Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Corrective stocking Restocking Bass

I have a pond in central Missouri I purchased last year. We cleaned up the dam and fixed a hole that made the pond go from 1 ac to 2 ac. It is 14 ft deep and now has a windmill aerator. I added bg and res last fall, around 1500 total. There are some lmb in the lake but doesn't seem to be many. There are a few big ones, 20 inch plus. But I rarely catch any. I would like to add some lmb and hsb. I can get 8-10 inch fish. How many can I safely add?

Welcome M to the forum. I would assess what forage is there to feed the bass that are there. What size were the BG that you added? Do you feed the BG? It's possible you just fed the existing LMB. Fish the heck out of it to see what is there or have a electro survey done. IMHO you need to see what you have in there before adding more

I added bigger bg and I fed them till it got cold. I think they were 4-6 inch.

Ponds are not static. They are dynamic and can change rapidly. This is especially true with fish populations. For example in a average pond which is newly stocked those few small 2 inch fish will in around 2 yrs fill the pond to capacity with fish biomass. Growth and reproduction is rapid. After that point in time you are managing the relationship of the different sizes and numbers of fish. The reason I point this out is to set the stage for what often happens when someone adds new fish to an existing population. For example a BG/LMB pond with existing populations but where there are not enough BG. When you add more BG and they reproduce providing more forage , the LMB spawn often increases to match the new BG food source. In that situation you don't need to add more LMB but rather manage both the BG and LMB populations for size and year class distribution. Without more info like seine , catch and electroshock data you could just as easily be making a mistake by adding LMB.

What do you think about adding some hybrid striped bass? I would feed them. How many 8-10" fish? I may just let the lmb balance themselves back out.

I have used HSB with LMB/BG into a pond with adults of both. It worked well with feeders. I used 10 inch HSB and they did well. In 2 acres I would add about 6-8 10 inch HSB if there is enough forage and feeding.