Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Corrective stocking Question for the experts

Hello guys, My grandfather stocked his pond the same as mine 3 seasons ago. 50 SMB 50 HSB, 250 YP, 15 WE, 500 RES after a year of prey reproduction. He had a small YP and SMB spawn last year. This year all I seem to catch in traps are regular bluegill, a few hybrid blue gill and more then I like green sunfish. I am positive the unwanted fish came with the RES.

Should we be worried about the sunfish reproduction affecting the YP spawns and will the HSB and SMB control there numbers? I observed numerous large YP on camera this winter ice fishing but rarely catch them.

All of the fish other then WE and RES are pellet trained and fed daily.Should I stock more perch to offset the sunfish predation on eggs or stock more predators. If I am being a worry wart and should just sit back and let nature take its course please tell me that too.

Thanks

What are the goals for the pond?

In 3 years a few hideaway BG or GSF should not overtake the pond. HBG should not be a problem due to limited reproduction. Hard to tell what is going on with the info given. Where did all the BG and GSF come from ? YP , WE and SMB will feed on small GSF and BG but may not control them if they are numerous.

Is your goal to have more perch?

Do you cull any of your unwanted sunfish?

Do you see your small mouth or hsb cruising the areas you see or catch your sunnies?

Goals for the pond are a decent catchable population of YP with the occasional SMB AND HSB for bonus fish. Every sunfish that is not a red-ear gets culled along with me running three minnow traps daily.

I occasionally see wakes\chasing in the shallows but this year has been very wet for us and the viability has been limited since June.

There are large bluegill which I assume are the original stock, middle sized approx 4 inches, then half inch to 1.5 inch sizes.

I guess I am wondering do you guys think my predators will manage the bluegill but allow a decent perch population...

Sorry I forgot to mention the unwanted sunfish came in the 500 redear. Im assuming there was green sunfish, hybrid blue gill, bluegill, and redear in the 500. There is no other water coming into the pond and no chance of bucket stocking.

Keep pounding away at the unwanted sunfish species. HSB/SMB aren't known to be able to control BG numbers, and with the goal of good YP in the pond, that will be difficult without you helping them keep ahead of the unwanted sunfish numbers.

YP are more fusiform in shape, and those predators (or any predators for that matter) will be able to eat longer YP than BG.

Yeah a 4 inch BG is not the length that is the problem it's the height. It starts to get to tall quick. Unlike a LMB mouth a SMB and HSB mouth just don't have a gape to pull them in very well. Like esshup says unlike your perch they are nice and arrow dynamic and slide down real easy compared to a 5 inch BG.

RC

Do you have a cast net? Great tool!