Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Fantasy Pond

Okay, I stocked 20,000 Georgia Giants in my .5 acre pond and I need to know what to do next. Just kidding, I just wanted to give you a laugh for today .

I�ve been lurking for the past couple of months and I have to say I�m amazed by the wealth of information here, and the community is second to none. I�ve fished all my life and when I finish college next year and get all my ducks in a row, I plan to have my own house and pond. I figured it wouldn�t hurt to start asking questions now.

Here is what I would stock:
F1 Bass
Florida Strain Bass
Northern Strain Bass
CNBG
RES
FHM
GSH
CC
Hybrid Black Crappie-maybe
Tilapia in the summer


I know all the concerns about BC but would these work without overpopulating the pond? The pond would be around 5 acres and located in West TN. I�m not sure what the best depth would be.

My goals would be to produce many CNBG over 7� with bigger fish not uncommon, a majority of bass over 3 pounds with bigger fish being common, along with a few monsters. The CC would be mostly for eating purposes but I would also harvest bass and bluegill to eat. I want to know what the stocking numbers would look like in order to make this pond a reality. The pond would have automatic feeders, aeration, and it would also be fertilized. Could these goals be accomplished or would it be more realistic to have two smaller ponds with one focusing on trophy LMB and the other focusing on trophy CNBG?

Stock more Georgia Giants ASAP.

Welcome to the forum.

Bing

Like Bing said, welcome to Pond Boss.

I have black crappie in a 6-7 acre pond, and I'm trying to eradicate them, but then again, I've got all kinds of stuff in there.

I do cull everyone that is under 12".

I like having them in the pond though.

Thanks for the welcomes.

I'm not sure why I would want crappie, because I enjoy eating bluegill more .

Wait a couple of days for them to reach 5 pounds apiece, then start fishing.

Welcome to the forum.



I think your CNBG, LMB and CC goals are not extreme, and hence could be reached in the same BOW. I would utilize Middle of the Road stocking numbers (1000 BG/RES, 100 LMB, XXX CC per acre - nothing extreme). I would get ewest's recommended F1/Northern/Fla LMB mix and use it. WRT CC, my standard advice applies: 1) figure how many you want to harvest in the first 3 years, then stock half that many. If you actually remove CC in the first 1-2 years at the planned rate, restock with CC large enough to escape predation. If you feed, you should get excellent CC growth and should be able to start eating large stockers fairly quickly.

Hold the Crappies in the back of your mind and look for radical advances in the fields of Crappie management and hybrid production. Make final Crappie decision later. Hope the horse learns to sing.

Welcome to PB smalltown. I would wait on the crappie as there are some ongoing pond experiments that the info from would help you later. Also if you are in W Tenn there are plenty of places near by to catch crappie.

What part of W Tenn - north or south? If you are much north of Memphis the Fla LMB are at their northern limit for good results. F-1s and Northerns will work well.

Stocking rates depend on your goals and the available fish and their size. For a southern pond with a goal of good % of healthy growing LMB I no longer recommend 1000 stocker BG. Newer data suggests that the LMB will out eat that program in year 3. I might go with 1000 if there is a strong population of other forage ( GSH , tilapia , TShad )or if the LMB will be on pellets. If you really want both large BG and good %s of 3+ lb LMB you should consider 2 ponds as those goals are somewhat at odds without intensive mgt. although it can be done.

You can stock feed trained bass and feed the bluegill to achieve and sustain trophy size of each, but that brings us back to EWEST's intensive management suggestion and along with that you need to have a pretty deep pocket book, high protein fish food is not cheap. Anything is possible for sure.

Hey Smalltown! I'm in middle TN so if you want some hands-on help I'd be happy to consult.

Two separate ponds, as Eric noted, would be ideal as it's very difficult to achieve both large bluegill and large LMB in the same pond (but it can be done). However, if you go with one pond and are interested in catching large bluegill, don't stock more than 500 per acre. More than that and they'll grow a fraction as fast as they would otherwise. 7" bluegill is not a very high goal; I can get your bluegill to where they average 9.5", possibly 10". I've done it more than once. Getting the bass large as well is a little more complicated, but can be done; the key is to have a predator that preys on bass and bluegill both and thus keeps the bass from overpopulating so they grow well, but also keeps the bluegill from overcrowding so they get big. If you stock two to four esocids, either tiger muskie or northern pike, per acre, they'll do the trick.

I would skip CC if you really want big bluegill as they will wallow in your pellet food like hogs, and take a great deal of it that otherwise would go to the bluegill. And once they get to be four or five pounds, they'll intimidate and knock around the bluegill enough that the bluegill don't get much food. It's happening right now in a pond I work with that has two owners, one of which dumped a bunch of CC in there a few years ago. Now they average ten pounds and the bluegill give them a wide berth, and don't get much of the food. Same thing with grass carp - they get enormous and will open their mouths and just swim through the food shoveling it in, then make a big tail slap to scare off any nearby bluegill.