Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Questions on YP

Im new to the forum and have some questions on YP. I have a pond that is roughly 13 acres & 35' deep with large flats and plenty of structure. It started to fill 6 years ago and is now full of FHM and mosquito minnows. We recently stocked 2000 BG & RES along with the native GSF and whatever else inhabited the stream when it was dammed. Having a pond with YP is an oddity in GA to say the least. I have a few questions maybe someone can help me with.

1. If I wanted to start yellow perch in this pond next winter through the introduction of pre-spawn fish, would that be an effective means? There are plenty of baitfish so predation of small perch would be negligible.

2. There is currently no aquatic vegetation, just small amounts of algae, what plants would be a good candidate for me to look into to be more of use for spawning habitat for the YP?

3. We plan to stock Florida Strain LMB later this summer, will the LMB prey more on the YP fry and fingerling than another species of baitfish?

Its my understanding that LMB and YP don't play well together. The LMB focus on the YP and thin the numbers greatly. Have you thought about SMB?

I really haven't though much about SMB. Im not sure how they will do in a south central GA pond. We are going to stock the LMB extremely light, will SMB perform and spawn as well as well as the LMB? I know there used to be SMB in NE Georgia but the numbers dwindled there isn't much of a fishey anymore except for the cold tail waters on Savannah river and its SMBxRedeye hybrids.

I suspect SMB will perform in your fishery based on recent science from a thriving SMB fishery in the deserts of AZ. I think you could experiment with them and can always adjust and stock LMB later if your results don't meet your goals. You cannot perform the inverse, however - LMB will typically out compete SMB in fisheries where both species exist.

YP require water temps below 49 to develop eggs - so a self sustainable fishery without supplemental stocking might be a question you can address for us - are you monitoring your Winter pond temps? Bill Cody can address this in greater detail regarding spawning criteria of YP and whether your pond provides an opportunity for YP recruitment.

Worst case scenario, supplementally stocking YP on an annual basis isn't the end of the world, I do this with GSH, HSB, WE annually in order to achieve my goals. You'd just need a reliable and affordable YP source - not sure of availability down your way.

Agree with TJ that SMB would probably do fine even in southern GA--as long as water quality is excellent.
In your case, if you choose SMB, given large size of pond and already stocked BG--you'll almost certainly need to stock something else to control your BG numbers until you've had several years of growth and recruitment of SMB.

With depth of 35 ft that should sure help you odds of the SMB doing well. Is your pond aerated?

13 acres and 35 ft. deep, you could grow some monster smallies with the long growing season you have if assuming they have plenty to eat.

Plus whatever else existed in the stream - guessing CC and BH are a good bet, but neither species would impact SMB or YP populations to an extent that I would advise against stocking.

Yolk and I manage cool water species fisheries with the presence of BG, and in my case, BH. It requires special management strategies and supplemental stocking, but limited gape predators can manage BG and BH populations provided the density is appropriate.

Yolk and I also use WE and HSB to help manage our BG populations. In a lake your size, Muskie or Tiger Muskie 1-3/ac would provide an additional angling opportunity but would also hammer YP populations hard.

Supplementally stocking a 13 ac lake with YP could be cost prohibitive - sorry I missed that on your original post. Your best bet here is to determine whether your YP could recruit.

YP have a sustaining population in the panhandle of Florida. I suspect that your water will reach cool enough temps to attemp to spawn. There is some debate about a "southern" "strain" of yp.

You can find the same localized YP in and around the river system and dam on lake Seminole on the FL/GA border. The USGS suggest they could be native to that system.

Actually the SMB will survive better in your large deep pond than the YP. If you can locate some stocker SMB try them for a few years with some hybrid striped bass(HSB). Together those two predators should do a pretty good job of controlling the BG, sunfish and YP. Later if you are seeing too many sunfish then add some LMB and as mentioned they will soon become the dominant predator and eventually eliminate the SMB. But in the meantime you will have some great SMB-HSB fishing. Keep us advised in this thread about the progress of your Georgia pond. It will be interesting to follow its progress.

I figure the yellow perch will do fine as far as water quality and temps. They are caught sometimes by crappie and bream fisherman in the rivers and impoundments all across the state. The pond in question is used for irrigation and is stream & spring fed. As much as I fished and netted the stream I never caught a single BH or CC and don't imagine there being any. I can trace the stream back to the spring it comes from still on our property. I know there were GSF and possibly a few fliers, as well as some kind of creek chubs. Now there are the 3 prior as well as FHM and mosquito minnows. Just clouds of them. I also plan on stocking the freshwater shrimp in the creek and a few other wetlands that we have. I have a place I can catch as many Prespawn YP as I want so stock shouldn't be an issue. And to be clear, the LMB will prey more on the YP than the GSF / BG and minnows?

I would give a go with SMB first.. Every one else in GA has LMB.. Try something different.....

I will see if I can find some SMB close enough to pick up. It's gonna be hard because I deploy within a month. As light as we are going to stock the LMB, would it be possible to stock heavier with SMB next year? The LMB will be less than 1yo.

The problem with stocking LMB, even just a pair of them, is that they will be in the pond, and ANY future stocking of fish will have to be advanced sized fish to avoid predation.

PLUS since YP are more fusiform than BG, they will tend to eat YP first if all 3 fish are in the same area.

I agree with everyone, stock SMB and HSB. If the BG get outta hand I would just stock more SMB/HSB instead of throwing in LMB. 13 acres is a HUGE pond to push the reset button on......

Does anyone know where I may be able to find SMB fingerlings near GA. Found a number for a guy up around clerks hill but it was no longer an active number.

Send a pm to Rainman on the forum he may be able to help you.

I have some extra, gravid, YP I'll be taking near the GA/TN line in about a week. Gravid for now, anyway, unless they spawn in my holding tanks before getting delivered...

Rex if you need to dump any yp I am looking and don't want to wait until fall which is what I'm looking at now. Let me know.