Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Pumpkinseed Sunfish

can anyone tell me about your luck with them in your pond? They are so cool looking and get big enough to enjoy catching/eating. No one locally offers them but 1 of the local ponds I fish has them and I really enjoy catching them. Just thought I d like to hear what folks thoughts are regarding this species. The specific species is Lepomis gibbosus.

Also anyone know of any dealers for this species close to Ohio?
I am not there yet but wanted to see what the concensus is.

Salmonid

There is a lot here on PS. Neat fish species.

Two things to consider :

1. They do better in cold water than RES and have a overlapping diet with them (similar but not identical food niche).
2. PS tend to stunt (like BG)while RES do not.

Thanks, thats what i have gleaned so far and the stunting shouldnt be a problem as I have way more species to keep them in check then I should, ( Blue Cats, HSB, BC, YP and CC)as far as RE go, I have some but they havent faired very well and I rarely catch them so I was looking for something to replace what should have been with the RE's, does that make sense?

Salmonid

RES dont do to well over the winter in PA I cant imagine they will do well in Ohio.

Mark -- I was hoping that some others with experience would post. Here is my story.

I have had troubles getting pumpkinseeds established in a couple of ponds with heavy predator populations. One pond was a gravel pit, and had largemouth bass and walleye. The pumpkinseeds never did "take." The other pond was a 22-acre hill pond (dam), and had lots of walleye, smallmouth bass, and a few largemouth bass. It also has bluegill and yellow perch. We stocked adult pumpkinseeds, but never have seen them reproduce or increase in number. Caught a couple of the adults while sampling with a class. Haven't given up yet, though.

Now, we did stock pumpkinseeds into a gravel pit that only had smallmouth bass in it. The pumpkinseeds really took hold, and in fact, might be too abundant. We wrote about this pond in the July/August 2010 issue of Pond Boss magazine, if you have a subcription. If not, send me a message or email with your email address, and I'll send a copy of that article. Maybe we can talk you into a subscription after that. Following our experience in that gravel pit pond, we did introduce the pumpkinseeds into a hill pond that had smallmouth bass and orangespotted sunfish. Too soon to tell if that worked or not.

I would like to hear from others who introduced pumpkinseeds into ponds with the more effective predators (largemouth bass, walleye, and maybe chain pickerel or northern pike?).

Dont worry, a subscription is on the Xmas list... 8^)
Good info, and Ill drop you a PM with Mailing/email info

Salmonid

Mark I have plenty of PS's in my 1 acre pond, but only Tiger and Brook trout as predators, they haven't overpopulated but I also thin out the population some by trapping smaller ones during the summer.
They also have been a very hardy cold water fish as they survive the harsh winter conditions in my pond. (5 months of ice with heavy snow cover.)
I'm also raising PS's in my backyard pond and indoor RAS trying to increase their size thru selective breeding.

Here's a fish farm in western NY that is suppose to have PS's.
http://www.smithcreekfishfarm.com/id1.html

The local lake (365 ac) has PS along with LMB, NP, BG, RES, etc. It's approx. 30 miles SW of South Bend, Indiana. The PS werent' stocked in it when the state re-stocked the lake in 1970. But then again GS, Carp, and White Bass weren't stocked by the state either.......

Those rotenone treatment never get all the fish. And the bigger the water body the less likely it does.

True!

There were carp, gar and dogfish in the lake back then. Never caught another gar or dogfish since. No White Bass were ever in the lake back then, but a few are being caught here and there. GS same thing, they are a relatively recent addition (say the last 15-20 years)

Blue Catfish were stocked as well as Walleye. None have been caught in the past 10 years that I know of. They dropped the lake level 5' for the treatment. Lots of shoreline was exposed. I remember filling up a 14' jon boat a number of times with the dead carp and gar.

I fish a pond loaded with PS that is about 3 acres, then again its rare I catch a bass in the pond. Fish ponds that we have stocked LMB and PS and rare to never catch a PS. The local river "susquehanna" has loads of them. I have noticed that unless they are in a river they do not do well with predator fish in the water.

I have been able to introduce PS well in most ponds when they are stocked in the beginning, but getting them to take in an established pond has been more challenging but not impossible.

My in-laws live on a golf course in southern NC right on the coast just north of Myrtle Beach, SC. The pond in their back yard has CNBG and a healthy population of LMB. The pond also contains a healthy population of PS. I have been fishing that pond for the last 4 years and every time I go I can catch PS, some are over 8". When you net the pond it shows signs of YOY and other age classes. I am sure RES would do well in the pond as well with as far south as it is since CNBG are present.

My grandfather is a member of of a shooting club in central PA that has a fishing pond on the grounds. The pond is full of stunted 8"-12" LMB. It also has plenty of 8"-11" BG and a good number of 6"-8" PS. It's been this way for over 20 years now. That pond is about 2 acres in size and also has YP and BC that do well. Not sure why all the species seem to maintain, but if you don't care about fishing for big bass, it's an excellent panfish pond.

I've personally never seen PS stunt, I am sure they can though. They look a good bit like RES, but are far easier to catch and seem to be more adaptable to changing food sources, able to eat like BG or switch to the hard shelled foods that RES prefer.

They're quite common in the Potomac River by my house. If you run a beach seine there near vegetation in the summer, you can catch 1000's in a single pass. They seem to prefer vegetated areas and don't do well in ponds that are devoid of vegetation. They can be pellet trained, much more easily than RES in my experience. If only they reach a little bigger size, I think they would be a much more commonly stocked pond fish.

HEY, I'M GROWING AS FAST AS I CAN!!!

PS are all over the place in the local lakes and ponds here in Michigan. I catch them in a ratio 1:3 PS to BG when we ice fish. When I can find a supplier, I plan to try them in my pond.

Yeah, let me know if you can find a supplier, not having any luck in that department other then the Aquarium folks whose prices are in "eaches" and very expensive...

Salmonid

I love PS - they are very nice looking fish. I have added them to my Uncle's 2 acre pond in NJ several times which is well established with LMB, GSF and BG (until a recent partial summer fishkill). I have only managed to add maybe 20 adults over the last 5 years. We do catch them once in a great while but with all the BG already there, they may never become abundant and I have never caught a smaller one, so not sure if they are recruiting. However, being bass heavy, we see almost no baby anything living shortly after spawn. I don't know enough about PS biology/habitat but my uncles pond is red clay bottom (holds water very well), has minimal vegetation (we have tried to get stuff growing to no avail) and is not spring fed so it can get warm and also gets muddy after rains. Every place I have caught PS it was a pond or lake that had some water running through it (stream or spring) and they were always very clear water (and colder) and at least some vegetation, so PS may prefer this type of habitat over traditional stagnant ponds.

I will keep trying to stock them because I think they are the best looking sunfish. I mean next to the green sunfish (I am just trying to avoid persecution by JHAP and the GSA!)

Whew, good thing you didn't antagonize the GSA!!

that statement is nice to hear and will buy you a reprieve from persecution oldsconv. even when jhap is personally not monitoring anti GSF sentiment here,



we are watching, we are always watching......

Greenies are ok, they're tough little buggers, but PS's are tough and more purdy.

"Greenies are ok, they're tough little buggers, but PS's are tough and more purdy."

Oh Great. Now you've done it!

The GSA does not persecute anyone.

We merely punish and re-educate.