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Wow!! Can't believe the wealth of information here.
I'm new to the forums here and just wanted to express my thanks to Bill Cody for a big part of my inspiration to build my new smallie pond.
I finished construction of my 3/4 acre pond mid summer this year and stocked Fatheads about 4 months ago and followed with yellow perch, redear and smallmouth about 90 days ago and just finished a 7 day trap net set that produced some amazing results in such a short period of time.
My issue here in NW KS is the very fine sandy loam soil type. I had to use soda ash as a sealing agent due to less than 3% clay particulates and I'm worried about water clarity issues long term for the SMB.. This pond is fed by well water through a 2" main run down on top of bottom seal with a riser to act as an augmentor if needed.
I stocked my SMB after about 2 months of fathead spawning and at 90 days, my SMB went from an average of 55mm to an average of 114mm for the sample. My largest was 141mm (about 5.5"). My SMB sample was relatively small at only 9 fish so maybe I'm ok but I noted my Redear went from ave 60mm to 135mm and yellow perch 95mm to 210mm ave. I have very minimal aquatic vegetation but literally several hundred ton of rock substrate in the form of large concrete chunk, 2-5" rock/rubble down to pea gravel. WR's of the SMB were low (90-ish) on the larger specimens to around 140 on the smaller fish sampled. Granted some of this could be my WR formulas were meant for 150mm + SMB. I'm hoping time will show a better sample of SMB but I'm wondering if water clarity is more of an issue than I think??
Disk reading has varied from 18" to 30" at the clearest.
If someone would have any suggestions, I'm very open to ideas.. I know this system is extremely young but the excitement is hard to hold back.

Last edited by Snipe; 08/11/19 09:19 PM.
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Welcome to the club Snipe, it sounds like you will fit in very well here with your obvious excitement regarding the hobby. It sounds like you are experiencing the great benefits of the great FHM...keep up the good work!


Fish on!,
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Welcome to the forum.

I'm in the opposite corner of Kansas and stocked SMB last December. I already have recruitment with lots of 4-6" YOY SMB.

Good luck and keep us informed on progress.


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You'll be fine with SMB with 18-30" readings. I have a great SMB pond and that's about where my readings are.

Keep us updated.


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Thanks guys. looking fwd to this!
snrub, I read some of your crawfish info and noted your location, I lived just outside of Asbury, MO for 8 yrs right on the Spring river.. Very good times fishing down in your neck of the woods.
Your area fisheries biologist is a friend of mine, hope those folks are good to you there!

Last edited by Snipe; 10/26/18 08:16 PM.
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Originally Posted By: snrub
Welcome to the forum.

I'm in the opposite corner of Kansas and stocked SMB last December. I already have recruitment with lots of 4-6" YOY SMB.

Good luck and keep us informed on progress.

What size fish did you stock originally??

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I paid for some 6-9" fish and some 4-6" fish. I would say of the 6-9" fish I bought a lot of them tended toward 9" and in the 4-6" lot a lot of them tended towards the 4". There could have been some 10" or greater. Jerry Hartley said all the fish were from the same brood pond. The difference in size was the difference in how well the fish took to feed. I have found the same thing in my YOY SMB. The ones that are aggressive towards pellets and get on feed grow fast and the others not so much. When the water is clear enough I can see which ones are feeding and which ones are not.

So I would assume it was some of the largest fish that spawned the next spring. I have lots of 4-5" SMB now I can see and catch around the edges of my my RES/SMB pond. Or at least I could catch them back when the water was warmer. Now they mostly just look at or ignore my bait since the water has cooled and become exceptionally clear. I had so many I caught thirty or more and are growing them in another pond I have without large predators.

Here is a picture of one of the recruits that I transferred to my forage pond. . SMB 2018 recruit

Last edited by snrub; 10/27/18 10:09 AM.

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Ok, going to try my luck at posting pics.. Hope it's not too boring!
This pond is an experiment that we've been working on the idea of for a couple of years. I have 2 Biologist from KDWP watching my progress closely as redear and SMB in particular are not know to succeed in this area. Yellow perch, well, we have no data in our area either, so this is going to be fun! I'm in the very early stages with this and I'm sure there will be bumps along the way.
First pic is pond right after seal was finished..

2nd is pic of SMB at stocking (2")..

Next is SMB from net sample 85 days later.

Stocker RES..

