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

I find this topic and comments interesting.
Basics: Two one acre ponds. No supplemental feeding. Aerated. Fluctuating water level, NW Indiana.

Goal: How frequently would you be fishing in the pond(s), and what is the frequency of dinners that would be caught from the pond (also, how many mouths to feed)?
I would expect to feed 4-6 people once or twice a week.

Expectation: �seems that Smallmouth Bass/Redear Sunfish/Golden Shiner are so much easier to manage, especially for a new pond owner�. �Everybody in my family dislikes catfish�.

I don�t think this plan will work. Here is why.
First, I considered the amount of fish it will take to feed 6 people just once a week. I used 0.6 lbs of fish per person which is a relatively a small serving of fish X 6 persons, 52 weeks = 187.2 lbs of fillets. I used a dress out weight of medium bass and BG of about 50% that gives a total fish live weight harvest of 374 lbs. 187/bs per acre. (Dress-out-weight of 50% may be a little high for small sizes.)

IMO in an average IN pond, with no supplemental feeding, and with �average� fertility expect a allowable harvest of 25�60 maybe 80 lbs of live weight fish per acre. IMO a SMB-RES pond will produce on the low end of this scale 20-40 lbs of fish /acre.

I am not sure why FRIZ thinks the SMB/RES/GS are �so much easier to manage�. He does not give his reasons or rationale. IMO someone misled him for some unknown reason. I think the SMB-RES-GS pond will require more management and will produce fewer harvestable fish per acre than a LMB-BG pond. Golden shiner (GS) will not contribute directly to edible fish. Historically the LMB-BG fishery is a standard well researched stocking combination that produced and is capable of providing the most harvestable fish with the least amount of management.

Without fertilization or supplemental feeding the amount of self perpuating fish (higher food chain fish/predators) that can be raised and harvested per acre drops significantly, thus what probably appears as low estimates provided above. Annual pond fertility and resulting fish production are dependant on soils of the watershed. The watershed may cause slightly more of less harvestable fish per acre but IMO not significantly different amounts. If others have differing results please provide your experiences.