Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Raising Forage and Bait Rocks & Fatheads

I read the links on fathead reproduction. Pallets & flat wooden surfaces are good for spawning. My question? My pond has field rock all the way around it.(about 8ft out)Is this good enough for fathead repro.,or would you need to add the other wooden structure?

They will work just fine. They just need an underside to attach the eggs to.

You need pallets if you want to see FHM or GSM year round producing. Same with GSM. After the palletts sink over time. Have somebody put some round rocks under the corners to bring them back as was. foot or 2. You give them what the need thers no reason to stock them agian.

What are GSM?

In my experience, FHM will spawn quite well on just about anything that is laying on or near the bottom and often times, they'll spawn on things that aren't so close to the bottom like a floating pallet or a lily pad. I like to place FHM spawning sites in water 4"-12" deep. Any deeper and they are forced into water deep enough for bass to more easily prey on them. FHM really aren't picky when it comes to spawning sites though. I have access to a lot of broken concrete blocks, so... That is what my bluntnose minnows use to spawn and bluntnose minnows and FHM spawn in the exact same manner. I place the broken pieces in the shallow areas and the fish spawn away. There are also rip rap around the overflow area that gets heavily used as spawning sites. I watched a male rigorously guarding the underside of a dead cattail blade. I guess that was his chosen spawning site.

When I first stocked fatheads in my latest pond, I tossed in a couple of pallets. They ignored them and went with the natural rocks.

I had access to black closed cell foam in sheets. I cut a bunch of pieces about 18" square, ran a line thru the center that was 2' long and tied one end to an old brick. I placed them around the edge of the pond. We'll see if they work for FHM spawning structure. With the varying water level in the pond that's about the only thing that I could come up with. Being black, they don't show up readily when you're looking at the pond from a distance. I put the brick in a couple of inches of water, so they stay pretty close to shore.

Maybe they didn't like the smell or something.

Yes. In shallow water make small structures - 2 rocks down with a space between and one rock over the top to from a roof (upside down U ).

Natural structures look nicer.

I have used 100s of pallets and never had a problem.

That was all probably mythological stuff anyway, so I deleted it.

I have FHM spawning on pallets and a rockpile.There seem to be alot more at the rockpile.I don't know if they like the rocks better.They may just like it because there are alot of HBG hanging out at the pallets.Not so much at the rockpile......Joe