Sample RES at 85 days..


Stocker Yellow perch..

85 days after..

Hope this works!

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That YP looks fabulous! Gaining weight and great color! I think YP are going to be a winner in your area. Please spread the word that this is a very worth while consideration for a fish that is easily pellet trained, fun for kids to catch, and awesome table fare!

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Thanks for the great report. Your fish are growing very nicely. Good job getting started. Next year's fishery report will add lots of good information for others learning from your fish stocking combination experiment. Return to this specific thread in STOCKING A NEW POND » Types of Fish to Choose for future updates to document your pond's progress.

Last edited by Bill Cody; 11/29/18 10:46 AM.

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Thought I would come back and add a few notes to this.
As my water temps are near 70, I've noticed activity has really picked up. Last week I noticed a small, light colored area that I thought was a 12-16" piece of concrete coming into view. The next afternoon I seen 2 more and came to the conclusion they were Redear Beds! I have 1 lone dish right beside a "TJ" smb nest structure that I believe is too big to be a RES so I think it's a smb.
As I have been feeding the last 3 weeks in the open pond I've noticed I have several of my feed trained YP showing up on a regular basis and the last 4-5 days they have brought a few guests, being some MUCH larger perch and a few smaller perch that were not part of my feed training. I've not seen a SMB take feed yet, nor a RES-and don't really expect to see RES but have seen where some folks see smb taking feed.
I seen my first fry of the summer FHM's about 5 days ago. I can take my fine mesh 3' net and run it for about 3-4' along the rocks and catch about (guessing here) several thousand FHM from fry to about an inch. I occasionally get a few small 1 to 1-1/2" YP in the fry net but never any of the 3-4" size.
I'm hoping to see some SMB fry but not sure my fish are sexually mature and somewhat expected them to spawn next year but we'll see.
My GSH are quite abundant and extremely high numbers of obviously gravid females-most seem to be in the 4-5-1/2" size range.
I find I'm still somewhat impatient but continue to tell myself anything good takes time to produce!
I've noticed a few patches of Sago pond weed starting to build and a very few cattails. Seems like what I believe to be eel grass is popping up in a spot or 2 so things are changing.
You guys with RES and SMB have any insight on when to expect to find YOY of both species I'd love to hear your thoughts.

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Nice report Kenny. Your SMB should be bedding now or very soon...been a late year for us up here and my water is pretty stained due to runoff...not sure I'll be collecting many SMB fry this year.

You'll see male SMB bedding anywhere from 2-6' depths, and a week or so later notice schools of dark black tadpole looking fry with the same male close by trying to protect them somewhere near the bed location. These are not tadpoles, they are YOY SMB and very easy to net provided you have a fine mesh head.

Consider keeping on top of the cattails...they are a preferred forage item for 'skrats - I nuke every one I see as I already have rat issues. Cattails respond readily to glyphosate - I use the Schillig "glove of death" method to avoid product drift into the water. Glove and a little section of sponge and up the leaves you go. Get em now while they're growing, tubers are vulnerable to herbicides but won't be once they're mature....then you'll only kill the leaves.


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An update for this..


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Oh man Congrats on the progress. I'm know expert at all but those are looking good. Those suckers are growing pretty good.


The people who say I can't do it can just sit the @^#% down and watch me. Friends call me Rusto I also subscribe to pond boss mag. http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=504716#Post504716
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I am interested to follow this as I learn about species diversity. Growing up in Oklahoma, most ponds are some sort combination of BG, RES, LMB, and CC.

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A couple more add-ons..





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Verified Gambusia present in relatively good numbers (never stocked any). No water source within 14 miles and no FHM stockings since August of last summer.

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Where did the BG come from? Over time I would be worried that your SMB won't be able to keep BG recruitment under control. Those RES are looking good!



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BG Males only stocked. No females present-so far..
Hopefully my single HBG doesn't throw me a curve with future generations..

Last edited by Snipe; 07/27/19 01:50 PM.
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A bit of a surprise last night..


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So what kind of fish is that last one?


61 acre water shed lake. bass, channel cat, black crappie, wiper, walleye, redear sunfish, blue catfish and bluegill. To many bullhead and common carp
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Tilapia!


Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. ~ Henry David Thoreau

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Check out the bellies on those RES!

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If big bellies are good, I should be reincarnated as a RES.

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8lbs of biomass removed..


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