Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Smart fish farm In Kentucky advice please

Thought about ordering some fish from smart fish farm in Kentucky. Anyone ever delt with him. Seems to have good prices. Any info would help

anyone ever bought from this place. how many should i stock a acre for bg. hybrid bg. largmouth bass. channel cats

Your goals ? Generally not suggested to stock both BG and HBG in the same water.

Never heard of not stocking both hybrid and reg BG. I don't know much about it so I'm trying to learn. What is the reason. I've fished lakes with both before. Any info will help thanks.

urup,

There are lots of folks on here with more knowledge and experience than I have, so take that into account when reading the following advice. I'm still very much learning as I go..
Hybrids are usually recommended to be stocked alone, or at least with no other Bluegill species. The reason being involves one of the hybrids most attractive traits. (For me at least). That being they are around 90% male, which means they are far less prone to overwhelm and overpopulate their food supply, and your pond. When they are stocked with regular strain Bluegill, they will readily spawn with them and you lose one of the best reasons for stocking them in the first place. In addition, the offspring of hybrids, or hybrid/native combinations, may not possess the other attractive qualities of this fish. Those being such things as aggressiveness, relatively easy to catch, readily accepts artificial food, rapid growth, superb fighters, and the biggest, most often discussed trait... ultimate size potential. Each succeeding generation will typically possess fewer of the qualities you desire, and more of the ones you don't.
As far as to which fish will grow larger, HBG vs. BG? The general concensus among people far more qualified than me says that BG have the upper hand, and I would not dispute this. I do tend to believe that the circumstances and conditions in which the fish are raised will play a huge part in their eventual size, and to the numbers of fish which will regularly and consistently achieve large, or even trophy status.
If your goals include a balanced pond, one in which multiple species of fish are managed in such a way that they compliment one another, then regular BG would probably be a better choice, in my opinion. In a nutshell, that can be reduced to one word... Bass. Do you want a healthy Bass fishery in addition to Bluegill? Hybrids will never reproduce enough to keep them fed, and you will find yourself stocking supplemental forage to sustain them. It all boils down to how hard you want to work at your pond, and possibly more important, WHERE you want your efforts to be concentrated at. There are professionals on this forum who have stocked the fish together, made it work, and produced fantastic results.
What are your goals, and how much effort do you want your water to be?

urup, I'm sure some pond owners have intentionally stocked HBG and HB in the same pond. I'm also just as sure they ended up with tons of 3 inch fish in just a few years and never had a clue as to why. In Lakes, it is more likely that Green Sunfish and Bluegill have cross-spawned naturally and produced the hybrids.

I looked at the fish farm's website you cited. Prices are reasonable. It comes down to the quality and genetics of the fish. Does he raise them on ite or does he bring them in from outside sources?

He raises them there. He is the only one that I have found so far that will bring them to me. I'm not going to be taking very many fish out. Will be fishing it alot with the kids. I would like to have big bass someday. Hate fishing ponds with all little bass.

Does this sound like to much or not enough
BG 500 3 to 4 in
Bass 100
C cats 200. 7 to 8 in
Hybrid BG 100 maybe 200
Grass carp 5 to 10. 8 to 10 in
10 lbs fathead min
Can go more or less any suggestion

urup, if you want big bass, removal is a must.

With large bass as a goal, I would suggest...

750 pure northern Bluegill 2-4" or larger stocked this spring
250 Redear Sunfish 2-4" stocked with the bluegill

25-50 LMB 4-6" stocked the following fall

20# each of Fathead Minnows (pond run mixed-size) and Golden Shiners (size 12-16)

If you want CC, add no more than 50 per acre, then aggressively target and remove any caught after 2 years. You can always inexpensively add more later to replace the ones taken if you like.

I would NOT add ANY Hybrid bluegill if you want to grow some larger bass. They will harm your large bass growth goals by eventually changing your forage base into nothing but small fish that will not support bass growth above about 12-14 inches.

If this is a new pond, don't add GC unless a need arises.

I agree with what Rex said, plus I'd like to add don't release any CC that you catch, even if it's too small to eat right then. I stocked them in my pond and I'm having a heck of a time catching them out. They are VERY spooky. If they are eating the floating feed, tossing anything out there, even another piece of food will put them down. They are the hardest fish to catch in my pond.

Thanks for the info. Wanted to find out about the HBG. I just heard they get big and are fun for the kids to catch.

urup, Hybrid gills are more aggressive and have a bigger mouth than a regular bluegill. The growth rate and end sizes are greatly exaggerated though.

If you want to grow some larger bass, you'll want to start out with and maintain a lower number of bass. Once your original stockers begin to spawn, you'll need to remove all the small (under 14") bass you catch. You'll also catch a big gill every now and then with this stocking rate, just not very often. Kids will catch smaller bluegill all day long though and have a blast.

