Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations New Pond in NC. Help...

Thanks for the info mmorgan. I'm in the foothills, about an hour from good trout habitat. Will they make it in my pond in the winter months? How many? A good NC source? What are your thoughts on Tilapia for a NC pond? I've read on the forums this is a good way to go. Appreciate your help.

I've pulled 10 bass out thinking I had too many. It seems the consensus is to leave them in? There are now appx 215 in 2.5 acres. They were all the same size and in excellent condition. Attached is where I obtained them. They hit the pond on July 13th.

Yea the trout will make it during the winter months. We stock them throughout Georgia and even south of Macon Georgia. Normally we stock them at a pound in size (for people who want to catch them) and all of our clients feed them high protein food and by the time they die they are up to three pounds. Usually we start stocking them in November and they die anywhere form April to June, just depends on the weather. So if you like to catch and eat them I would stock larger trout to give you a fun fish to catch during the winter. If you want to give the bass an extra forage item during the winter then go with the small ones. Depending on how big your bass get by late fall you might want to wait to stock the small trout. You don’t want to waist money on a small trout that may be too big for the bass to eat. I would stop taking out the bass and begin harvesting their offspring when they are big enough to catch. Your original stocked fish are always the best when stocked correctly which you have done. Tilapia are great, they are illegal to stock here in Georgia so I would check with North Carolina DNR before getting them. However they do the opposite of trout. Trout die when the water temp gets to warm (70 degrees) and the tilapia die when it gets too cold (48-50 degrees). Tilapia reproduce more than bluegill and they will help control filamentous algae.

Mmorgan..Thanks for all the info. It's very helpful. I'm certain finding the trout in NC won't be a problem. Will the bass wipe out the trout as they begin to die off, or will there be some clean up? I would imagine it depends on the size? How many per acre?

My rain guage was overflowing full at five inches. Local news had our area recieving 10 inches of rain yesterday; a record for one day in August. We walked the drainage field of the spillway, which is 75 yards long before it hits a creek. We found hundreds of FH and appx 50 dead adult bluegill. Saved two buckets of both stranded in pools. No bass! Of course, this isn't what ended up downstream.

It's two months to the day since we put the 2" bass fingerlings in the pond. Attached is a photo of one of four LMB caught this morning. All were similar in size, in great shape and show excellent growth. They are feeding very aggressively on the FH and BG. The FH are pooling up and trying to get out of the pond!

Also attached are two bluegill. The one beside the measuring tape was stocked as a fingerling. The other was from the first spawn of the year; both fat and healthy from the feedings. I believe the body type on the new spawned BG, square and fat, represents what this month's Pond Boss considers a fish to throw back for future consideration. The stocked fish has more of a football shape. Great article. After pointing out the two different body characteristics, it's easy to determine fish to keep around for a trophy.

Hard to remember life without a pond!

Very nice results. Congratulations!

Thanks. So far so good.

I have noticed food pellets left on the water. I assume this is from the eradication of the FH. Or we are getting later in the year? We took time off each feeding from the feeders.

Wow great fish all the way around. I hope you continue to update, and Congratulations!

Ain't that the truth.

Great looking fish WS!

Those are some nice looking fish.