I have a 1 acre, two year old pond in VA which I stocked with hybrid bluegill, readear sunfish, and fathead minnows approx. 2 years ago and then 25 LMB early last year. The bass were 8" - 10" when stocked and did very well last year.
This year the fathead minnows are apparently all gone, the HBG are doing very well (I feed a relatively small amount 3 times daily), little sign of the readear sunfish, although I occasionally catch one, and the LMB are on the skinny side.
The pond has plenty of cover and structure so, after researching the forum, I'm thinking that my LMB problem is caused by the HBG not providing enough of a forage base. Probably should have went with pure strain BG as I am more interested in the LMB than BG.
My question: Is it a good move to supplement with pure strain BG and will this help to increase the forage base for the LMB. If so, I don't want to waste money and lose a bunch of small BG to LMB predation right off the bat so I was thinking of going with a smaller number of larger BG, either from a hatchery or relocated from another site. Any thoughts regarding this option?
Welcome to Pond Boss, VApo!
Adding regular strain bluegill is a good idea, and trying to get bluegill over 5" is the right line of thinking.
How big are the LMB now? You might need larger than 5" bluegill.
Relocating fish from one pond to another is generally discouraged by some experts here mainly for the risk of transporting some potential fish disease to your pond. But, many pond owners to catch fish in other ponds and relocate them to their own.
Some say you can minimize the risk of disease by putting the fish in a salt bath in between transport between ponds.
Thanks Sunil.
The largest of the bass that I've seen are around 14" long now with more in the 10"-12" range. I've also seen several smaller bass (4"-6") so it appears that recruitment has been good. I've already removed 10 LMB in the 9" to 12" range to try and help the BG population build.
Welcome to PB. You could easily add 100 adult BG to your pond and that may not be enough.
I'd also be looking for bluegill over 5" long because you have some 14" LMB in the pond.
If you were able to get some bluegill in there now, you might be able to pull off a bluegill spawn, but most likely, the bluegill added now would only be helpful for providing forage by next summer. Also, the fry & resultant juveniles from a bluegill hatch won't really help out the 14" long LMB too much. It's just too small of a meal.
Do you feed at all? Getting some of that Aquamax for LMB might be a nice short term solution to help the LMB get nourishment now if you can get them to take to feed.
Haven't fed the LMB to this point.
I've checked with the hatcheries that I know about around my area and can't find anyone that carries 5"+ BG. Any suggestions for how to find and secure this type fish?
Someone needs to chime in here, but what is the newest LMB feed?
Is it Aquamax 600?
Also, what will VApo's chances be for getting his LMB to take to the feed?
If he can do this, he can return his LMB to growth mode while working on firming up his forage base.
As for where to get 5"+ BG, you would have to call around to a bunch of places, or entertain catching and transplanting.
I've contacted all the local hatcheries that I know of looking for 5" or so pure strain BG with no luck.
Does anyone have any suggestions for hatcheries that I can contact that are within a reasonable distance of southern Virginia. (For reference, I'm about 1 hour north of Winston-Salem, NC).
http://zettsfishhatchery.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/CompleteCatalog.pdfMost hatcheries don't sell bluegill over 5". Zetts sells them 5-9" as one category. Make sure they don't give you any GSF; a pond owner on here recently bought catfish from them and then a year or so later discovered a bunch of bullheads in his pond. However, with that said, I've bought fish from them more than a couple times in years past and never had anything but a great experience. They had fish I couldn't readily find elsewhere, and every time the fish arrived healthy and lively, and flourished once stocked. I never had a single mort upon initial receipt of the shipped fish or during stocking. And, I never got anything but the species I had ordered.
I probably would not have mentioned the negative experience of the other poster on here, but a lot of us were a little put off to learn of said poster's experience. But I had great luck with them, and they're the nicest people you'll ever do business with.
Good to have another Virginian on here...
Some places to look for your BG:
http://fosterlake.com/new_site/index.phphttp://www.seponds.com/index.phphttp://www.midatlanticstocking.com/http://www.delmarvaaquatics.com/You may want to wait until early spring to stock your BG. That way they are close to spawn time when put in. That way they have a better chance of pulling off at least one spawn before being eaten...
Thanks to everyone for the help.
Certainly no expert by any means, but these guys have done a great job trying to educate an hard headed Missouri country boy, and here's what I have personally done with my pond that seems to have worked well.
I stocked with 150 RES in the 1-3" range, 250 BG in the 3-5" range and 10 pounds of FHM last October. Additionally I put in 35-40 mature RES/GB in the 7-10" range to give my new pond a good mix of sizing. Unexpectedly, I got a nice 'late' spawn from some of the adult fish recruited from a larger lake in the area. My FHM spawned at least three times last fall. I think the wooden pallets I put in for this purpose really paid off. This year I put in another 15-25 adult BG from yet another local healthy lake, and in the last 60 days I have begun to put in LMB in the 7-12" range, hoping my forage base would support 25-30 LMB. I temporarily lost my head and put in 5-7 12" crappie - I know, I know, but the devil made me do it.
I preface my remark to you with this info., because if I were in your position with my 3/4 A. pond, and knowing these guys and their advice to me, I think I would "just have to go fishin a lot" to recruit some healthy adult BG to add to your ponds family of fish. Dang it! I hate it when I just 'have ' to go fishin, but sometimes you just gotta take one for the pond.
I'm sure of this: Any FHM you put in right now would be gone in 10 days or sooner, and any BG spawn will be gobbled up by the existing LMB when the fry got big enough to be a tempting meal for the bass. IMO, your best shot at increasing your forage base is putting in many adult BG (7-10")and let them go to town.
(Gosh, I hope I'm right)
Where abouts are you VApo? I am just above Mt Airy NC across the stateline.
s_montgomery,
I'm in Patrick County. Sounds as if you are as well.