Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Stocking a Kentucky pond

I recently renovated a pond that was on my father's property in western Kentucky, very close to Kentucky/Barkley lakes. I've been thinking about what to stock in the pond, and I would love to stock smallmouth in the pond. The pond is around 2 acres, and hasn't been filled yet. I'm planning on buying pea gravel to line most of the bottom of the pond, as well as a 1/4 acre or so of larger boulders. Then, I'm planning on stocking 1000 crayfish and 400 redear in the fall, and 200 smallmouth bass in the late spring, to allow them to reach a larger size before their first spawn. Would this be a good stocking combination? I may also stock 50-100 6-inch rock bass, which I will catch myself. The SMB and redear will be stocked as fingerlings.

Rock bass (RKB) have been tried by a few members and they saying they are trying to get them out of the pond. RKB can compete pretty strongly with juvenile SMB. IMO I would use yellow perch instead of RKB. Consider golden shiner as a forage fish. Maybe give threadfin shad at least one stocking attempt. You might be located a little far north for threadfins??? To get the smallies fairly quickly to larger sizes you will need multiple abundant forage items. Do your very best to always keep all LMbass OUT of the pond or your pond will soon become a LMB dominated pond.


IMO an initial stocking of 100-120 SMB in 2 ac would grow faster due to less direct competition. Fewer stocker bass would also allow more forage basis to become established before the smallies become 2 lb adults.
IMO you are wasting the gravel by putting it on the bottom and at depths greater than 6ft. Gravel in deep areas and even on the sides will quickly become loaded and covered with dead organics and silt. Been there done that numerous times. Others may also provide insight. I think you are better to contact a concrete contractor and get one shoreline embankment down to 5-7ft lined with waste broken concrete pieces all sizes. The more the better for crayfish and smallie habitat. Coarse broken concrete on banks will also reduce weed growth in shallow areas of those banks. Plant a couple hardy hybrid water lilies from a water garden store. See our Archives section for Water Lily information links. BE watchful of invasive piggy back plants of potted lilies.

Have you read these articles? Links to the other 4 articles are at the bottom of each article.
http://www.bassresource.com/fish_biology/growing-smallmouth.html

Welcome to the forum!
Love those smallies, too. Couple thoughts--

Totally agree with Bill about forage--smallies may be outcompeted by LMB, but they are eating machines and will quickly deplete soft rayed prey. If you're not going to have a really fast reproducing species like BG [A WHOLE MANAGEMENT ISSUE In AND OF ITSELF WITH SMB-DON"T EVEN THINK IT WITHOUT DOING A LOT OF READING HERE-I'M NOT SUGGESTING IT], it will be critical to have great forage habitat, and to limit your SMB population, as they can overproduce just like LMB. I would seriously consider bluntnose minnows, shiners [golden, or if you're really lucky, spotfin], possibly lake chubsuckers as forage species.
I wouldn't count on the crawdads getting established. I stocked 50lbs about 5 years ago, "natives" from minnow ponds in TN, and can't find evidence of any-and that's in a pond with several hundred yards of 0-8' Class A. The SMB just preferentially forage on the crays.

A cold winter like the one we just had kills my TFs- and you're just a bit north of me.....might be a good idea for a summers worth of boosted growth, but those suckers aren't cheap.

If you're really interested in growing large SMB-cut your initial stocking down to 25-50 fish, and be prepared to harvest and cull pretty aggressively.

Consider adding shrimp-great prey for growing smallies, and your forage fish.

Disregard this if you've already got a source, but it can be hard to come by SMB for stocking in the spring....most suppliers grow them out for fall stocking.

And, also as Bill said, inspect every fish you put in your pond for the random LMB. Most of those of us who have SMB have had some sleepless nights worrying about LMB invasions, and they usually come from "bonus" travelers.

Good luck, SMB are worth it.

You are getting some very good advice - heed it well if you want good SMB.