Pond Boss Forums INTRO New Forum Member Introduction New to Forum - Small Pond Stocking

Hello. My apologies for not doing more research before posting but I found out today that I have a couple of days to get in a local stocking order as a partnership with the county. Our pond is very small like 0.25 acre at the bottom of a large hill. We have a creek that runs near by to the fox river. If the pond overflows, it goes into the creek. The pond is technically in a flood plane but we have been here for 2 years and it has not flooded. It has lots of trees all around it and duckweed grows like crazy. I was thinking maybe a couple grass carp can help maintain the duckweed. It does freeze over in the winter. The water is very low right now and I was able to stick a stick 4 feet deep now near the edge. I believe it is at least 5 feet deep. We have put maybe like 20 sunfish/bluegill and a couple 4" largemouth bass. My goal is to use the pond for fishing that we would not eat the fish. We would like to fish for largemouth bass, as big as we can grow. I'm open to any recommendations. Thanks for any help.

Nick

If I had a small (1/4 acre) pond with a mixture of pan fish (sunfish/bluegill...probably some green sunfish too (GSF)) and a few unknown sex bass...I would just stock bluegill and red ear sunfish (BG & RES...4-500 & 50-100 respectively) and let the mixed pond grow some forage fish for the first year. Then, next year, start fishing other waters for male large mouth bass (LMB) and put in about 30-50 of them in. Small LMB/BG ponds can be hard to manage and keep them from producing way too many fish that tend to stunt and stay small. By using the BG/RES and such as forage producers and trying to keep the LMB numbers to a controlled amount...you should be able to grow some large bass.

Are you sure it did not have fish in it to begin with...this would change the stocking plan I'm sure. You don't want to put in a wallets worth of fingerlings just to feed that hungry group of catfish, or otherwise. You know what I mean? Flood plains tend to stock pond all by themselves.

I'm not experienced with stocking ponds, but this would be my recommendation based on what I have learned being a part of this forum. What you are trying to do is a tough, but not impossible, goal. The nice thing about a small pond is that it is easier to start over if it does not turn out like you want.

I'm not sure about the carp...I would consider using weed killer on that before stocking carp,but then again, I don't have the proper experience to advise on the weedkiller.

Welcome to the club...it's a great place to talk ponds and learn!

Thanks for the reply Quarter Acre. There is a chance it is smaller than a quarter acre. I didn't have an accurate measurement. The previous owners told me that there were no fish in there. I have never seen any either. I think what happens is the creek overflows with too much discharge and then it goes into the pond. That's why it is considered a "Flood plane". The creek is way to shallow to hold fish. So I'm pretty sure there is no fish in there?

Does anyone have any advice on the grass carp?

There's a measuring tool in google earth pro that you can use to figure out the size of your pond.

A pond in a flood plain with no fish in it makes me wonder why that is. Is there something that needs to be corrected before restocking? Was it drought or summerkill with plant overgrowth? Was it winterkill with long-standing ice cover? I would want to make my best guess about that and find a fix before restocking.

You can use the regular google maps also. It will let you drawing a line around your ponds edges. Then it will til ya the exact area inside the lines. That feature dosnt work on my phone but very easy on desktops.

Your profile says you're from Batavia, but no state was listed. I'm familiar with a Batavia, NY, is that where you're from?

I've only seen duckweed a couple of times so am no expert. However, it is my understanding that it is extremely undesirable. It always comes as an infestation. Plants "generate" O2 during the day but absorb it at night. It always comes as an infestation.

So, to me, step one would be to spray the weeds prior to stocking anything.

Wow, thanks for the replies. We just left to into Wisconsin on a week long fishing trip but I’ll measure the pond when I get some time. I think it might be hard to measure because we have tall very old trees that cover it. I guess I can get in the ballpark. It seems like I have work to do before I plan to stock it. I am from Batavia, IL. Thanks again. Any idea on how to tell the depth?

Depth you can do from a canoe with a crudely drawn map or pins on your phone's map and a length of fishing line with feet marked off with tape and a sinker.

Thanks Bocomo