Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Creating the food chain Sunfish and what to do

I have a place that the county built an erosion control lake on about five years ago. There is a 3/4 mile creek that leads to a 6 or 8 acre lake. It filled up almost completely during the rains of 2006 (23 feet deep). The creek has no flow unless it has rained. Since no fish were ever officially stocked in it, I always assumed nothing was in it. To my surprise, and friend and I caught 20 or so LMB in it several years ago (all were .75 of a pound to a 1.25 lbs) in a 2 or 3 hour span.

Since then, I have added 2 feeders and added some golden shiner fry. There are tons of sunfish and some catfish that all enjoy the feeders. I have defintely seen the LMB grow over the last couple years. Nothing too impressive, but the average LMB is 2.5 to 3 lbs.

My question is this. Is it important to know what type of sunfish I have in my creek and lake? I want to add some coppernose Coppernose BG this spring and maybe some more Golden Shiner fry. Even though there are LMB, there is tons of timber and cover for the forage fish. I don't catch any sunfish over .75 of a lb. and most are 4 to 8 inches. I am attaching pic of one that I caught about 6 months ago. Maybe it is a BG????

Any reason not to add BG?

Thanks!

Welcome to PB Neighbor. I have ponds just North of you. Mine are off Pickett Run and Wagonseller Roads.

That's a Green Sunfish. They are maligned or cherished, depending on who you're talking to, and generally top out at about 3/4 pound. The bottom line is that bass will eat them. Their fusiform body makes them easy to eat prey. The downside is that is that they only spawn annually and the BG will spawn multiple times in our area. Thus, over time, GSF cannot keep up with bass spawning and predation. Yeah, it would be a good idea to add coppernose while the bass have plenty to eat. If you have both GSF and bass, I assume that both may be recent additions. More than likely the cats are bullheads but not necessarily. 2006 was a pretty rainy year and it is quite possible that your fish came from somebody elses flooded stock tank. Or maybe there were some deep holes upstream that didn't dry up. The shiners don't add up in either case but it does tend to suggest a stock tank.

What are your goals? If large bass, you need copious amounts of sunfish. If large BG are your goal then you need too many small bass and less bluegills. A bass needs 10 pounds of forage to gain one pound and prefer prey that is 1/4 to 1/3 their body size. It's a matter of energy expended to catch the prey versus calories to grow on. If your goal is big bass, you need to start fishing out everything under 14 inches. Ponds are ruined by catch and release of bass that are too small to keep.

I'm not a fan of shiners but prefer tilapia. Tilapia have to be stocked annually because they die in cold water. I lost mine in October of this year.

Hang around. We're all friends here and one of the ignorant and unwashed will be along shortly to say really nasty things about the GSF.

Thanks! Yeah, my place is just north of Alvord in the LBJ Grasslands I thought it might be a GSF...I just wasn't sure. Whether other Pond Bossers like them or love them, it's all good cause my kids sure do love catching them by the feeders. I, on the other hand, am a LMB person....that is all I care to catch. If I happen to catch a mudcat, I leave it on shore for the coons.

I put the Golden Shiners in there myself. I bought the fry from Anderson Fish Farms a year and a half ago. I figured I would try them cause they seemed to be and affordable option. They seemed to be pretty good but I haven't seen any lately.

I did start an interesting project about 4 months ago. PB had an article about fish tagging. So I bought a kit and I have tagged about 55 fish since then. I am looking forward to charting their progress over the next several years.

Since it looks like I need to stock some BG. When is the best time of year...March or April??? Since I already have a fish population, I was going to buy 5 to 6 inch Coppernose. Any reason they wouldn't get established??

Thanks again for all the insight!!

AF, welcome to Pond Boss! I'm impressed by your game plan. Sounds like you're asking the right questions and doing the right thing to make this pond exactly what you want it to be.

You'll pay more for the larger ones and may have to wait longer. I THINK that you SHOULD be Ok with the 3 to 4 inch ones. Some of all newly stocked fish get eaten. If you had no GSF in there, the CNBG would be slaughtered immediately. Five to six inch ones will still get eaten but fewer bass will get them. BG can spawn at 3 to 4 inches. They fry will get eaten by just about everything. You can't get as many 5 to 6 inch ones for the $ as you can the smaller ones.

Toss a coin.

Thanks for all the info. Pond Boss and its community are all so friendly and helpful. Everyone's knowledge is amazing. Does anyone know when CNBG should be stocked? Is March or April as good of a time as any? Aslo, since there is an existing fish population. Can someone giving me a rough estimate of how many to stock per acre?

That is a good plan. Add 5-6 inch CNBG and do it about 2 weeks before your first spawn ( my guess is early March).

The # to stock depends on the pond population. Up to several thousand would be good.

Eric, I'm not sure he can get 5 to 6 inchers here in March.

I have found them several times over here for March delivery. Start calling around now. I got some big ones from Todd once in Dec. Last summer's fish are what is needed.

We have some 3-6inch coppernose that are a good male/female ratio and all mature to reproduce. Plus they are on feed on our farm. See the CNBG link on our website for pics of the product and the broodstock. www.overtonfisheries.com

Thanks Ewest. Dave you underestimate the product resources available to Overton customers.

Todd glad you have some. The CNBG (George’s grandbabies) I got from you are doing well.

Larger BG can be hard to find this time of year. I have had them back ordered (and agreed to pay in advance) for 9 mths only to find the hatchery sold mine to someone else 2 weeks before my delivery date. They did not even call. I found out when I called to check on the order. They tried to blame it on the paper work but I had checked 3 times prior and was assured they were there and waiting. I no longer use them. A good idea to have a couple of good honest hatcheries you can count on and trust.

Call early and often to check on any fish order.

My apologies Todd. Not a lot of dealers carry them over.

That is true DD1. Many do not hold over any BG but brood stock. That is why calling early and often is critical.

Just curious, because I don't know of a farm that wouldn't "carry over" bluegill. And why not, unless winter kill up north is serious issue? In order to have mature 3-6inch and larger fish in the spring and summer it seems as if the grower must carry over. I can understand if you are a dealer or a broker and don't want to deal with fish during the winter, but if you are a producer then seems to me that you have to carry over....

Anyway, let it be known that we "carry over" our bluegill and many other species, and that we sell them almost year around, barring the most extreme hot and cold times of the year.

Also let it be known that we have a representative who services the area named Walter Overton, right up there in Montague county, North of Forth Worth.

Todd most of the hatcheries I know about only carry over brood stock (this includes a few of the better yoy). They say they make more selling all the little fish and not having to feed them. They sell out of small BG (2-3 in.) most every year. Some will hold over a small % that are pre-sold/committed. Some of the larger hatcheries will hold over some BG as an investment but they sell very quickly.

Huh, Ok, interesting.

Most of the hatcheries I know of that produce bluegill carry them over so they'll have something to sell during spring and early summer, the busiest time of the year. I don't get it, but oh well.

Todd, my experience is the same as Eric's. In the Fall, there can be some pretty good bargains on larger fish that they don't carry over.

Also Todd over here the hatcheries also sell to state,fed and public lake associations. Limited state hatcheries. So one of those sales can be all the hatchery can grow. One I know of sells 250,000 BG most every year that way in batches of 50,000 per delivery.