Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Newbie with an old pond needs Help!

Greetings and felicitations, Jon.

1. If Catifsh have not been resatocked for 20 years, an absence of them is no surprise. It is normally hard for cats to reproduce successfully in a pond with BG and bass present, and the original stockers would quite likely have died from old age, fishing injuries, etc.

2. If the water is a nice green or greenish-brown color, 2 feet of visibility is most likely a good thing in your pond. It would mean that the plankton which is the basis for 95% of your pond's food chain is active and at a desired density (18" to 24" visibility is considered optimal). OTOH if the pond is dirty because of suspended mud (brown to red in OK, I'm guessing) then carp (or other perhaps undesirable fish) are stirring up the bottom; usually not considered a good thing.

3. Crappie can be problematic in small ponds; they spawn before almost everyhting else, they frequently spawn erratically, and they compete with bass for food fish. Study the Crappie thread in the Archives for more info and think about whether Crappie are worth the possible (likely, IMHO) problems to you.

Try fishing with different baits/lure for different fish in the pond and find out what kinds and sizes of fish are in there. Your starting conditions will impact the route you would take to get to where you want the pond's fish populations to be.