Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Corrective stocking .45 acrea wanna be bluegill pond stocking help

Ok i found out the pond im working on is .45 acrea. and its over run with green sunfish, not bluegill.
The green sunfish in this pond are really small. Most that I catch are 2-2.5" tall, and under 5" long. At firsh i thought they were just a bunch of undersized blue gill till I did somemore research ( we just always called all of them bream). I put six 2lbs bass in here to help weed them out. I've also put 25 six inch channel cat, 4 grass carp, 2 koi 25 goldfish ( duckweed eaters).

My questions are, 1: should I stock bluegill now, or wait till next spring. 2: do I need more LMB?

I have been rmoving the GSF that I thought was to big for the LMB that I have in the pond. Should I keep doing that, and let the bass forage on the smaller ones, or take them all out?

Any other suggestions would e greatly appreciated

Thanks Denny

Well if you want to get rid of them I would keep everyone you catch. If large enough to eat, I would do that as well, they are tasty little critters.

I have the same issue with my pond and the bass I believe have started doing there work, or at least I will find out in the next few weeks when I get to fish it heavy.

If you know someone that likes to catfish GSF are the best bait and many will pay top dollar for them.

You may even be able to work out something with the local bait shop.

If they just swapped you pound for pound with some FHM, at least you are getting something for them.

I am in the process of doing this myself, as the GSF I have in my pond are much healthier than what the bait shop gets from their supplier.

I was thinking, pull out the big ones, and let the bass have the little ones for forage. and go ahead and stock some BG

Dennis, here are my thoughts on your situation and stockings:

I am not sure of your goals, but I will assume they are to produce quality bluegills(BG) based on the title of your post.

If this is the case STOP STOCKING ANYMORE GOLDFISH OR KOI! Koi and goldfish eat little if any duckweed and for the most part compete directly with BG for food. They also cause other issues such as causing muddy water from their bottom foraging and this muddy water reduces the ability of the pond to produce food for your BG. See http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=11835&Number=133164#Post133164 to get an idea what you may be facing...

Why did you stock the grass carp, do you have an aquatic vegetation problem? If so, depending on the species they may be helpful. 4 fish is a bit on the heavy side for a 0.45 acre pond though. They may if starving feed on the duckweed, but don't count on it.

The CC will feed on smaller GSF as they grow. If you like eating CC it is fine you stocked them, however I would keep and eat any you catch and they become very smart with C&R angling. They are also pellet hogs if you are planning on feeding your BG which would be a good idea if you plan to grow nice sized fish. Replace only the number of CC per year that you plan on eating.

To accomplish a pond with quality BG fishing, I would find a source for mature BG, 5"-6"+ in size. I would stock 75 fish into your pond. I would stock another 6 12"-14" LMB into the pond. Between the predation from your current 6 LMB and the additional 6 LMB you'll stock and the high reproductive rate of the BG, your GSF will all but almost disappear in a few years, leaving you a mostly BG, LMB pond. Hopefully the current LMB you have along with the additional 6 will completely remove all goldfish you stocked along with any babies they may have. If not, you may have a lot of work ahead of you and may even want to consider draining and or poisoning your pond off and starting over...

Ponds less than 1 acre are difficult to manage. It is easier to produce quality BG angling in them which is your goal, so I would stick with that and run with it.

thanks cjbs2003
actually I was putting the gold fish in for forage for the LMB as well as for hlping control the duckweek. My reasoning for this is, they actaully grow duckweed to feed goldfish and koi. im actaully mechanicly removing most of the duckweed and just using the fish to help once I get the upper hand. I know the grass carp dont eat the DW well, and i got them to help with other aquatic vegitation as well.
I dont plan on restocking any of the CC. IN fact I havnt planned on putting anything else in there unless I was advized to go ahead and add BG. with the exception of a few more mature LMB.

The godlfish eat the DW because they don't have anything else to eat in an aquarium. The LMB will eat the small GSF which is what you want.

Thanks esshup
I have a feeling the goldfish didnt last long when I put them in. if the LMB didnt get them, the crane certinly did. I been seeing him over there alot more latly. At this point im thinking of going ahead and stocking some BG, fishing out the larger GSF, and letting the LMB habdle the smaller GSF. As the CC get cathcable size, I plann to just fry them up and eat them. I have already decided to just manually remove the duckweed. as the DW absorbes the nutrient from the water, I feel i'll be taking some of the excess nutreint out of the water with every "load" of DW I remove. Killing it, or letting something eat it in the pond will only keep the excess nutrient in the water IMO.

Tilapia may be an option for the DW issue. May want to look into them. Plus they turn the unwanted waste to flesh and your bass will love them.

I've been trying to find someone in the area that I can get soime tilapia from, but no luck so far. 2 hatcheries in arkansas but nether called me back after leaving a message. Thought about mail order, but the shipping is more than the fish. This is still an option that im interested in. I plan to keep searching