Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations The Truth

I�ve been a member of this board for about 5 months, and over the course of this time I have learned a wealth of information that I previously thought never existed. My dream pond includes stripers/hybrids in the 10+ pound range and the average 5-8 pound LMB. Despite the overwhelming amount of information on this board, I have found it in some cases to be very hard to get a general consensus on a number of topics (especially for my region). That brings us to why I posted this topic: to get an overall understanding of the management required in order to reach my goals.

FORAGE:
There has been a great deal of talking going on about different types of forage: alewives, emerald shiner, golden shiner, gizzard shad, fatheads, threadfins, and even different types of suckers. Out of all of those the only general idea that I�ve seen everyone agree upon is to stock fatheads before the addition of your predatory species. If I recall right I think Bob mentioned in his book something about stocking gizzards after your LMB population had established and there were some fairly large predators.

One of the biggest problems I have is, understanding which species will serve the purpose I�m after and how. While I could easily stock each of these species of forage, would it really be beneficial? Would a good general consensus be to �match the hatch� so to speak with forage? For instance, in lakes near my home alewives and goldens thrive. There are the occasional gizzards you see patrolling the big flats and points, but that�s of course only in clear water. So would these 3 species suit me? Are there any benefits of stocking more?

SUNFISH:
Another topic I stray from is the array of sunfish to choose: bluegill, warmouths, longear, redear, green, coppernose, and redbreast sunfish. For me I automatically know the warmouth and greenies are out and of course the bluegill is in. What about the remaining three? Would my climate suit any of them? I have read where Greg Grimes posted that coppernose had a winter kill in Kentucky, which is just east of me.

AERATION:
My main question about aeration is do I need it? Hopefully my pond will be in the 8-10 acre range with an average depth being around 8ft. Since I already know about weed problems existing in less than 3ft of water, I plan on keeping this depth to a minimum. However, since I am expecting no weed problems, will aeration do any good? I know that it can destratify water, but according to what I�ve read on the boards this can be a very risky thing. Another thing that has come up is to turn it off during some parts of the year. Is the risks involved in my case worth the rewards (whatever they may be)?

SUPPLEMENTARY FEEDING:
This has been a topic that hasn�t had much controversy in. My plan is to feed the bluegills and if the hybrids wanna join in that�s fine by me, but about the bass. I asked Bob not long ago about a forage pond. His thoughts were to stock bluegill and fatheads. But why?

FERTILIZATION:
Fertilization is a huge gap in my limited knowledge about ponds. I understand water tests need to be first done to determine which type of fertilizer will work correctly in order to give you a healthy �bloom�. From what I gather this �bloom� of small aquatic life boosts the very basis of the food chain which works it way up to your main predators, further enhancing their growth. But what if you already have a healthy bloom? And how can you tell if you bloom is sufficient? Also will adding fertilizer increase a risk of algae and other invasive plants of taking over my pond?

Sorry for being so wordy with everything, but I have a lot of questions (mostly due to excitement of imagining that first cast onto �my� own pond). I know in the future I will have to consult a pro like Greg, Bob, and anyone else in the business on this board. But until then I can�t help but ask more questions.

Thanks in advanced for all replies and help.

Chris

I'm no expert but mabie I can help a little

Forrage: Suckers can be just like carp so I wouldnt want them in my pond. Gizzard Shad have thier place in pond management but are not to be taken lightly. You should wait untill at least 25% of your bass population is over 16" and then begin to consider gizzards. Threadfin are awesome but if your water temperature gets below 42 in the winter the will all be dead. Shinners are somewhat difficult to get established if you already have a bass population. Some people, like greg grimes, say to be cautious with them in the south because they grow a little too fast but I THINK at your lattitude they'd work great. What do you think greg? Fatheads will multiply like crazy in the absence of a preditor but if you already have bass dont even try. I'm not as farmiliar with alewifes but I belive they are very similar to threadfins but they can die in the heat rather than in the cold. Big thing to remember with forrage is that in the regular bass/bluegill pond Bluegill are the primary forrage base and everything else is just diversity.
Sunfish: Coppernose are great but I have no information for you about them dying under the ice. Redears stay small and Longears stay really small. They also wont spawn so prolificly as the blugill so they wont produce quite as much babies for you bass to eat but if you absolutly have to have them they wont cause any serious problems.
Aeration: As far as I know, weed prevention is not the main purpose for aeration. Destratification is, and it is a big thing. Aeration and Destratification help breakdown amonia, breakdown bottom sludge, lengthen the life of your pond, prevent total ice cover in the winter, and most of all prevent an oxygen kill. The only time that it can be a little tricky is if the pond is already stratified and you are just turning it on. You need to start out running it only during the day and turning it on little by little. 8 feet is shallow enough that I think a fountain is the better choice. You also have considerably less risk when turning them on because 8-10 acres is large enough that what you can do is only turn them on in half the pond to start out with and once that side has been fully mixed for a while then you turn on the other half.
Suplemental Feeding: Feed them. Feed them all they can eat. You will see the benifits. My pond is 8 acres and I feed them 3 times a day at 3 different spots. Try to be consitant with them so that they will learn faster. Feed them in the same spot(s) at the same time(s) and they will learn to come in droves. The water will boil with activity, its tons of fun. Once the water temperature gets above 50 you can start.
Fertilizer: If the clarity is shallower than 18" you don't need fertilizer. If the clarity is deeper than 18" than fertilizer is a good option. When used properly fertilizer should not cause problem with weeds and stuff. just dont over do it. Too much fertilizer could give you dissolved oxygen problems. But before you go and fertilize do an alkalinity check. if it is above 20 ppm go for it, if it is below 20 ppm lime the pond before you waste your money on fertilizer.

The only other advise I can give is just keep on reserching and have fun with your pond.
-Scott

Thanks Scott for the reply. One question I didn't mention above and that really hasn't been covered at all is:

Does diversifying your pond help aid in fishing?

In my mind it does. The reason being is that if bass only have one forage type, bluegill, that's all they expect to find and eat after a period of time. So therefore they may be less apt to bite something that looks strange. I have seen this happen in my dad's pond. If your not using a green/orange type color...your casting for nothing.

tritonvt Scott (great post) answered most of the quesitons and I have to be brief, heading out of town for about 5 days, Couple of things diversying can led to more management challenges.

ALso redear do reach large size and I do suggest their stocking. Yes they only reproduce once but many times they get bigger than bluegill and they eat snails that seve as intermediate host for several parasitic problems. You might want to stock both native strain and coppernose bluegill in your area. Like Scott said I think golden shiner would be a good choice in your area as well.

Also about fertilizing check visibility with secchi disc 18-24 inches is ideal. If cleaer than that during the warm months of the year you could beneift from fertilizing especially if you plan on harvesting some fish. I'll try to read this post upon return and thanks for your kind words.