Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Stocking a new pond with RES, YP and SMB

IMO the spawn bed for SMB that TJ showed above (11-03-14 post)was probably never used which does occur in ponds were numerous spawn bed sites are built. The male bass for some reason does not "like" the nest site. It has been shown that not all male SMB will build a nest each year. I sometimes see where a male starts cleaning a nest and then the unfinished nest is abandoned for some reason. Maybe it was due to competition and crowding?

A small 0.3ac study pond with SMB as the dominant predator near me will usually have only one to a maximum of 3 active spawn beds each spring; often one or two. Often it is the same spawn site that is favored by the dominant male bass each year despite other apparently good locations are available. From just this pond experience, I would not expect more than 3 to 6 active SMB spawn beds per acre. You are lucky to get two active nests per acre IMO for non-production ponds. Thus in a smallie pond with numerous spawn bed sites several may never be used. This may be one reason why fingerling SMB at fish farms are scarce and why many fish farms do not raise SMB, thus the scarcity and premium price for SMB fingerlings.

I think only one or two successful SMB nests per acre are needed with proper fry nursery areas to provide plenty of SMB recruitment. Actually Dr. Dave Willis (SDSU fisheries professor) in his dealings with SMB in ponds frequently saw too much recruitment from the SMB and they often became stunted and needed to be thinned out to get growth from the bass. He generally concluded the smallies tended to over populate in favorable conditions.