Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Catfish and Trout

From all the research I have done, the limits really do vary greatly. Even among the same species. I've tried to pin point a magical number and just can't seem to find it. DO plays as big a role as temperature if not more so. If you have full saturation, trout of all species can handle much warmer temps. Brown trout definitely are more tolerant. Some studies I have seen put them being able to tolerate 78 degrees indefinitely at full saturation and up to 84 degrees for short periods of time. Obviously, this stresses them greatly. Brook trout are by far the least tolerant of the bunch. There are a lot of good studies from Tennessee where they study rainbow trout and brown trout survival in tailwater fisheries from reservoirs. They constantly check temp and DO through out the year and see how survival rates are. Fishing closer to the dam do best, as that is where the water is the coolest... Further down river where the water gets a chance to warm up survival is greatly cut back. A place I fish for trout in a tailwater fishery hold rainbows year round for the first 5 miles or so downstream of the dam and then it switches over to solely browns for another 10 before trout can no longer survive through the summer.

Thanks for the info, I really appreciate it.

If you can, post photos and keep us informed of progress -- including successes and failures. Not that we want you to fail, but knowing what not to do is probably more important than just being lucky.

We've got some real interesting Pond Bosses here who raise "fun fish" and trophy fish under very unusual circumstances. It is always fun and inspiring to read about what other people are doing.

Here are some trout that overwintered in my pond that is mainly managed for big bluegill and feisty channel catfish. I put them in at about 10-12 inches in October, and we start taking them out in April and May at 12 to 14 inches. This year my pond was iced over from early December until mid-March, so we didn't get much feeding time.



Just for fun, we always put in a few goldens.

Thanks CJ. That information is good enough for me. I was thinking that if the RBT don't make it this Summer I'd try and throw some Browns in with the RBT next Fall and see how they do.

esshup, we could do an exchange program, your trout could summer in my pond, and we ship all the trout to winter in your pond.

I love when a question sparks such good discussion and insights from so many different people. I can't wait until I ma the person posting pictures of beauties caught. Patience, patience, patience.

AP:

Not a problem! When is Rex going that way??

I gotta take a video of them feeding now. They're jumping completely out of the water when feeding.

As many of you know, I love cooking and eating -- especially fish, roadkill, venison, etc. I can take or leave most trout -- except for slow/cold smoked.

Feeding is my major reason for loving them. It is so incredible to take kids and the elderly down to the pond and let them throw pellets into the water. Trout must be naturally near-sighted. In seconds of throwing pellets into the pond, the crazy trout attack pellets like they are mayflies 2 feet above the water surface. These silly fish jump straight out of the water, dance on their tails for a second or two, and belly flop back into the pond -- before they repeat the whole sequence.

Kurt -

If your goal for the catfish are guests of honor for dinner, have you given any thought to cage raising some in your main pond while reserving the 0.5 acre pond for trout only.

- Russ

I have thought about cage raising but my concern is that I do not live on the pond site and will only visit during the weekends and not every weekend will I be able to get there.

I kind of like the idea of aerating and feeding through the winter and fishing out the trout come the spring and then spending the summer and early fall fishing for catfish. Once fall hits again, re-stocking trout and some catfish for the next year.

I think the well and water needs will be too great to summer over the trout.

My thought after reading all the entries is to find 8-10 inch trout for the fall and with feeding they should put on a couple of inches before spring.