Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Stocking perch in a 1 acre pond in Central Indiana

I am not a pro. From my experience, 20# of FHM will be 4000 to 6000 fish. My pond is about the same size as yours and I started with a lot less. With the water cooling quickly, I would not count on much spawning activity until the water warms to 55 F or so next spring. You should also count on losing some of the largest ones over the winter as FHM have a very short life span.

Just my thoughts...maybe one of the pros will throw their 2 cents into the discussion.

For Reference here is the original stocking plan.
Stock 20# FHM the fall of 2015
Stock 350 6-8” perch and 50 redear sunfish in the spring of 2016
Stock 25-30 7-9” walleye and 30 8-10” Hybrid Striped Bass in fall of 2016

BillD. is correct you will not need 20# of FHM unless you plan to stock fish larger than fingerling which is the original plan. FHM will survive in your partially filled pond. However the pond will develop more of the natural fish food items if the minnows are not stocked until early next spring. Then I would stock the 10# FHM and use the extra money to add more RES probably 150-200. FHM at 10 Lbs will also be easier to sort. Also in Spring one tends to get more adult (breeder size) FHM than in the fall when most of the FHM are YOY and smaller individuals from crowded fish ponds.

Consider using two stocking sizes of YP 4"-6" and 6"-8". More of the larger size if you want to harvest some 8"-11" YP in fall off 2016. With ample food or pellet feeding the 6"-8" YP stocked in early spring will easily be 8"-11" by fall. YP will eat few if any 2"+ RES if YP are fed pellets and FHM or other minnows are available. YP thrive on 1"-1.7" minnows/shiners. If you expect the fishery to truly flourish in years 4-6, you are going to need some other multiple forms of forage if you stock WE and HSB. Consider adding GSH although they are known to be nuisance bait stealers when angling with worms and ice fishing.

If you want to stock some fish this fall spend some effort to get a few bluntnose minnows, or spotfin shiners or less common species of beneficial forage fish such as lake chubsckers. Let them establish, get a head start and do some growing before others are added. Line up some crayfish for spring stocking. The papershell crayfish is a very good crayfish for Indiana-Illinois ponds.

You can add some RES now but it will be probably better if you add them in spring when small fish foods will be more abundant and the fingerling RES do not need to survive winter conditions with limited food reserves.

What you should be working on now before the pond is full is to add abundant spawning habitat and small fish habitat along the shallow areas to promote the forage fish that will later spawn. Drive the country side looking for piles of rocks or concrete to haul back to the pond. Contact some smaller construction guys or concrete installers for them to bring you some waste concrete removed from some of their projects. Broken concrete along one or two whole shorelines will also stabilize the shoreline from erosion due wind action. Broken concrete of various sizes either placed or haphazardly placed creates great spawning areas and habitat for producing fish foods and all types of small fish. Concrete rip-rap lined shorelines down to 5-7 ft deep also help reduce the amount of weeds that will grow and could become a nuisance in shallow water of sloping banks. Some weed growth in shallow water is good and it can occur in the other 1/2 of the pond without riprap. At the base of the deeper rip-rap will be a good place to catch the walleye you plan to stock.

Also if you don't have it done get your dock built or at least the dock posts in while the water level is low.

I have listened to Bill word for word on our pond project. This is the best thing I can say to do. Listen to Bill and the experts.

I was like every other new pond owner. I want fish and I want to catch them next year. It takes time and is best to do it right.

Three years into our project and what a wonderful pond we have now.

I can not stress enough is to get other minnows that are native into the pond. The FH minnows we put into our pond are all but gone now after the first generation perch born in the pond perch can eat them. They are taking to the feed now but all but wiped the FH out of the pond.

We have common shiners and emerald shiners as well as johnny darters. Fast minnows have a much better chance in a small pond.

If I was to do this again the only thing I would do different is like Bill stated in one of his posts in this thread. Start with two classes of perch. We are top heavy with breeding 12"+ perch all were 6-8" and we stocked 400.

Cheers Don.

Gary - If you find a source of bluntnose minnows or spotfin shiners, and want to share and split costs, please let me know.

Will do!

American Pond & Lake Management (central Indiana) may grow some bluntnose minnows and or spotfin shiners in 2016.

Bill - What do you think the minimum water depth needs to be on forage ponds in central Indiana?

Minimum water depth? Good question. It will depend on how the pond is managed. Too shallow usually results in too many weeds or algae preventing harvest or making it very difficult. If the management methods can overcome the weed problems then the other main limiting factor would be degree of winter conditions and ice cover leading to winterkill. If the forage pond is drained and the basin dried each winter then there are hatchery ponds that are only 3-4ft deep. Annual draining and drying of forage or hatchery ponds has several good benefits for managing small ponds.

I would want a year round forage pond, so I am guessing a minimum of 6 feet? Since this is hobby, I am not too worried about harvest difficulty. I am laying out jobs for a possible small TLB purchase and want to scope out realistic projects.

Forage pond of 5ft -6ft deep is good. It allows for evaporation and dry drought weather and still have decent water depth. As I mentioned you biggest challenge will be to keep it low of weeds / FA algae. Several ways to deal with plant problems.

Thanks for the advice. It appears that the machine is in my budget if the dealer ballpark is accurate. If the plants do not hurt the fish, I can deal with the inconvenience. I will try for a deep (8+ feet - central hole) with a shallower shelf around the outer edge for safety. The biggest concern will be droughts where the artesian well level drops. Pond depth will depend on the machine and my ability.

Another question for hydraulics experts. If I start a siphon from the well with a 2" poly line that will drop maybe 15-18 feet from the upper elevation of the pipe 5-8' from well water level), is there an advantage to stepping down the pipe size over the 80-100 feet before emptying into the forage pond? I was thinking of how miners did this many years ago to get more pressure. I could then maybe get a fountain effect that would aerate the pond?

So much for a new Kubota TLB. They are discontinuing the L39 due to new pollution standards. Not enough market to justify the modifications.

How about the 45?

They still make the L47, but it is out of my price range. JD used to make a 110 TLB, but they discontinued this model as well.

Just a thought...Have you checked around for a gently used one? There is a huge used market out there. Save some bucks and still get what you want? I bought a used 4WD JD 585 with FEL last spring for half what they are asking for the 700 series (no FEL) that came out to replace it. I've had it a few months now and am extremely happy with it!

Just a thought....

A used TLB or mini excavator is plan B.