Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations new one acre pond

I just built a new pond this past fall that is one acre. Before the levee was finished the pond flooded and all kinds of fish got in. I pumped the pond as low as I could and put rotenone in it. All of the fish died and one month later a big rain filled the pond up in November. One month after that I stocked the pond with 500 BG and 200 RES. The fish man did not have any fatheads at the time. I fed the turtles catfish food for three months without seeing a fish. Two weeks ago I got a bag of Optimal Jr. and with in five minutes a fish started eating. Now I have several fish feeding for about five minutes or so. The pond has lots of crawfish and at one time I saw tons a tadpoles. I stocked five ponds of fatheads last week, and I saw them for three days swimming in schools amongst the algae bloom. I could see bream popping on the water eating them. My questions are when should I stock bass? I will be putting 50 native bass. My goal is to just catch bass when I want and eat bluegill/RES. Do I need fatheads to start the chain for bass, or will they eat the new bream spawn? I really don't know if any fatheads survived.

It depends on your goals for the pond. If you don't want to catch any larger bass (over 15") I would wait until early fall to stock the bass.

If you expect to catch bass over 15" you will need to stock at least 1500 more BG/RES, stock 50-75 LMB this fall and after the LMB pull off a spawn (year 2 or 3 after stocking) you will need to remove around 20 pounds of LMB per year. If you don't remove bass you will end up with a bass stunted pond.

I would not stock bass larger than 4"-5" or so when you DO stock them.

So I take it that I do not need the fatheads? I will add the 1500 bream asap by your recommendations and stock under 4" bass in the fall. Thanks!

Adding the fatheads wouldn't hurt, but they will also become food for the bluegills. If there are plenty of YOY bluegills between 1" and 1.5" for the bass to eat when the bass are stocked, then you don't "have to" stock the fatheads.

Fatheads are a great idea to help jumpstart a new pond. They help your young bass grow quickly, as bluegills take their place as the backbone of the food chain.

I gotcha. Hopefully some of my FHMs survive, but I will add more the day I get my bass. Awesome website by the way. I have been building a pond in my head for ten years and finally did it, hate to mess up now.

Okay, I added 1,000 CNBG and 400 RES this past weekend as per recommended. I have noticed that some of my mosquito fish have survived and reproduced, so I am happy with that. Thanks!