Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose How many bass?

Hello to everyone, I've spent the past few days browsing the forums after being gone for the past year or so.

We dug our 1/2 acre pond in the fall of 2005 and it filled pretty well over the winter/spring. In the spring of 2006 I added 2000 FH minnows, 200 BG, 50 RES, and 100 CC. The FH have grown and multiplied many, many times. The BG/RES are all in the 6 inch range and some appear to be fattening up with eggs. The CC are just getting to eating size (they were 6"-8" when I put them in). I plan on eating a good number of the CC each year and restocking to keep a range of sizes in the pond.

Now I'm starting to think about adding LMB. They are currently $.90 but will go down to $.50 or $.60 in june/july so I'm planning on waiting until then to stock them. I'm also assuming that the BG will have spawned by that time.

Last time I asked, the consensus seemed to be to wait until the BG had spawned before adding LMB. Now my question is, how many LMB to add? They'll be small, probably 2-4". As long as they get to eating size I'll be happy, while a 4 pound bass is fun to catch, I'd rather not spend all my time trying to grow them that big. I have a 14 month old son and another on the way, so I'm more concerned with lots of eating fish to catch and of course, eat. At the same time, I don't want thousands of 6 inch bass swimming around either.

Regarding the CC, I know I've got alot in there right now, but I'm hoping to put a dent in them this year and then slowly reduce their numbers as the older ones get bigger and the ones I take out are replaced by smaller versions.

Any other thoughts?

It sounds like you want the most possible fish of catchable, eatable size rather than trying to emphasize large bass. I would stock something like 100 LMB for this purpose.

I don't think in 1/2 acre you'll have trouble keeping the bass numbers down enough to keep the size in the 12" and over range, even if you keep them a little crowded.

I suggest fishing, catching, and eating the CC you've currently got through this Summer before deciding how many more you want to stock in the Fall or next Spring. Let experience show you how many you'll use each year and figure your restocking schedule from that.

I was planning on not restocking any CC until next spring, based on this year's catch and a presumed mortality. My thought was to try to keep track of how many CC I take out and then put that many in next spring. This will lead to fewer CC as the years go on, as I know some die or are eaten (which I guess is the same thing). I counted 5 or 6 floaters last spring/summer and I assume there's at least a few more that I don't see.

So, I'm going to start eating CC as I catch any that are big enough. I caught probably 10-15 last weekend, 2 of which I consider 'keepers'. When the price of LMB comes down I'll snag 100 of them.

Thanks for the advice. Glad I asked, as I was thinking 20-25.

Time for another update on my pond after some interesting developments.

First off, the pond is waaaayyy down, probably 3 ft. low, due to the drought we've been suffering since I'd say March. It's a very deep pond though, probably 14'-15' out in the middle, so I'm not too worried about that. One thing it did do is bottom out my floating dock, which I recently unhooked from the shore and set adrift. The ladder was sitting in mud and the barrels were starting to float off. The downside of that is that is where I had been feeding the fish, so I haven't been feeding at all in the past 6 weeks or so. Combined with the heat wave and a very pregnant wife (and now newborn son), I haven't spent much time out at the pond.

Over the course of the spring and summer I have been catching and eating catfish and bluegill. There are some definite keepers in both categories. I've weighed the catfish and they've ranged (the ones I've kept) from 1 pound 1 ounce up to 1 pound 6 ounces. Very noticable difference in those 5 ounces! I lost track of how many I've kept but it's at least 10. I've caught and kept several nice bluegill and scores of not big enough to eat sized bluegill and redear. Both the bluegill and redear have spawned repeatedly. The fatheads have continued to multiply like crazy.

Back in July I put in 50 1-3" LMB. I didn't put in 100 like Theo recommended for two reasons. One, I couldn't remember at the time if he said 50 or 100, and two, I didn't have enough cash on me to pay for 100 (I think they were $.70).

This past Sunday I got some worms and did some fishing for the first time in a while. I didn't catch anything and was packing it in when I tried one more cast off a point where I can usually catch a bluegill. Bam, as soon as the bobber hit the water it was gone. Much to my surprise, I pulled out a fat 8" bass! I was amazed that in 3 months those minnow sized bass grew that much. Since then I rigged up a white rooster tail and spent 2 evenings down there fishing and I can pull in that same sized bass over and over and over. And every one is without question the absolute FATest largemouth I've ever seen. They must be just gorging themselves on those fatheads. Every one looks like he just swallowed a golfball. It's just unbelievable.

I'm going to try feeding the fish here in the next couple days and see what comes up. When I was feeding earlier in the summer it was a swarm of fatheads. I'm very curious to know if there are even any of those little guys left. The receeding water has exposed most of the cover, so I don't think there's much left for the minnows to hide in. Those bass are sure getting fat on something. They aren't quite big enough that I would keep them to eat, but very, very close.

I'm thrilled, thanks for the great advice so far guys!