Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Unrealistic stocking wants???

Greetings all:

After much wait, my pond is almost ready for stocking. It is currently 1/2 acre... though I hope to have another 1/2 acre dug that will connect in the near future... two years or so away. There is varying depth in the pond from 3ft to 12ft, and it is located on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.

It is located on the property of my residence, so location and time for extensive management is not an issue.

Now to my question.... I really want LMB, BG, YP, and HSB. Is this to unrealistic for a 1/2 acre pond? If it is feasible, suggestions for a stocking time table?

Thanks,

Brian

HSB are definitely not unrealistic because of their inability to reproduce, ease of removal, and affinity for artificial feed. You just won't be able to get very many of them to thrive in your pond. George Glazener had an excellent thread previously that discussed how to get higher quality HSB from your fish provider. We need to access that thread. You could start with 50 fish early, (ten pounds total or so) and add or subtract over the following two or three years based on body condition of the fish, and modification of your goals over time. Even twenty fish in a pond that size will have an ominous presence. You'll like them. Will your pond be subjected to very high air temps during the summer?

That fish combination will require pellet feeding if you expect them to obtain average sizes. A half acre pond does not usually produce adequate amounts of natural food to grow very many fish to big sizes. If you keep the rooted vegetation to a minimum the LMB will strongly suppress the yellow perch population after 4 or 5 years.