Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose small pond stocking

I just built a balance pond for irrigation. It is about 1/8 of acre. It will at times have flows of 1500 gal of mountain river water in and out and other times no flow in other than maintain level. I would like to put some BG and/or CC for the kids to fish for and to feed. I see most add LMB to the mix. What kind of habitat for reproduction and shelter? It is 5 to 6ft deep

Welcome to PB. For a 1/8 acre pond, I'm not sure it's worth messing with LMB. You'd only have 5 of them or something.

Dunno exactly where you're at, but years ago I visited some friends east of Redding. Pretty country.

Yes pretty country, I say it is pretty rough being surrounded be mountains and meadows. We are lucky to have 150 yr old water rights but going on 4th yr of drought is getting rough. We put up 2 center pivots to maximize water resouces. Thank You for your input

Welcome to PBF!

I am not an expert, but have read a lot here. IMO you could get by with some cc and one of the hyprid sunfish species, like HBG, if you can get them where you are. I would think BG without a predator would quickly stunt. With this stocking strategy you would need to do supplemental stocking from time to time as you harvest fish.

I am sure one of the pros will be along with some expert advice for you.

Good Luck,

Bill D.

Sfarmer - first do your homework and find out what species are allowed in CA unless you decide to avoid the rules. Once we know the possible species then we can best advise you of your options.

IL 06 Inland Fisheries - Information Leaflet No. 6
REGULATIONS GOVERNING PRIVATE STOCKING OF
AQUATIC PLANTS AND ANIMALS (NONCOMMERCIAL)

Pretty informative. Very specific county delineation on some issues, so it depends on where he is.
Here's their (rather short) list of generally OK fish to stock:
white catfish channel catfish blue catfish largemouth bass
bluegill Sacramento perch rainbow trout redear sunfish

And bucket stocking strictly prohibited. Must come from licensed aquaculturist. The joys of California.

Here's their (rather short) list of generally OK fish to stock:
white catfish channel catfish blue catfish largemouth bass
bluegill Sacramento perch rainbow trout red ear sunfish
Which of these would work out best for over wintering and fluxation of flow? We can get down to -20 at time s I am sure that it will freeze over and maybe the kids can skate on it. Thank You for all your help

What stocking rate for BG and CC?