Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose How much should I stock?

Big day, this is my first post and my new pond is finally full after the recent storm. I know this is the "types of fish to choose" forum but my question is more about "how many fish should I choose?" My pond is just under 2 acres and I want to stock LMB and a 80/20 ratio of CNBG and redear. I've looked at stocking strategies on several state fishery websites, browsed a dozen webpages of private fish stocking companies and looked through this forum. Everyone has a different strategy on how many fish to stock per acre. Obviously the fish companies want to sell fish so they have a higher stocking rate but there is still a big range. I want a good balanced fishing pond, maybe slightly weighted towards big bass. I have a lot of buried cover. I plan to feed and fertilize as needed. Any recommendations? How did you all decide how many fish to stock? Thanks for all your help. I'll try to post some pictures.

The first two pictures of the pond almost full were actually taken a few days after it was finished (late July). We got 2 huge rains in 4 days and it was about 2/3 full. But I wanted to build a dock and hadn't set my poles yet. So I drained the pond low enough to set my poles and then we never got a meaningful rain until a few weeks ago. The other pictures are when it was at its lowest and you can see some of the structure that my son and I added. Now its full and I can't wait to stock it in the spring. Thanks again for any help.

You might want to go this link and make sure you get an accurate measure of acres of the pond. Don't rely on what others may have told you, and the best estimators can be wrong at times. You sure don't want to stock for a 2 acre pond and it's only 1.5 acres.

http://www.acme.com/planimeter/

Nice setting the pond is in. Welcome to the site. Others will need to comment on numbers to stock, but meanwhile double check that size. No sense spending more than you need to. Also, do you plan on aeration? And do you plan on feeding? This will affect the carrying capacity of the pond, and may alter numbers to stock.

Thanks for the response. I've been looking for a way to measure it. However, the map hasn't updated to show my pond yet. I tried to guess but the landscape has changed so much its hard to tell. Hopefully it will be updated before I stock my pond in the spring.

I do not plan to aerate at this time. I do plan on feeding and fertilizing.

The three kind of go along together. If you do too much of the last two without doing the first one, you could easily run into water quality troubles. Without the first, stay at pretty modest levels with the last two with the size of BOW you have.

I have three acres, do not fertilize (but have ag runoff that provides fertility), feed at around 3# per acre per day in peak feeding season, and aereate. I can still run into some poor water quality if we have a dry season with little water flow through. I can only imagine what it would be like without aeration and water stratification making only half the water livable for the fish.

Just be careful how you far you push it. Everything will likely be fine for the first few years, but then pushing it too hard without aeration could set yourself up for a fish kill.

I'm curious how deep your pond is and don't you get harsh winters?

i am in central alabama and my pond was stocked with bg, fhm and res in February and bass in may.

2 acre pond 2500 bream, 2500 fhm, and 150 bass. my goal is trophy bg, i think my initial stocking rate was too high in bream for my goal, but i feed heavy so i hope that helps offsets the possible incorrect ratio.

the bg are almost 2 years old and huge. the bass are looking good and the few bass that take pellets are looking extra good.

the bass pulled off a good spawn this spring. i don't see a ton of bluegill fry so hopefully it will not get overcrowded. i'd like to think with a good feeding program and selective harvest i could possibly have a good bg and bass fishery.

if it were me, i'd stock it a month or so before the bg and fhm spawn. let them get adjusted and they will spawn like crazy in the spring.

Same size pond as you and about the same goals. More I read, balance is a very difficult thing, and won't be there long.

I stocked in February:

35# FHM
500 RES
300 Adult CNBG
500 Med CNBG
2500 small CNBG

In June:

150 Tiger bass

I did stock higher numbers of LMB, but plan on a fairly heavy culling of smaller bass first round(I think). I based it off something Bob had said at PondBoss IV. It was along the line of a certain % (10-15%) of your fish will out grow the rest, most in the middle, and some won't grow well. In theory, I will get and extra 5-8 of the larger growing bass, but need to remove and extra fish during the first cull, to get back to #/acre. OR I could leave higher #, remove the larger bass if I want Trophy CNBG. I still haven't decided which way I want to go.......

Thanks for all the input. I'm right on the KY/TN line. I've read several reports of people having success with CNBG in my area so I'm hopeful they will survive. The deepest part of the pond is 10 to 12 feet. I thought about putting in aeration while the pond was being built but i had too many projects going on at once and didn't have the time or money. My wife wants a fountain so that may be in the future. I also have a lot of ag runoff so I may not have to fertilize much. I'll have the water tested before I do anything.

So from what I'm reading, you guys went with anywhere from 1250-1900 bream per acre. Thats a little higher than I was expecting. I was thinking more like 1000 bream and 10:1 ratio to bass. The KY DFW recommends around 400 bream per acre and 120 LMB which doesn't sound like enough forage based on everything else I've read. Is there a Pond Boss book or DVD that explains different theories?

Thanks again.

I can tell you what I stocked 4 years ago come this March. I will not say it was the right or wrong amount, but what the fish seller recomended after I told him kind of what I wanted. This was a few months before I discovered PBF.

The numbers are for a 3.1 acre pond that I thought was 3.5 at time of stocking.

March stocking of 450 3-4" BG (with a small percentage of RES mixed in). 30# FHM

That September I stocked 350 fingerling CC and 350 LMB.

Then in November added 150 3-4" RES to fortify the few RES stocked that spring.

From what I have read since then here on PBF that amount of LMB would be considered too heavy for a LMB pond but not bad for a balanced pond (which is what I ask for at the time).

As it has turned out, my best estimate is that the BG have went gangbusters and my LMB have had very little recruitment, which is unusual. The LMB I do catch have grown pretty well but I mostly fish for BG.

