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

I'm looking to add some rainbow trout to my pond in November - I know I will need to fish them out by late spring so the warm water doesn't get them. I am wondering if anyone has any experience with them in a pond, and thoughts about the plus minuses of adding them.

I like to eat trout and plan on fishing them out, and putting the smoker to good use!

They are not cheap though! But, will be a blast with the kids!

Feed them aquamax 600 all winter. I had several last winter that went from a pound to 5.5 pound monsters in my pond. They are a blast to catch but I came nowhere near catching all mine out.

Oooh... Now, that's exciting!! I bet those 5.5 pounders are fun to catch.

My son would think that is a freaking shark on the end of his pole!

rcooked, I'll be in your area, now around 10/22 with trout.

Hey! I just replied to you on another post!

Man - Friday and Saturday of that weekend would be pretty good... See my other post on the SMB hatchling discussion.

We should get bing to post some of his RBT pictures from last years stocking I took him! He said he wanted larger trout and my version of large was MUCH different than his!

He was expecting fish around one pound and a couple were in the 4 pound range and pushing 24"!

I've stocked them a number of times. I've found no downsides. They are a lot of fun to have in the pond. Feeding is probably more fun than catching or eating them. They are very acrobatic at feeding time -- dancing on their tails and belly flopping back into the water as they attack pellets.

I'm not sure where you are actually located, but I'd have to believe that your water temperatures can't be a whole lot different than mine.

I'm already down in the mid-60s, which is ideal for adding trout. I never get all of mine out of the pond, but I generally see a few tough ones coming up for food well into June or early July. My pond is only about 8 to 9-foot deep.

Lastly, think about adding a few golden trout just for fun.

Ken

rcooked, if the golden trout are available and the same price or very close to the price of RBT, that's what I'd stock and forget about the RBT. They are just a color morph and taste the same. I stocked both last year. The Goldens were more agressive in biting a lure, and they grew at the same rate as RBT. I fed AM600 all winter long by placing a shallow diffuser (at 4' deep) in front of the feeder. I used a weight under the diffuser, and a 1.5 gallon bleach bottle to suspend it at 4' depth, tying it off to the shore on 2 sides to keep it in place. The trout fed well, jumping out of the water at feeding time. I never shut the aerator off for feeding.

I am just now looking to do the same thing. I have a one acre pond with a well balanced mix of bass, blue gill, and red ear sunfish.

Do I need to do anything to make sure that the addition of the trout won't adversely affect the existing fish? I am considering adding minnows to offset what the trout night eat. I can also setup a broadcast feeder if that will help the trout.

Also, how many trout can I squeeze into this pond for the 6 - 8 months that they might live?

Thanks for any input.

Jorge, if you are feeding pellets, you can stock fairly high numbers of trout with the trout having little noticable impact on your year round fish balance.

Most people stock trout with the intention of catching them out for table fare over the winter and spring. Large Bass can eat a pretty good sized trout when your waters warm also for a great food source for them.

If you aerate, and will be feeding the trout during the winter in the open water, I think you should be fine with between 50 and 100 pounds of trout, providing your pond isn't at maximum carrying capacity. There's threads in the archives on carrying capacity.

esshup, carrying capacity is not really an issue when the fish are not spawning and inhabiting the waters year round. Trout and Tilapia tend to fill niches and draw on pond resources that are not normally consumed in what we think of when considerring the total capacity.

Trout are stocked when most other fish metabolisms are greatly reduced where tilapia consume mostly plants that are otherwise not consumed in a pond. The nutrients needed by either of these "temporary" fish are always in abundance when consumed and are more or less a non-issue to carrying capacity.

The two main limiting factors for trout are dissolved oxygen and water temperature. Trout generally die when dissolved oxygen is still in a very safe level for other fish. As for tilapia, the only real limiting factor is water temperature.

