Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Bullhead, Bluegill, Bass pond

as i am prepareing to bring in the backhoe to excavate the rest of the pond and silt pond. iv begin to look at my options for types of fish. the pond is a embankment/excavation on a small stream. The pond is a 1/4 acre with max depth 12 feet. average depth of around 6 feet. The incoming water is spring fed so it will keep the pond below 80 degrees in the summer. The bottom ranges from gravel and sandish covering 1/2 of the bottom with a mud bottom covering the other 1/2. there is a small area of river rock in about 3 feet of water. The pond is going to be used as scenic and a place to catch fish fast. I went with the BG, LMB and FH as a standard choice. I am planning on Bullhead over CC due to the fact that they reproduce quicker then CC. I enjoy eating BH and in this area of IL they get rather large quickly with pleanty in the 1-2lb range in the nearby creek which would be my stock source. I would put some CC in for added enjoyment as they do get larger espechially when fed as i am planning on doing. I am pretty sure i will add some SMB due to the availibility of them from a nearby creek and there excellent fighting abillity. What are other peoples opinions on this? Anybody with luck haveing bullheads in a smaller pond?

I'm far from being an expert, but IMHO I think you may be heading toward minor disaster with bullheads and smallmouth in a very small pond.

But, if your pond is part of a stream, you may have natural stocking, reproduction and control.

I grew up in northern Wisconsin, where many of our family farms included small to medium sized "lakes" of 5 to 80 acres. Bullheads sure can become a nusiance in a short time when predatation gets out of control. I've seen 20-30 foot "clouds" of small bullhead when they become uncontrolled, such as after a winter "freeze out" of northerns and walleyes. The only way bullheads will grow to reasonable size is with lots of very serious predators, like very large northern pike or musky, to keep them under control. And, northerns pose their own problems in small ponds. I'm not sure you can have enough predators in a quarter acre pond to keep them in check. I'd opt for channel cats in moderate quantities. They grow reasonably fast, and if they should spawn - which they probably won't, they are far more easily controlled by large mouth bass. And, at least here in WV and VA, channel cats are cheap to purchase.

Smallmouth are one of my most favorite fish to catch and eat. But, from my experience, they need lots of clear, cool, moving, and fertile water, with lots of gravel bottom, and lots of structure. Possibly because you are fed by a stream, they might do OK, but . . . I wouldn't be too optomistic. I don't think I've ever seen small mouth thrive in the same water as large mouth.

The good thing about small mouths is that they would be a lot less risky than bullheads, as they will probably die out if conditions aren't right, rather than take over.

As an alternative to SMB, how about hybrid striped bass? They grow fast, they are vicious, they won't take over a pond, and they make extremely good table fare.

Good luck,
Ken G.

If you like bullheads and have a source for them, I suggest you do not stock them into the pond but you can rise them in a cage in the pond. This way you can still have bullheads and do not have to deal with the numerous problems they will cause in a mixed community of fish. For info on how to raise some bullheads in a cage, see my three articles in Pond Boss magazine (Mar-Apr, May-Jun, and Jul-Aug 2007). Back issues of PB can be ordered from this web site. I currently have a crop of bullheads in a cage for the second summer and will harvest them this fall. I plan to start another new crop of 3"-5" stockers this month for harvest fall of 2008.

I defer to Bill and the experts on how to raise bullheads, but I agree that stocking them may not be the best option. They reproduce too fast and are too aggressive in our pond, especially around the feed. With their relatively small size but large numbers, they seem to me to be a waste of biomass.

If there are plenty of 1-2 lb. bullheads in a nearby creek, I suppose you could enjoy catching them from there and eating them at your convenience instead of stocking them in your pond.

Your pond. Your goals. Bullheads are bad news for me. I wouldn't do it.

Bill, are you growing these bullheads for eating?

thanks for all the feedback im sticking with cc, BG and LMB. i might throw a few SMB in if im really boared. o ya and 5lbs of FH. the BG and FHM will go in this summer like end of june with the LMB and CC going in this Fall. Im also going to see bout putting trout in over the winter but thats another project for down the road. I put in this neat waterfall i'll have to put some pics up as soon as i have it finished