Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Redear Sunfish/Largemouth Bass

Hello everybody:

Is it possible to have a balanced Redear Sunfish/Largemouth Bass only pond?

I would start the new pond with Fathead Minnows/Golden Shiner/Redear Sunfish in spring 2010.

One year later, in spring 2011, I would add Largemouth Bass. Could this work?

As Redear Sunfish are not as prolific as Bluegill Sunfish, I assume one would need a far higher ratio of Redear Sunfish to Largemouth Bass?

What would be the right amount of Largemouth Bass to be stocked in the spring of 2011, if I stock 100 Redear Sunfish in the spring of 2010?

Please share your expertise.
Thank you,
Regards,
FRIZ

It could work. Feeding would really help especially if you have feed trained LMB. If you over stock RES to BG #s so as to have enough LMB forage you will have to watch RES condition as they may over eat their food source. You may need to add more GShiners and FH over time. If you elect to try this I would under stock LMB . I would try no more than 30 LMB per acre.

I think under stocking the LMB is key. You'll also have to heavily cull the LMB in future years and they will try to make up the subsequent lack of LMB with future spawns. I would try to get some of the GSH as large as possible before the LMB go in to give them as much room for growth as possible. I would also look at another forage option. Lake chubsuckers may work very good in this scenario. Bill Cody and I are still early in our personal evaluations of the lake chubsucker, but if our beliefs are correct, I think they would fit into a LMB/RES pond great. Overton's sells them and can ship them to you. He should have some more advanced sized fish this spring. I would look at a 50 or so lake chubsucker per acre stocking rate if you decide to try them.

+1
Thank you,ewest.

Lake Chubsuckers, interesting idea. Thank you CJBS2003.

But don�t Lake Chubsuckers need a lot of underwater vegetation? My ponds are new, and there is not a lot going on there yet. Could Lake Chubsuckers, like Fathead Minnows, be happy with pallets?

Maybe Bill Cody could clarify�

I think overtime you would have poor growth without bluegill repro. The numbers would not sustain good growth. If want to give it a try love to be proven wrong but I would not want my client with only one pond to try it. I have seen it in the past with normal stocking numbers and it did not work. With more res and less lmb??

Thank you, Greg Grimes.

Would you be so kind and check out my other post - Common Carp & Largemouth Bass � and please comment.

Thanks.
Regards,
FRIZ

Guys, in talking with Friz, I learned one thing. We have to keep in mind that he's planning on using the two, one acre ponds for helping to feed his family, and will be harvesting quite a few eating sized fish, so I don't think that he will ever come to the point of having the apex predators out-eat his forage base. He and his family will be the apex predators, and if anything my thought is that he will eventually (a number few years down the road) have to stock a few HSB or tagged LMB to keep the forage population under control.

If he is interested in feeding his family then he does not need to contemplate adding non-edible species as forage fish.

Thank you, Theo Gallus.

Would you be so kind and check out my other post - Common Carp & Largemouth Bass � and please comment.

Thanks.
Regards,
FRIZ

But Theo, he's eaten carp before and likes them. I know, I know. Believe me, I know!!!! I'll get him some from a local lake to make sure that they taste as well as the ones that he's eaten before. I believe he's not looking to actually stock them until 2011.

Friz, I think you are crazy to want to eat Carp, but I will defend to death your right to do so.

If you want to eat Carp, they're not an inedible forage species. But putting Lake Chubsuckers, GSH, Nebraska Topwater Minnows, Gobies, etc. in either pond gives you fish biomass you can't eat. The best that can happen to it is to be turned into LMB at a high inefficiency.

Perhaps you should NOT worry about stocking only swim-friendly species in one pond if you put Carp (&LMB) in the other and consider those two species OK for skinny dipping.

OR if the SMB/YP/RES combo is deemed swim-friendly (haven't tried mine with populations at climax yet), you might consider it instead of just RES/LMB. The YP will give you a species you can pour feed to if you ever want to up the amount of fish available to eat.

heavy fertilization would help in redear growth and reproduction. HSB will probably help in controlling LMB numbers.
Fatheads and particularly shiners and chubs, would take pressure off the redears.
FRIZ....you dont like the taste of BG over carp?

Correct!

Theo:

I would love to try a Yellow Perch/Smallmouth Bass/Redear Sunfish/Fathead Minnows/Golden Shiner pond! (I even posted about this a few days ago, and you participated in the discussion.)

But please tell me how to do it?

I would start the new pond with Fathead Minnows/Golden Shiner/Redear Sunfish in spring 2010.

And then, when and how many Yellow Perch & Smallmouth Bass should I stock?

Please advise.
Regards,
FRIZ

I think Friz will be taking control of the excess LMB population!

Given that his pond is approx. 1 ac., how many RES should he stock this year in the the SMB/YP pond? Also, when should he stock YP, how many and what size at stocking? Stock them this year as well, with the RES/FH? Should he stock GS as well, or would it be wasted biomass in the SMB/YP/RES/FH pond?

I know that he's got all the 2009 PB magazines.

I would skip the Shiners. See inedible forage notes above.

Get Cody's attention and do what he says. I wish I had stocked closer to his suggested Numbers than I did - would have saved me a little money.

Hi burgermeister:

My kids love to go swimming in the ponds. That is why I am so reluctant regarding Bluegill Sunfish. And that is the reason why I am looking for alternatives.

I am planning to start my ponds with Fathead Minnows/Golden Shiner/Redear Sunfish in spring 2010.

The question is what do I do next?
Regards,
FRIZ

BG are not so bad a swimming companion. My kids learned to swim in our LMB, BG, CC pond, and the ocassional nip has not discouraged them. My daughter (now 15) never got nipped, and by son (now 14) only got a couple nibbles. We teased him a little and told him he needed a girl's bathing suit when he got his nipple chomped, but he seemed unphased by the incident. If you don't make a big deal about it, they'll be fine. Both of my kids continue to spend a lot of the summer swimming with friends in the pond.

Thank you RAH.
Regards,
FRIZ

If food were my number one objective, I would skip the bass and redears and go straight for channel cats. Set up a feeder and pour the chow to them.

Frizz,

I don't know who told you bluegills are piranhas but they aren't even close. They really don't have teeth to speak of and the only time I've had them nibble is at the hairs on my legs when I stand on the swim ladder motionless. Once you move they get scared away.

Actually the only time I've seen them nibble regularly is when they are overpopulated and starving. But still then it's not a big deal.

I'll take bluegills over swimmer's itch (duck itch) any day.

Yep channel cats are easy to feed and grow.