Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose JET new pond fish stock questions

pond size easily 2.5 acres, spring water is feed source.

02/06/09, put 32 pounds fathead minnows, 100 HBG, 1-2"size, 100 REG.BG,1-2" size 100 RES, 1-2" size

03/15/09, put 100 CNBG 1-2" size, 100 Black Crappie, 1-2" size and 100 Channel Cats, 3" in size

pond has many, many, many tadpoles both quite large and very small that comes in with spring wate feed constantly.
of course not to mention frogs from medium to small.

My goal is to have panfish get big enough to let kids fish and be eaten but also I would like to grow decent size LMB for my son and others to catch, eat and release back as needed to maintain good size bass.
I have looked at the forum member answers and still not sure.
My question is if I put 2 to 4" LMB in now, will they consume all the existing fish and minnows/tadpoles/frogs to soon ? JET

2"-4" LMB will eat some of your smaller sunfish you stocked. Particularly the 4" LMB eating the smaller 1" sunfish. IMO the problem you're going to face is you're going to play catch up if you want to keep your crappie numbers under control. Those crappies are going to explode in size this year. All those FHM and their young along with all the zooplankton a new pond tends to have... There is a high likelihood you will have a giant crappie spawn next spring. All of this without any bass in the pond to keep them under control... I would give the sunfish all spring and summer to grow to a nice size. I would suspect that by the end of the summer, most of your sunfish will be in a 4" or so size range. At that point I would stock 150 4" or so LMB. They will help control your crappie numbers next year. The following fall I would stock another 150 LMB. Your original numbers of sunfish you stocked are on the very low end, but sunfish multiply fast, so I wouldn't sweat it, particularly since your stated goal is mostly a quality sunfish pond. Your biggest concern should be to make sure the crappie do not get out of hand too early...

I think you are WAY understocked for your permanent forage base - only 200 BG/CNBG and 100 RES for 2.5 acres, none large enough to have much if any spawn this year. I understock bream by TX standards, and I would want at least 400/100 per acre in those sizes.

Those bluegill and hybrid bluegill should snack on your crappie fry.

Sunfish love to eat fry of other fishes

Where did you get your fish and who recommended your numbers?

I went to Tyler Fish Farm, which is off of Highway 64 between Tyler and Canton. Bob, the owner, said that I should start off with 2,000 copper nose bluegill and 3,000 fathead minnows for my pond, which is 4 acres in size. I let them alone for a year, then added bass the following year. Bob said that I could add the bass in the fall, but I just didn't have the time to go get them from him.

In a few weeks, I'm going to Henderson to buy Tilapia for that pond to add more forage for my bass. This will be my first year trying them out, so I'm both excited and nervous about it. All I'm waiting on is some warm weather and my water temps to rise.

Eddie

Those are rather unusual stocking #s. The standard range suggested by fisheries scientist in the south are 1000 BG/RES and 100 LMB per acre using 2 inch stockers. More current thinking is if you want a LMB population with big fish then 2000 BG/RES per acre and 50 LMB. If you are understocking BG or any forage then the plan needs to leave time for them to establish a forage chain (brood fish not subject to predation). In your case because of the low BG #s additional brood fish will have to be stocked or come from the spawn of the existing BG which is possibly a year from now but at the earliest the fall for stocking the predators .

That does not account for the crappie which require even more forage. The HBG will only reduce the forage population as they take up space and result in less forage in years 2-5. It sounds as if your goal is a balanced BG/LMB pond. Why the crappie ? They are the hard part to deal with in your situation.

sounds like I am understocked so I plan to increase the numbers and wait until at least fall or next year to bring in LMB.

the Crappie is a request of one of my step-sons, so I am trying it...it's a wait and see venture, understand the risk.


thanks.........JET

worse case scenario you can fry up those crappies. Thats some good eating and good fun catching them.