Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations High pressure pond for kids, any ideas?

I have a 1/3 acre pond that has a maximum depth of 8ft, half of it is extremely shallow and has a lot of grass growth.

I managed it at one time for big bass and had some success stocking some monsters in it and had them gain some great weight. But during the drought we had in Texas several years back it dried up and I lost all the fish.

It is located near lake fork, so I stock it with under the slot bass all the time (2lb being largest). I'm not wanting to manage this to produce big fish at all, just a lot of numbers for kids. (it gets an insane amount of pressure)

The fish I am seeing are still healthy but showing signs of stunting (not surprised at all, probably 200+ largemouth in it just this year)

I put several thousand blue gill in it every year via traps and cast nets, so I know they are not starving in that regard.

Would stocking threadfin shad in it be worthwhile? I do not have to purchase the shad, I have to walk about 100 yards to load a net up and drop them in. I can probably get 1000 an hour without trying very hard right now, I know I need to dump in more forage...but with the lower temps all of the bluegill are long gone.

Next year does anyone have any ideas on what I should do to control weeds? 10lbs of tilapia should get rid of the snot moss correct?

Cameronb

Hybrid bluegill adults are relatively cheap, aggresive kid catchable fish!!!

You are clearly way over stocked on LMB unless your goal was growing mnster gills, which you said isn't.

With heavy fishing pressure and the dry-up potential, I would suggest stocking 40# Tilapia as the primary forage fish, with some fatheads and shiners in the winter after the tilapia die. The tilapia will also take out ALL the weeds in short order if you choose not to feed pellets......Overtons fish farm or Texoma hatcheries can set you up with the Tilapia and gills.---Both will take great care of you.

TFS are costly and easily killed off...not worth the risk/price IMO.

Plan on feeding lots of pellets to reach your goals as your pond will not support all the fish naturally...Think of the use of tilapia as part of the supplemental feeding equation.

Also, unless you are 100% sure you stocked Bluegill via traps and cast netting, or if you got them from flowing water, they are likely Green Sunfish instead of Gills...NOT a good forage fish!!!

I would definitely do the threadfin shad. getting off the couch, capturing the shad, and walking them over that 100 yards is actually a bit more effort than it sounds like, but definitely worth the effort. sounds like a fun little experiment you got going on. at 200+ bass you are definitely pushing the envelope and it all could come crashing down at some point, but keep us posted and definitely post some pics when you get a chance. I love experiments such as yours.