Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Type of forage fish for Deep Forage pond???

The LCS I kept in my aquarium fed heavily on the algae that grew in it. So much so I started to encourage its growth to give them something extra to eat. They also readily fed on frozen daphnia, bloodworms, glassworms and mosquito larvae. However, I could never get them to take commercial food regularly. They would filter the sand on the bottom of the tank, sucking in amounts and filter it out through their gill openings and I am assuming removing what food items they found in it.

Buying large amounts of frozen bloodworms could get a bit pricey... I think they would do fine in a pond that has some age to it, as the wild food Bill mentioned should be abundant.

Chad,

I think Ewest's idea is best. Or better IMO if you were to leave one end of the net staked at the shoreline with the other end opened up at say a 45deg angle from the shoreline. Set up an automatic feeder to dispense into the seine trap. Have a rope tied off to the open end of the seine and haul it in when you are ready to harvest. With this setup you can raise tilapia, bluegill, shiners, or a combination. I would recommend a minimum of a 100' seine to do this without losing your fish when it comes time to trap. Also you'd need 2-4 guys to do this properly.

Yes I still have some LCS if you want to try them too. Haven't seined them in a while but think they are 2"-4" right now.

i think im going to focus on G shiners, What would be the best way to do this?

Im thinking more along the lines of the end result in stocking in the larger ponds, Is it better to stock high in numbers but medium size to hope they establish in my large ponds, or less in numbers but large size...

The answer to the above question should help out in the way I stock the forage pond, either trying to promote spawns and huge numbers or concentrating in stocking larger shiners from the start and trying to grow them to as large a size as possible to transfer?

You might be able to do Golden Shiners and LCS.

Do not stock large shiners if you don't have any predators present in the pond already... Large GSH typically have a ovarian parasite in them that causes them to be less fertile than smaller adult GSH. Fish in the 3"-4" range are prime breeders.

http://www.cheboygancoop.com/animalscience/aquaculture/fa-34.pdf

http://www.uaex.edu/pperschbacher/Fish/Golden-shiner.htm

http://srac.tamu.edu/tmppdfs/2700915-SRA...231355f244c5926

http://srac.tamu.edu/tmppdfs/2700915-121...231355f244c5926

Those links should get you off to a good start...

I think the mixing of GSH and LCS would be a good combination as they should compete very little with each other. LCS would be an excellent additional forage fish for your ponds as well. The only down side to LCS is they take at least 2 and most like 3 years to mature where they can spawn. If you got some of Overton's fish he spawned last year, they would not be ready to spawn for at least 1 more and most likely 2 more years.

Good stuff. I just go on the low end of the spectrum and toss a bunch of CNBG in and make it a great forage/recreational pond. Maybe a 10% RES mix for the snails in the depth. You would not beleive the amount of people looking for a pond just like this so thier kids can fish and catch lots of fish. It is actually my number one request.

If I was going elaborate the fenced area and seine would probably go with shiners for an ongoing source. Depending upon the size of forage you want. They are the #1 baitfish in my area. I try to stay with what I can get local to avoid transport costs. Plus they can handle a little rough handling. Would love chubsuckers but those are miles away. I have a few ponds that residents do not really care about. I load them up with gambusia and am trying fhm this year. I just scoop them out by the hundreds with a commercial net. I think I remember one of the pro bass guys using 8" shiners fishing for lunkers.

My next hopeful project is a standalone golden shiner pond. They have a pretty good resale also. I might keep that pond 6-7 feet deep.

Ok, I think Im gonna go all out and just stock Golden Shiners, CNBG, Chubs, and RES. I want the Golden shiners mainly but kindof feel im wasting a lot of water by just putting only one thing in it. And after a year if it doesn't turn out or i have problems harvesting the pond I'm already setup for putting bass in the following spring. Sounds realistic to me.

What I need is a good Stocking scenerio to start with?????

Im thinking maybe 100 3-6" CNBG for brooders, and 100 1-3" RES cause i can't get larger ones. Not sure on the Chubsuckers as far as how many to try, Todd says 2-4" on size, Im basically putting them in for the long haul. Hopefully in a year or so I can seine some larger ones out or have a YOY supply going if they make it to spawning size. Finally, I'll try to get the Shiners around the 4" size but not sure on how many.

Any suggestions? thats just my ballpark idea on the CNBG and RES also, that might need changing. I need help on stocking numbers especially with haveing all the different types in.

I will fertilize and will put a feeder in my projected trapping location later on. Not really sure about the feeder though as I don't know if I can find a feeder that could feed the tiny food the yoy CNBG and shiners would be eating anyways.

It would be nice if I could trap once or twice a year once this thing gets rolling and transfer a large mixed load of forage to my bigger lakes for the long run.

The easy and surest way to do it right would to be to leave it up to Todd after giving him your goals and pond description.

Sure Rainman, I just enjoy getting everyones take on the situation, then take it from there.