I fortified the LMB this fall with another 100 5-6" fingerlings, hoping there is enough BG for the existing bass population to eat enough of the new LMB would survive to give me another year class and some genetic diversity.

That is what I have done for the last going on 4 years. Not saying it was the right amount of anything, just what I did. I have been happy with it so far but somewhat concerned that my forage base may be getting ahead of my predators. But that still remains to be seen.

Thread about snrub's pond

Old school line of thinking, and still many state websites, are 10:1, but most in the business now say closer to 30:1.

Just a bit south of you......slightly different recs.
With those goals, I'd recommend stocking moderate numbers of adult BG and RES now or in late winter, FHM at the same time, and other forage, such as golden shiners. Feed all summer. Wait on the bass until mid to late summer or even fall. You'll be swimming in forage by the time you stock the LMB that way, with the BG pulling off several spawns and the RES at least one. In a new pond, that is a much more efficient and cheaper way to get started rather than buying hundreds or thousands of smaller fish. WRT LMB, I'd only put in 25, fifty at the most. You'll get fantastic growth from your LMB that way, and a class of bass that will quickly get to a really enjoyable catch size. If you stock with LMB now, they may pull off a spawn this spring or summer--and will be eating into your forage base before it is optimized.
Good luck! Nothing more fun than a new fresh pond....growth will likely be fantastic no matter what you decide to do....

i guess the thought on mine was the bg stocked in February would spawn a few times before the may bass stocking. i'm not sure about the bg spawning, but i did have a ton of fhm by the time the bass went in. i see all sizes of bg now, mainly little ones. i occasionally see a 4 or 5 incher at the feeder.

your timing will be a little different since i am in a warmer climate.

What never made sense to me was stocking vs recruitment. If I stocked 800 adult/med that spawned 5 times, plus the 2500 fingerlings, what is the actual ratio??? Could I have gotten to the same place with just the adults, since survival of the fry would be better w/o fingerlings???

Brian L, are they recommending 30:1 because there is science behind it or because they are in the business of selling fish? I assume most hatcheries make more money from selling bream than they do selling bass. 3000 bream at 40 cents versus 100 bass at $3 each. Maybe I'm being too cynical but I don't want to be dooped into buying too many fish and then have a problem with overcrowding. I can believe that 400:120 is outdated but 30:1 is a huge swing in the other direction. Would that be for a trophy bass pond? Obviously, there are a lot of variables that come in to play. Its interesting to read how others made their decisions.

That is a good point about recruitment. I've gotten different responses to whether fingerlings will spawn the following year. My plan of stocking fingerlings this fall is out the window because my water level was too low. But how long before a 1-3" BG spawns? Since I'll now be stocking in the spring, should I go with a higher number of BG since they may not spawn as many times before I put in LMB?

maybe you could talk to locals and see when their bg spawn. then stock your bass a few months after bg spawning time. they should have time to pull off several spawns in 2 months.

I think there is a good amount of science behind it. More I read the more consistent the stocking rates.

I'm not sure they make that much off the fish, as they do the delivery fee. Pickup from many fisheries are real close to what I paid. Delivery fee was the same no matter how many I bought.

Since you are in TX, depending on how well the 1"-3" stocker BG feed & grow, how early they are stocked, and how long your growing season is some of the larger individuals could produce a spawn as early as late spring or summer.
Some BG Facts
Some BG in AL will reproduce in the first summer. Most mature at age 1 (AL, CA, OK, IL, KS, TN, MO, OH, NY). Smallest mature BG were reported to be 2.9 to 3.5 inches (crowded populations). Smallest mature males were 2.2" where mature females were 3.5". In TX BG on average spawn 5 times per year Mar-Sept. Expect BG spawning any time the water temperature is above 75F. Information from Carlander Vol2 1977.

My BG stocked when pond was half full in early March 2-3" size with maybe a few 4" in SE Kansas spawned the first year. At least some of them did because by fall I had lots and lots of BG fingerlings.

FWIW Right or wrong, I initially stocked my pond (Northern Illinois) with this rationale.

I stocked the FHM first a couple of weeks after ice out (60% small and 40% large. I went with a lot of small because FHM have short lives and I wanted to make sure I had brood stock). They started spawning like crazy as the water temp warmed. I let them spawn for a few weeks before I stocked the BG. I considered 2 options for stocking the BG.

1) Stock lots of 1 to 3 inch BG and hope some pull off a late summer spawn. In my mind was best result would be my original stockers and maybe lots of 1 inch BG in the fall.

2) Stock a lot less BG but go with 4 to 6 inch that would spawn maybe 3 times thru the summer. In my mind was best result would be my original stockers and a pond filled with thousands of 1 to 3 inch BG and most of those would spawn the following year.

As I wanted to start stocking predators in that first fall and have the best potential of lots of appropriate sized forage, I went with option 2.

The pond was full of FHM and 1 to 3 inch BG when I started stocking predators in the fall.

If you wanted to follow a similar option 2 then for a 2 acre pond I recommend 20 to 30#s of FHM stocked early spring followed by 200 to 300 adult BG once the FHM have a good foot hold established (I think letting the FHM get established is important as those adult BG will just love eating small FHM).

.....BUT I am not a pro. Just relating what I did.

That is exactly what I'd do if trying to start a BG/LMB pond with your particular goals, hoping for exactly the same resulting conditions when I stocked LMB. If you knew the fish farmer from whom you were purchasing LMB pretty well, you might be able to talk him into selling you some of his YOY "shooters", LMB whose growth outpaces their peers; putting some of those guys in a pond chock full of forage and you'll be off to the races.

Especially with LMB, a little patience building the forage base goes a long way.