Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations FORAGE?

Recent posts about the merits adding mature bluegill and redear sunfish into ponds with adult LMB has prompted me to ask more questions.

Our new ¼+ acre, 12ft deep pond is initially being used for a forage pond. Three weeks ago we stocked a pound of breeding stock fathead minnows and 100 , 2-3 inch redear sunfish.
Don’t know the odds of survival because we were rushing to get them started even though the pond was partially filled with about 4-5 ft of water.

Adult bluegill and redear sunfish are very expensive, whereas the stockers are very reasonably priced. Our primary goal for the forage pond is to growout gills and and redear sunfish for the main pond.

My question:
Will there be enough snails and insects in a new pond for the redear to survive since I have been told that they will not eat fish food pellets or fathead minnows?

George Glazener

George,

I stocked about 1000 redears in a new 3 acre pond in East Texas along with 2000 coppernose BG...after about a year I never saw the redears again. I don't know what happened to them, but the coppernose BG are flourishing. Based on my experience alone, a forage pond to raise the coppernose certainly isn't needed, they reproduce like rabbits and a forage pond for redears would not seem to be worthwhile.

Thanks Meadowlark,
Three years to the date, we also stocked a new 2 acre N.E. Texas pond with the recommended stocking rate of 85% bluegills to 15% redear sunfish.

Day before yesterday a healthy 14 oz. redear was caught and released back into our pond.
I catch them fairly regularly flyfishing a hair bass bug. Have you tried some small foam rubberleg bugs? They may be in hiding?

Haven't stocked any blue gill in the forage pond, but will if the main pond gets "bass heavy".

Anyway, even if the redear don't survive, the cost is less than a tank of gas.
Maybe a waste of time, but I'm having fun.

Anyone else had experience "growing out" redears?

I regularly fly fish and often use those same type flys. Catch loads of coppernose, some of them very large, but never the redears. One theory is that they (redears) only hang out in deep water on the bottom. I've used weighted nymphs down deep and again lots of coppernose and not one redear, not a one. Strange.

George, typically a new pond has excellent growth rates, a TON of stuff will wash in for them to eat. The advice I received here a while back was to wait until my water was at least 6 feet deep, and had been sitting 2 to 3 months before introducing fish. I did and everything is coming along just fine, minnows and perch everywhere, the pond is now 9 months old...no predators, and a lot of baitfish.