Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Raising Forage and Bait Forage Species

I have been reading about a forage species for my pond. I know golden shiners will work well for LMB-HBG combination but is there any other forage species that I can stock in my pond that I can enjoy plus be a forage species. I was thinking about YP. Where are some places to get Yellow Perch?

you should check with hatcheries nearby to see if they can stock yellow perch and pumkinseed are also a good forage but they only spawn once a year

BFeaver - check to see if the DNR in your state has a list of fish suppliers - fish - hatcheries or farms.

Does anyone recommend any other forage species that lives all year round and can be stocked in a LMB-HBG combination.

RES spawn like crazy but make excellent forage for LMB red eared sunfish dont get that big with a predator around but they will be there year round

BF

What are your goals for this pond? What are the pond characteristics [size, depth, aerated, water source]? YP are a predator, but a cool addition. Give us the lay of the land and good recommendations will follow.

Perhaps we're talking about different species, but IME experience RES are not very prolific spawners, are less likely to stunt in the absence of predators unlike most any other sunfish species and are very poor candidate for all year fishing as they aren't big fans of cold water.

Where in NC are you located? If you are in the mountainous areas or the state, YP may be a good option. If you are on the southeastern coastal plain, they probably aren't. Although YP probably don't quite fit the definition of a cool water species like a WE or musky would be, they are not immune to warm water especially as larger adults. If you do source YP for your pond, make sure they are from a local source. You do not want YP that are genetically adapted to the Great Lakes for example. North Carolina is starting to push the southern limits of YP. The larger YP that far south tend to stress in the warmer months, generally when water temps reach the upper 80's to lower 90's.

RES would make a good addition to a LMB/BG pond in your local, regardless of what part of NC you're in. You can read about them in the archives or by doing a search in the forum, but they have many good attributes and I really can't think of any bad ones. Because of their lower fecundity they aren't the greatest forage, but they add to the forage base.

There aren't many naturally reproducing species that are both good for forage and eating in ponds. There are a few other options, but most have draw backs or are generally not of interest to most pond owners.

Here is a little background information about my pond. It is 8 years old. It is about 15ft at the deepest point. It is mostly a clear open water pond until Varible leaf Pondweed took it over. We have got it under control now. I live in the piedmont traid area, Lexington.

Size? Goals?

It is a 1 acre pond and The goal is to grow trophy size Hybrid Bluegill and decent/healthy size bass(decent means 16 to 18 inch fish common)right now our fish is normally runs 12 to 14 inches. We take lots of bass out of the pond a year but when you open up there stomach when fileting there is nothing.

If you want Trophy Hybrids, or straight Bluegill....You WANT an overpopulation of Bass. The bass will eat most small BG/HBG and the few that survive will grow large. Lots of small bass can't eat the bigger gills. Big gills like pellet feed also!

Also, there was a minor correction that CJBS touched on. RES are not heavy spawners...Their snail eating cousin the Pumkinseed is.

Whats your current fishery shaping up like? Obviously there are LMB - what are they using for forage? You have HBG stocked already but no BG? How are they doing?

So you are looking to improve the condition of your LMB and want to introduce forage. Your HBG aren't doing the job as they don't reproduce much so their YOY can't feed the LMB. I would suggest stocking the following to help feed your bass and diversify your fishery:

Redear Sunfish [RES] Spawn 1x annually and won't overpopulate but provide an opportunity to catch a monster in a few years. I love RES - absolutely no downside and their YOY will help feed your HBG and LMB.

Golden Shiners [GS] They will compete with your panfish but the HBG gape will allow them to tackle forage too large for the GS so I think their impact will be minimal. Also GS will feed heavily on pellets if you are going to supplement with feeders - which I also recommend. I would recommend initial stocking of 20+ lbs of adults - you will likely have to continue stocking these every few years as the LMB hammer them hard. They are cheap and easy to source, however.

Crayfish - I would stock as many as you can - just be careful you are not stocking an exotic species...lot's of horror stories regarding this. Not sure what native species you have in your geography but I'd go with that. You LMB will grow.

If you want to be certain your LMB are healthy you need to not only pump up the forage base, but also start culling the common sized skinny fish. It's hard to harvest LMB or other precious apex predators we consider our target when angling...but it will lead to reduced competition for that species and their size/health will respond in a positive way.

Hope these suggestions help - if not, keep asking!

Rex the HBG won't reproduce much at all, though...I thought he just had HBG, not BG. I must have misunderstood? Rex is right if there ARE BG in your fishery you do need a dense population of LMB in order to keep BG population down. Guess we need clarification!

I only have LMB and HBG in my pond 4 grass carp too. I do feed Purina Mills Game Fish Chow and have had numerous HBG caught 12 inches. We do take as many small bass as posible. Went fishing today and almost landed a 16 inch LMB. That is all the fish I saw today. I was thinking about crawfish a couple of months back but read all the bad stories about what they can do to a pond.

Okay, that explains why your HBG are so large and your LMB have such low WR - no forage. HBG do not produce the offspring to feed them. I'd consider the GS, Crayfish, RES and continue feeding and your fishery will respond IMO.

Make sure you get the exact species name of the crayfish you buy from a hatchery. If they cannot provide you with a name, don't buy them. When I say a name, preferably a scientific name. Once you have that, research it to find out if it is one of the "problem" crayfish...

If you do stock GSH, try to stock them in early spring at the largest size you can buy. IMO it's better to have less of bigger fish than more of smaller ones when stocking GSH into a stunted heavy bass population. The bigger fish have a better chance to not end up in the smaller stunted bass's mouths and when stocked in early spring have a better chance to spawn come late spring.

I also think RES would be an excellent addition to your pond with no ill side affects.