Update:
The pond is now completely dry. Re-stocking from scratch, I guess.
Also, my family may soon be acquiring a nearby second pond. This second pond is very similar to the one I have described (.4 acre, about 14 feet deep, cattle pasture runoff). It is also just dried out completely. I am thinking about making this a Bluegill pond, with a few CC because it's fun to see them eat floating food.
With the goal of growing large bluegill for sport fishing and a few cats for waste disposal/pleasure feeding:
-Wait until the pond starts to fill back up when, [deity of your choice] willing, rain comes
-Add about 5 lb. of FHM in October or November, along with about 25 1�-3� RES for parasite control
-Add about 150 1�-3� Hybrid BG and about 6 small CC in February/March
Would I be looking at overpopulation problems? I assume the Hybrid BG, being mostly male, won't explode in population quickly, and RES are slow spawners. In a pond like this, could I have a self-sustaining FHM population if I sank some pallets? Are there any inexpensive feeders reliable enough to operate alone for 3-4 weeks at a time? I think it'd be cool to spray some floating pellets every day or two to get the HBG used to hitting surface baits, for the purpose of providing fun fly fishing. Would the CC eat all of the other fish?
Does anyone have experience stocking grass shrimp? It seems like they'd be a great forage source for sunfish.
If things start to get out of control and we have skillions of stunted sunfish, I guess I can just stock a handful of Florida strain LMB.
Last edited by txelen; 08/08/09 01:51 PM.
