Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Creating the food chain Largemouth question

Question: If I stock my pond with 3-4" Bluegill at around 100/per acre (11 acres) and then catch and transport around 200 12" Largemouth bass into the pond, will the LM each all those 3-4" Bluegill? Or are the BG large enough the bass will look for something smaller?

What is the current status of the pond?

3-4 inch BG are susceptible to predation by 12 inch LMB.

That's a great recipe for a bass stunted pond. Look at the other replies to your question back in December. Those 1,100 BG will weigh between 27# and 43#. For each of those LMB to gain one pound they have to eat 2,000# of fish..... Since LMB love to eat fish that are 1/4 to 1/3 their body length, the answer is most likely yes, providing that they find all of them.

The pond is a year old. About 25 ft deep. Fairly clear water. Ground water fed next to a river. Saw a lot of minnows of some sort in there last year. No bass in there as of yet.

Good info. Thank you!!

? southwestern Idaho ?

Depending on goals I would add the BG in spring and then add 100 LMB at 6 inches in fall. But what is your temp profile if in Idaho. May be better off with SMB , WE and YP.

Yes, SW Idaho. Just outside of Boise. Thanks. I will add BG this Spring and then bass in the Fall.

I'd kill for trout living here in Georgia. Why not brown trout?

Longbow- Some bondposs members have had really good growth for bass overstocking minnows early in addition to the appropriate amounts of bluegill

Are you sure you want BG/LMB in your location ?

^^^ Think long and hard before you reply. You might want to take a look at the water temperatures that they thrive in, and look to see what the water temp will be in your pond before replying.

I could probably give you the answer, but this all goes back to the "teach a person how to fish" saying.....

I like that approach Esshup !! ++

Esshup, most all ponds in this area are stocked with LMB and BG.

1) No 2 ponds are alike.
2) "stocked" and "thriving" are two completely different things.

Looking back through the posts, a number of questions were asked, and you have not yet answered. Before proceeding too much further, I feel we need answers to those questions to properly answer your questions.

Those questions were:
12-15-2020
1. Find out what those small fish are!!!. Knowing what they are will determine how best to proceed. What are those fish?

3. Determine how much of the shoreline has shallow water. Map the small lake do some depth soundings from shore toward the center so you know about the best places to put structure. Can you put up a picture of the topo map that you made?

4. Learn about secchi disk and how to use it. Measurements using it can provide lots of useful water quality information for managing the fishery. What is the Secchi reading in the lake?