The creek is 600' from its head springs at the top of the ravine, no fish are present in the creek but it is loaded with crayfish.
Here is the watershed with creek outlined
and the surrounding area
The upper pond however could have been a source of the BH at some point. Another possibility is stocking - at one point small ponds in Iowa were stocked with a DNR program that included BH. The pond was built with grants from the DNR and was initially stocked by the DNR.
I'm fine with stunted bass and large panfish. The only fish I am interested in having quality size would be the BG, YP and HSB.
I haven't caught or trapped a GSF in the pond yet, not saying there aren't any but I haven't seen them.
Last spring when the clarity was exceptional I counted bass on beds while visiting at least once a day if not twice. I fished the pond very, very hard from June '16 to last summer. I caught 2 native bass. I've spoken with other folks in the HOA who have lived here and fished the pond much longer than I have. There was a guy who admitted to catching and removing every LMB he caught over a 5 year period until he was unable to catch any more.
The snapping turtle at atleast 2 of the native bass from the pond over the summer.
This is one of the native bass I caught last May
I chose the types of fish for stocking but the pond management folks I worked with determined the #'s. They wanted to ladder stock more YP and RES in the spring but I believe the HOA is going to decide on building a dock instead.
How many predator fish would you guys have stocked in the pond? How else would you go about managing the pond for my goals?
