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Hello Ya'll!

New to the forum. Have been a fish nerd for years, breeding fish in aquariums for fun and extra money since I was 18 and in college. I am about to turn 50 and we purchased 25 acres in Blue Ridge, TX..small town in far north east Dallas area. I have two ponds, One about an acre, and the other, not much bigger than a swimming pool right by the house (I am thinking this will be a decorative pond with maybe some Koi). The larger pond however will be my project this year. 2 years ago, it was just a pasture, but we dug it about 18 feet in the middle, so probably an average depth of 8-10 feet with a shallow end on two sides for potential fish spawning and shallow plant growth. A few months after it completely filled, about 18 months ago, my fish nerd self went out with my Collecting net and harvested about 2-300 Gambusia to try and get some life into the pond. So, today, there have to be 100,000 of the little buggers...they are EVERYWHERE in that pond, along with crawfish, some turtles and the random beaver. Anyway, Stocking this weekend with 5 lbs FHM 200 BG 50 RES 50 CC and 50 LMB. Debating dropping the catfish. We don't have a lot of (really no) plant growth in the pond yet, just some over grown grass, and cedar tree's and branches that I dropped in there in different places to create some structure. I tried last summer to transplant some things from local lakes but I don't think they made it (but who knows, Spring is already starting here, we may get lucky). Any ideas on stocking issues, or things that I might want to keep an eye on getting this thing kick started?

Thanks

S~

In my opinion 50 lmb in one acre is quite a few and I would pass on the catfish. They are going to compete with your lmb to eat all your forage fish. You might think about just stocking forage fish the first year and let them pull off a few spawns before adding lmb the next year. Fhm wont last that long and 50 lmb will start to work over those bluegill pretty quick. I'm no pro but the pros will chime in. Good luck and welcome to the forum, from deep east Texas!!

Agree on the BG. They are the backbone of the forage system and the bass and cats will starve to death on minnows of any kind. More energy expended on feeding than calories obtained. Bass/BG/Cats need forage that is 1/4 to 1/3 their body size(length). And, they prey on anything that will fit into their mouth. Agree with Flame on bass timing. Wait until the second year for predators. I would personally put in about 20 or even more pounds of small BG. Add about 5 pounds of Redear Sunfish for fluke/snail control.

I personally see no problems with the cats. I like them and they will almost never pull off a successful spawn. When they hatch the fry go everywhere in a school and are quickly picked off by the bluegills.

I generally say to stock bass when they can go to sleep with their mouth open and wake up with a full belly. That's next year in North Texas.

The small pond might make a good forage pond to raise minnows and BG to seine as groceries for the larger pond. You might need something for mosquito larvae control .

A good thing. Blue Ridge generally gets enough rain to keep water impoundments in good shape.

The beavers have a nasty habit of digging into the dam to make a home. I would "discourage" it from having the opportunity to do that.

I would also buy some good quality fish food to toss in. Why? Because it's a blast to watch them feed and allow you to observe their growth. We all do that. And, I have no reluctance in spending your money.

BTW, welcome to Pond Boss.

Well it's a bit too late, I picked up my order and let them all go Saturday Morning at about 8 AM, so everything that I purchased is now in there. That said, I failed to mention that everything that went is in small. The bass are 3 inches...maybe....so I figured the minnows and the bazillion mosquitofish that I put in the year before last would keep them fed. Also, all of the RES, BG are about the same size, maybe a hair smaller, and the catfish are between 3-4 inches. The fish farm is only about 40 minutes from my house, so I can grab more fish later in the summer to boost the pond again with more feeder fish. They aren't that expensive and I don't mind keeping the pond fed. I do also plan on feeding the fish dry pellets as well...for the same reasons. It's fun. Does that change things at all, since the fish are so small?

S~

It depends on your goals for the pond. Once the catfish get over 3#, they will compete with the bass for food (smaller fish). If you catch one and release it (catfish) you will have a heck of a time catching it again. The Catfish and bluegills should self feed train themselves, very rarely do bass learn to eat pellets on their own.

IF your goal is to grow bigger bass, the ratio of bass to bluegill should be 1:20 to 1:30. If your goal is to grow big bluegill, then once the bass grow past 14" take out every one that is over that length.