This would only apply to waters where trout can not survive year round. (tilapia are not viable in cool waters that can support trout year round)

Rex:

I agree with what you said, BUT if the trout are less tolerant of DO levels, if the pond is at carrying capacity, and the DO levels were to drop during the winter, adding another 50 to 100 pounds of fish might tip the balance leading to a fish kill, even if it is just the trout. That's my only concern.

If ponds are at maximum capacity (or close to it), adding ANY fish would increase the possibility of a fish kill due to low O2 levels, summer or winter if the conditions are right.

I know the possibility is slim, but I just wanted to throw that out there.

You are 100% correct in that both species are a niche fish, and utilize resources that most of the fish population in the pond doesn't use, but every fish needs O2.

That's why I am watching the amount of fish in my pond. I have 2 strikes against me:
1) Groundwater pond. I assume (there's that nasty word) that the groundwater that is flowing into the pond is low on O2.
2) The pond fluctuates in size from 1 3/4 ac to 1 ac depending on rainfall and soil moisture.

If I manage my pond as if it were a 1 3/4 ac pond, it would become severly overcrowded when the water drew down due to lack of rainfall in the late Summer into Fall, and even thru the Winter due to all the liquid moisture being locked up as snow and ice.

That's thge reason for my question a while back on carrying capacity. I prefer to try and run at less than 100% carrying capacity to leave room for seasonal stocking of niche fish.

I agree too! That's why I brought up the DO point. The trout require a higher level of dissolved oxygen just to survive than most fish though.

Under ice and snow cover, DO could be a very real issue, but the fact that trout would likely die before the "year round" fish, I'm pretty confident it would stiil be a small issue if it happened.

Trout, Tilapia and other short lived fish (like Fatheads) can be treated more like a supplemental feeding program than a stocking program.

Most people that would go to the trouble and expense to stock trout would be more likely to manage a pond fairly well and be more aware of an impending problem (like clearing snow from ice).

Stocking, like feeding can be overdone, but it's not that easy...lol

rcooked, - please forgive my highjack, but again I am doing the exact same thing, so hopefully you will also benefit from my questions.

In order to meet the hatchery minimum for delivery ($400), I had to order 180 pounds of trout (over 12") - a mix of rainbow, brook, and a few goldens.

I know that is twice the recommended amount. I plan to fish them out in the spring. My pond is already at 65 degrees. Stocking is next week.

I don't have aeration setup currently and don't plan on it at this time. I'm assuming that the DO is the issue I will run into. So, if I don't see 'piping' fish I'm assuming all is OK. IF I start to see that behavior - is there an emergency plan I can put into effect? (A) harvest more, b) spray pond water horizontally (read in another thread) c) hook up a quick aeration solution for shallow water using my construction compressor and a soaker hose and only put it in shallow water?.

And and all comments welcome - including that I'm going to poke my eye out.

If you run into a low DO problem and you have open water, a trolling motor that is set shallow enough to really disturb the water surface, mixing air with the water will help. Just keep it wet enough to keep it cool. There are other options as well.

Perfect - I've got at least 8 trolling motors laying around... Great option - THANKS!

If your water drops in the mid 60's and below D.O. shouldn't be a problem.

I've had a rate of 5000 lbs. per acre. (500 lbs. in a 1/10th acre pond) in winter with no problems.

Although the pond was flow through I shut off the flow from November to March.

Well, the trout have been in the pond for 3 days and so far, so good. Interestingly, the brook trout are schooling and generally hang out shallow enough to see. They also take to the pellet food easily. The rainbows and golden trout haven't been seen since they went in. However, I did locate them by fishing - they seem to be hanging out in deeper water toward the center of the pond. Those caught were very lively. Haven't seen a single rainbow take the pelleted food.

So far this is pure fun.

Glad to hear you are enjoying your newly stocked fish! Always fun when the trout first go in and they are sorta "tame". Mine tend to get pretty wild in short order. Perhaps if you keep feeding yours they'll stay shallow. It's amazing how the golden rainbows can disappear but are still there hiding...