jg74 - Slow down. Do a little search of past posts here regarding using walleye in ponds unless your wallet is fat and then add fish as you wish. As far as WE, saugeye and sager spawning in small ponds, just cause you like the idea, I would not count on it happening. Many before you have tried and their success has been pretty low or nonexistant. Extra special conditions can get some WE spawn to survive to fingerling stage. But fingerlings living beyond that point is very rare when LMB are present.
There will be two main items and several other factors to overcome when adding these fish to an existing LMB fishery. One is the
predator factor and the other is
forage fish factor. I will not discuss habitat type and only briefly touch on predators - competition and proper forage items.
Predator Factor.
From my experiences with YP, saugeye and walleye in ponds, they do not do "well" or thrive as added stockings to small ponds (less than 2 ac) that have an existing and
established LMB population. Norm's post above alludes to this fact. Stocking even bigger fish increases survival rates. As Norm says just because they are surviving does not mean they will be in good body condition which reduces their benefit as a table fare.
Forage Fish Factor.
Walleye (WE), sauger, saugeye and YP are adapted to feeding on narrow bodied fish and NOT sunfish types. Unless WE have an untapped food source in your pond they will struggle to survive. They will eat sunfishes but they are not preferred food and sunfishes are not efficient as food conversion items. These predator types will grow slower on a diet of primarily sunfishes compared to soft rayed, narrow fish. Dr Willis has published papers on this topic. LMB feed well on sunfishes. Two quite different types of predators. If both have to utilize the same food items the LMB will win almost every time. If for no other reason just shear numbers to compete against. I could go on and on about these topics, but you should get the general idea.
If you introduce WE, sauger, saugeye or YP to a LMB pond you should add fish that are preferrably 10"-12",(YP=9"-10"). Take a look at a 10"or 12" WE. It is not very big around in cross section. A 16" LMB can very easily eat a 10"-12" WE and it does not care if the tail sticks its mouth for a day or so
. WE of vulnerable sizes are easy prey for LMB since each is active at different daylight periods. YP are also easy prey due to their staying in the narrow body shape for numerous years until they get to around 9" long. Even at 9", this YP doen not have much chance against an aggressive 15"-16" LMB. Several years is long time to exist in a small pond without getting ate by numerous big mouthed aggressive co-predators. The numbers of add stock that survive will be related to how much weed growth is in the water body - more weeds equals better survival. Larger ponds often have slightly more complex habitats which can give WE and similar types a slightly better overall survival advantage than those in smaller ponds.
If you add WE I suggest that you remove 2 or better yet 3 LMB for each WE added. This will free up forage fish so WE can better compete against remaining LMB. While WE are in the pond keep the LMB at a lower density by occassional thinning so the WE can have more forage opportunities. Adjust populations accordingly.
As I said earlier, Sauger and saugeye are very difficult to find in hatcheries. You will not fully realize this until you do some extensive searching. I doubt that you can locate any hatchery in the US for sauger or saugeye. These larger fish have to be obtained from the wild. However about 5%-10% of the northern US hatcheries regularily carry WE and about 25%-30% carry YP although finding the proper larger sizes can sometimes be more difficult depending on location. Check your local hatcheries for which fish they carry. Depending on size of pond one is usually not talking about very many add stock fish per acre - usu 3-5 and YP can be added at a somewhat higher density. If you add YP I also recommend that you remove a LMB of equal size for each 3-4 perch added.
If you add any of these fish please come back and tell us about your experiences. Good Luck.
