control?

That's my quandry. I can find plants/seeds of plants to cover water fluctuating up to 24" in depth, but nothing past that unless I want a bunch of cattails around the pond, which I don't. I bought an emergent seed mixture from Spencer Restoration Nursery and I'm thinking of buying some of their lake enhancement system for other areas of the pond.

I am very interested in hearing, maybe seeing, what you recommend.

I'm just going to make a do-it-yourself dock using treated wood and a bunch of 30 gallon plastic drums for floats. It'll be "T" shaped to help with stability. That's this winter's project - the weekly auction (Kankakee Valley Auction) near Walkerton usually has those barrels cheap, between $2 and $5 each.

As big as possible. As I assume that will increase the survival rate and reproduction.

Yes it will. It'll probably be a balancing act between price and size.

Theo:

If FRIZ isn't planning on catch-n-release, how many RES of what size should he stock per acre?

50 6" or better would be enough to get a nice spawn the first year IF they were returned when caught.

This was the first year we fished my new pond after putting 29 RES adults in the Spring of 2008. We caught most all of the adults at least once this year (fishing for RES without a large population of BG present is a whole different ball game - much easier to catch RES without a bunch of BG present IME) and a bunch of yearlings as well.

If he is going to remove RES during the first year, I think I'd want 200 stockers to have at least 50 left after catching and keeping any that were caught.

Don't forget crawdads!
With only 50 RE I would wait to stock the SMB.

Thank you everybody, for your insightful responses.

So if I do not want to spend more money on fish, I will have to catch & release for all of 2010 and most of 2011. Is this correct?

Thanks & regards,
FRIZ

You let 50 adult Redears get two years of spawning in, and you should have plenty.

Hi Theo:

Thank you for your advice.

Have you dealt with Jones Fish in Newtown OH personally? Can I assume that there were no negative experiences? Everybody was satisfied with their products and services? I apologize for being so persistent, but I do not have any money to waste.

Thanks & regards,
FRIZ

Hi Friz and welcome to Pond Boss. Great first post!

Are you going to stock both of your ponds with the same type of fish? The reason that I ask is that many folks that have multiple ponds will use a different mix of fish in each pond. This provides them with a different fishing experience at each pond. For example you can have your SMB/RES/Minnow pond as one pond and perhaps a LMB/BG pond as your second pond. I'm just using LMB/BG as an example, obviously you could choose a completely different mix.

Anyhoo, thanks for posting, we're glad you found us!

Hi jeffhasapond:

I hear you concerning the second pond. But if you keep my goals in mind, I do not think that a LMB/BG pond is a good idea. Do you have any other ideas? I am open to suggestions, but please keep my goals in mind.

Thanks & regards,
FRIZ

I have bought fish from Jones on five different occasions for two different ponds. This included 3 truck deliveries and 2 bags via UPS. In all instances, they have delivered as advertised wrt both size and numbers. All fish have been healthy (there were a couple of dead FHM in the last 10 pounds ).

Jones does not have the lowest prices for fish around here, but they will deliver what they agreed to.

Let's let someone that really knows what they are talking about give you an opinion Friz. I'd probably suggest something like a Manatee/Pink Dolphin mix for a swimming pond and the experts would have a conniption over it.

Cecil is in IN and he has raised many different species including several types of trout. Cecil any thoughts about the species of fish that Friz could use in IN that would work keeping his goals in mind?

Thank you very much.
Regards,
FRIZ

How about one big flathead catfish and two alligators?

If the gator numbers got out of control, he could always add a couple tiger muskie.

Or a killer whale.

Let the record show that I was only partially responsible for this thread diversion.

Although the gators will likely get sluggish in the wintertime so the muskie could probably keep them under control.

I think I've bought fish from Jones even more times than Theo, and my neighbor across the street has purchased from them twice. All of my purchases have met their minimum, so the truck has delivered right to the pond. As with Theo, other than a few dead FHM (which they puropsely gave me extra) I've had no problems. I've purchased FHM, GSH, HBG, CC, 12+" Pellet trained LMB, bullfrog tadpoles and Mosquito Fish. They didn't have the Gams when they delivered the fish, so they shipped them no charge.

I second JHAP's suggestion of having each pond with different fish, (although I'm not buying into his stocking suggestions ), but before suggesting what species, I'd like to find out what your definition of "hands-on pond management" is.

i.e.:

You're aerating, while slightly hands on, is something that you don't have to fiddle with on a weekly, or even monthly basis.

Feeding with an automatic feeder that you'd only have to fill once a month? Hands-on or Hands-off?

Stocking one pond with some or all hybrid fish that don't spawn so you have to re-stock on a yearly or bi-yearly basis? Hands-on or Hands-off?

etc.

FRIZ: How frequently would you be fishing in the pond(s), and what is the frequency of dinners that would be caught from the pond (also, how many mouths to feed)? Does the family like catfish?