Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Best way to introduce RES into exsisting pond

Hi Guys,

I have a 25 year old 1/4 to 1/3 acre pond. At the moment my exploratory fishing has produced Bluegill and Bass(and a couple snapping turtles). The former owner tells me there were catfish there once as well and still may be.

I found on some of the smaller blue gill small black dots around the mouth and fins and it appears to be black spot disease.

I was wanting to get out in front of the problem by introducing some RES into the pond and was looking for suggestions on the best method to do so.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

A little more info on the pond:

The existing fish population I first thought was decimated by a family of river otters has came alive this spring. I've seen tons of bluegill (hundreds maybe thousands?) and caught quite a few bass averaging 12-14 inches but have spied a monster 18-20 inch bass lurking as well so there seems to be a wide variety of sizes.

I plan on setting up a feeder this weekend and hope to have aeration by the end of the summer.

Try to locate a source of adult RES. Try to get about 25 and be sure some are male and some female.

Thank you sir. In your opinion, would 4-6" too small? I asked because I have no where local to buy from but I think I found a supplier that will ship the 4-6"

Thanks again.

*Edit - Well scratch that. I called the fish farm and they say they can't ship them anymore as the way they pack them on the plane now kills them every time.

Closest farm to me that I can find is 4 - 4 1/2 hours away.

Get in touch with Rex Rains, Rainman on the forum, and see if he will be hauling in your area this spring.

Annother posibility if you can get smaller fish from a fish truck would be to fence off a small section of the pond and raise smaller ones up to size big enough to avoid predation. If it was BG you needed they will cage raise. But RES are hard to get started on artificial feed, so a bigger natural area would be better.

If your pond has lots of cover (weeds, cattails, etc) you could stock a couple hundred fingerling RES in the whole pond and hope 25-50 escaped predation. Without places for them to hide, not much hope.

Hey Guys,

Thanks as always for your responses. I remembered an old friend of mine that has a 2 acre pond so I called him up and ask him if he had RES stocked. Luckily he does and said he didn't mind if I came over to try and catch a few. If I have any luck I'll report back here with some pictures.

I've seen a few posts here with some tips for catching RES. I'll have to revisit them and do some studying.

Thanks again.

Here is a really good thread and the thread contains good links to other RES info.

RES diet

Low and slow - catching RES