I was in the area of Tyler Fish Farms today, so I decided it was time to buy some fish. I told the owner that I've been catching fish from my small pond and letting them go in the lake for about four months now with good results. My estimates are around 30 channel catfish in the one to two pound range, 200 coppernose bluegill and close to a thousand fathead minnows. I also explained to him that I wanted to create a food base for bass, but didn't want to put bass in until next year.
He said that I have enough catfish already and all they are going to do it eat the forage fish, so I didn't need any more of them. He also said they will try to spawn next year, but it might take another year for that to actually happen.
He sugeested that I add another 2,000 1-3 inch copper nose bluegill, to the pond, and 3,000 fathead minnows. The bluegill cost $100 per thousand and the minnows are $30 per thousand.
He figured out how many there are per weight, then added some to give me quite a few extras. I have no idea how many I actually got, but I'm sure I did pretty well.
We'll keep adding fish from the small pond to the lake just because it's fun, but as of now, I really don't need any more.
Eddie
