Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose How Many Pumpkinseeds to Establish Population

Hi Derek

Sorry I just stumbled onto your post. Welcome to the forum and congrats on your new pond!

I work a lot with SMB and encourage your plans for them to serve as your apex predator. I suggest stocking your BOW with forage first [GSH, FHM, etc.], your SMB 6-12 mos later and PS 6 mos later. If you stock PS first I don't believe you'll ever be able to get in control of their populations given the head start and you'll likely be managing a stunted population thereafter. The SMB just won't be able to catch up.

Dr. Dave Willis performed research on some SD stunted PS ponds and introduced SMB to help manage the population. They didn't impact the PS population to the degree to eliminate stunting, however the SMB did perform very well based on the dense PS population. While their SMB stocking didn't result in a trophy lepomis fishery, it did yield some great SMB fishing. Bottom line, SMB are poor at managing BG in my experience, and Dave's experience with PS suggests the same.

With all that in mind, consider forage base first, SMB, then PS. I think you'll spend far less time managing your PS population over time with this stocking strategy.