Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Hello everybody:

Fritz,

Given your stated goal of feeding your family and fairly hands-off management, channel catfish might be a good idea for one of your ponds. They probably won't reproduce well, but you could just restock every few years. CC and FHM alone is a fairly common stocking plan, and posters here have mentioned that RES can be added too.

Should you plan to feed fish, hybrid striped bass are another good choice, they'll do well in a pond by themselves if fed.


I do think that you might be overestimating the amount of work that goes into management of LMB. Various members of my family own a handful of ponds in central Texas ranging from .4 to 1 acre in size, and all consistently grew harvestable LMB, CC, and BG for 10 to 25 years with no aeration, little to no feeding, and no stocking after the first year; only ending when a massive drought dried all ponds up. The main goal in managing LMB/BG ponds is in removing LMB to prevent overpopulation, and it sounds as if that hits one of your objectives anyway.