Being in Kentucky, you could add some other fun to catch species as well to the mix like Tilapia (also a great bass forage and for plant control), yellow perch, Hybrid Striped Bass, or even Hybrid Crappie.

If you wanted the Hybrid gills, you can go that route, but the HBG will need to be re-stocked every few years and expect bass to be abundant and small, rarely getting larger than a pound or two in size.

I sent you a private message.

Just a note that yellow perch are not legal to stock in Kentucky. I emailed Jonesfish about them not offering YP in KY and they called the KY fish&game ofc and verified it. I haven't found anything about it on their Fish&Game website and I didn't call them myself, yet.

On the other hand Tilapia and threadfin shad are okay to stock.

Stocking hybrid gills is a surefire method of getting green sunfish in a few years. Do a search, GSF don't make good bass food. Bluegills are still the best sunfish for bass food.

I'm actually looking at Smartfishfarm as well. I don't know which fishfarm the local hardware store deals with but I'd rather deal with a dedicated source not just a trucker. The only other fishfarm that I know of in KY is the Fish Truck. Jonesfish delivers to Ky too.

I wouldn't fool with the fish truck if they paid me. I have heard horror stories about their area where they grow their fish. Talk to Mel he offers yellow perch and they are legal in Kentucky just not to cross the border because of diseases. Confirm it with Mel he use to work for the KY fish and wildlife or worked with them. He is a very nice guy and took the time to chat with me. Also check out those places that ship fish. Mel is the guy over Smart fish farm

Not a real horror story, but I bought FHM from a fish truck that makes a monthly trip in my area. I paid per pound for the fish, but they just eyeballed them. I weighed the fish when I got home and found that they shorted me 20% (got 8# instead of 10#)

If I ever do that again, I'll be durn sure to have them weigh the fish. Another thing, make sure any fish you get are 100% what you want. Sometimes other fish get mixed in. I've heard of Bullheads in FHM, etc.

Oops, Thanks KG4KBU. I didn't check out where they were located and I just assumed they were based in Tennessee. Sorry about that.

Esshup, that is exactly what I want to avoid. Fish trucks are not a reliable source of fish. Checking the fish before you stock them is always a good idea. Because fatheads don't have whiskers.

Edit: Just tried to email Mel, his inbox is full. Must have been a rough winter. I'll call him tomorrow. I didn't realize they were so close. And if they have fishdays in Madisonville that's even better. I always hated the idea of trucking fish hundreds of miles.

Talk to Rex (Rainman). He LOVES driving fish around!

Just got my fish today from Mel. Smart fish farm. He treated me right and delivered them to my lake for free. Brought everything I asked and even through in some extra.

You misunderstand me. It's not the driving that I have a problem with, I'd pay extra just to get local fish. I know Mel has the fish I want. If I can pickup my fish in Madisonville, that would be boss. I'll ask him about building the pond too. I'm fairly certain that I can't trust the dozer guy to cooperate with me on the pond.

Awesome, what did you end up getting?

BG LMB. CC

Surefire method? Really? I don't believe that a blanket statement such as this will apply to every situation. HBG have their place, and when properly managed will do quite well, and will NOT become GSF.

urup, congrats on the fish!!

HBG do not turn into GSF. HBG do have a place in pond management, certain circumstances they are excellent, many circumstances BG are far better. Bass readily eat GSF, they are more fusiform than BG. However, because they only spawn once a year while BG, especially in southern areas can spawn 4 times a year, means BG produce more forage for the bass to eat.

Many of what is written on-line is put out by fish and game agencies who are advising people on main stream common management practices. Generally this means the LMB/BG/CC stocking regime with perhaps RES thrown in. We all know there are other options out there for stocking ponds, with the proper management and goals of course.

urup I,m jumping in late in this discussion,but I don't think Smart fish farm did you any favors with their reccommended stocking. I believe Rainman's advice was far better.You are heavy on CC,light on BG,should have RES,and 20# of FHM,with the LMB coming later. With that said,I wish you well and please keep us posted on your pond,s progress.Just curious,but if your,s is a new pond,why did you not go with the KDF&W farm pond stocking? They don,t provide RES or FHM,but are far cheaper.

I didn't go with that. I changed it some. There is atleast 100 different people I've talked to and found on the web and everyone says something different. Even the kentucky fish and wildlife said something different. I didn't go with them because they wouldn't bring the fish till this OCT and next may. They would only be 1 to 2 in. I didn't want to wait that long and decided to go with bigger fish. Thanks for the help everyone.

We all stock in the best way that suits us, is in our budget and what our individual goals are with all the info we can find..that's about all anyone can do. If anyone knew the perfect stocking rates for all ponds, there would be little need for the forum.

Glad you got your fish swimming in your pond urup. One piece of unsolicited advice I have is to not target any CC till 2013 and after that, don't release any CC caught back into the pond or they'll often become very large and uncatchable after being caught even once. CC can take up a lot of your pond's carrying capacity.