Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Wildlife Management Corrective stocking

Recently stocked 400 Florida lmb fingerlings, 1600 breaded size bg, 12000 Fhm, 100 channel cat, 200 black crappie fingerlings, into a 63 acre lake with an exhisting bg and minnow population. The more I research, the more I realize how under stocked with bass it is, at 7 bass per acre. My goal is to have a real nice fishery and good catch rates. What is a realistic time span for me to achieve the goal of catching lots of fish w my kids and family? And how can I spread up the process without spending 15000 dollars in bass, bg, and minnows?

The Phoenix area will certainly have a long growing season. 63 acres is big water and the bass will have trouble finding the BG and crappie to eat. The FHM longeivity is dependent on proper spawning habitat. Hard to say about the time but a water hole that size could take a long time to mature into a good fishery without a huge influx of cash.

The "standard" is to stock predators a year after stocking forage. It will be interesting to see how the crappie do.

I am in year 6 with my 61 acre lake started with 50 lbs. minnows and 1000 blue gill in 2012. then 500 bass, 1000 more blue gill and 1000 cats in 2013. 2014 added 500 more bass 1000 more cats and 200 black crappie. 2014 and 2015 added red ear sunfish (300). This year added 300 wipers. This is the first year I am catching 4 to 5 inch bass ( so they did spawn). Do not catch channel cats very often (4 or 5 a year). But the crappie have exploded, crappie are every where. Lake is full of bullheads and green sunfish and now common carp. Low stocking in my opinion lets trash fish to get in and over take the lake, then your stocked fish will take over some day. I am in year 4 for the bass and I think in two more years I will finally have a bass lake. As for the channel cats, I feel like I need to buy more, but I would need 8 to 10 inch fish now. Your crappie I would wait tell year 4 or 5 to put in. All fish stocked were in the 2 to 3 inches size. It may speed things up by buying 10 to 12 inch bass so they would spawn sooner. I am far from being an expert, this is what is happening on my lake.
I was told by game and parks that at some lakes they would only stock 5 to 10 bass that where 5 lbs. So in year 2 when they spawn there would be 50 to 100 thousand fry. This could be a better way to go?? Someone that actually knows something can give better advice.

I hope your gamefish can get ahead of those carp. Ugh. That is a terrible problem in this area.

I don't know what your situation is or if my suggestion would be practical in your case. But if I had a 63 acre lake to stock I would built two 1/20th acre forage/grow outponds and start raising the stocking fish you need. Much more economical than buying the amount of stock you need. Not to mention it would be fun. Tiny ponds of a size that can be pumped out and seined could raise a gazillion stocking fish each year. Need more bass? Drain and kill a small pond off, put in a few high quality mating pairs and remove them after spawn. Six months later seine and remove thousands and thousands of fingerlings. Same for BG or RES or GS. Rinse, repeat the next year. One pond for predators, one for forage.

specialty ponds including forage and grow out ponds

Your 5 year old CC should be spawning now, if they can find nesting cavities. You should get CC recruitment in a lake that size. Some people get it in 3 acre ponds.

snrub, aka John, gives good advice. You'd be amazed at what you can raise in a growout pond. Mine helped turn around my LMB overabundant, CNBG light pond this year.

Thanks. And the ponds can be used in various ways.

They could initially be used as grow out ponds by stocking 100 to 500 fingerlings (depending on the type of fish) and feeding them to a size to escape predation in the main pond. For example stock 500 2" BG then seine and remove half when they get to 3-4" and move to the main pond. Then when the remaining half get to 4-5" again seine and move half. Then when the rest get 5-6" move most of the rest to the main pond but separate out 30 or so of the best looking genetics of the bunch and leave for brood stock for the next year to spawn and start the process all over again. So first year it is a grow out pond, second and subsequent years a brood/grow out pond.

2-3 years of this process along with the natural reproduction of the ones already moved to the main lake and he would have a good population of BG in the large lake.