Tim all ponds with fish require maintenance to be good fisheries - some more than others. LMB/BG ponds require more maintenance than some - less than others. They have a tendency to get overcrowded by LMB over time or in a few situations by BG.

State agency recommendations are very conservative, as they should be, based on their client needs. Because they have to be right over a broad spectrum of conditions and people and can't put anyone in a position where the advice may fail they must stick to a very narrow set of guidelines/recommendations. They are changing but the publications are old and based on dated info wrt pond management. They do recommend using RES however. Often in stocker size fish BG and RES are raised together and sold together in a 80% BG 20% RES mix. RES are a panfish that fits a mostly different forage niche from BG so competition between them for food is minimal. In addition RES eat snails which are a host for grubs which infect fish. Less snails means less grub infestations. Using RES results in better pond efficiency and a healthier pond.

A normal stocking sequence for a BG/LMB pond is 2in BG in the spring followed by 2in LMB in the early fall. If you are going to reduce the time between their stocking from 6 mths to 2 mths I would use some adult BG as insurance against the risk that the early stocked LMB would eat to many of the BG. The 30 adult BG will spawn in the summer and provide the right size BG fry for the LMB to eat along with the newly spawned FH fry. In addition those 30 BG will be to big for LMB predation for several years and will help with overall BG size by suppressing early spawning in barely mature male BG. Your sequence is also one that is recommended but IMO when used it is wise to add some insurance. The concept is to be sure using either plan that your stocker BG which are your future brood fish do not get eaten before they spawn in the proportion of 10 BG per LMB. Using a few adult BG insures this and gives you 3 year classes of BG before the LMB spawn. IMO this is a better method in southern ponds.



Last edited by ewest; 12/05/07 08:57 PM.