Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Size of fish to add

I know that the common stocking of forage fish in a new pond is generally small fish to let them grow into their new environment, also the smaller ones are cheaper. So if money was no problem, what is too big of a size to let new bg/cnbg grow into the new environment.

If you could by 2-3in or 4-5in fish, are the 4-5in to big to "grow into the new environment". Or is this more that you just want the fish to have time to find all the "toys" in the pond?

As long as you wait 6 monts to a year before adding bass, does either size matter?

thanks JakeB

If money is no object then buy the largest forage you can find. They will spawn sooner and have a larger spawn. The number of eggs a fish has is often related to the size of the fish. You will have a large forage base sooner. Another way to go is to buy more of the smaller forage knowing that less of them will reach the bigger size but with larger numbers to start it ends up being about the same. Remember though that bluegill grow slowly and if you buy very small forage you may have to wait longer to stock bass in order for your original stockers to keep from being eaten.

IIRC larger bass (12 inches plus) will have a much higher mortality rate when stocked in a differant pond than smaller sizes. I don't know if this applies to other species though. I believe it has more to do with larger fish having learned pond specific foraging and the changes in water quality paramiters.

If I had unlimited funds, I would put in several sizes of each species I wanted and over stock as well as overfish the water....

JakeB on a new pond (any pond with little to no fish) then using small or large or a mix of BG sizes will work well. My preference is to mix the sizes so I will have 3 year classes by the time I stock small predators. The first 2 will be the 2in (by then 3-5in) , the 3-5in (by then 4-6in) and the yoy from the larger size. If I can find good quality adults (6in +) I will use some of them also.

As a side note the above is a southern stocking method and is not a recommended way to start a northern pond.

Yeah i stocked a pond with all adult fish . I managed to do all this before spawn here . I have put 120 adult LMB northern and florida strain . And but BG and HBG all in the 2 to 10 inch range, most of the bigger ones were males . Now i am up to 2000 of the BG and HBG . Lots of ponds here in South Carolina . And alot are 30 plus years old . And the LMB i never took out more than 10 LMB per pond just to have good genetics .All in a 2.5 to 3 acre pond.

All fish seem to be doing great and they adapted fast . And i had a great spawn . Although i seem to have a great deal of LMB fry hideing along some duck weed and the christmas trees i sunk . Everytime i put in LMB and now i only am putting 5 pound plus in , i go BG fishing and add 50 to 60 BG .

I f this sounds like a bunch of work , well it was and i hardly had time to rest between my buisness and the fishing . But i did have some help of some friends . So do it but do it in smaller numbers . But do put in as many adult BG as possible to get good and big spawn. Good luck .

i too have a fairly new pond in southern iowa, and also wanted some larger fish stocked. also liked idea of having several year class of fish. all fish seemed to be doing very well and are healthly.


pond in iowa, me in colorado(business owner) cant wait to build my dream house next to the pond(10 year plan)