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

During the wetter Springs, I do get substantial run-off from the neighbor and the woods. If this Spring is a wet one, the pond will be full by the end of April. The neighbor said his back yard hasn't flooded since the pond has been in, if you don't count 2009. He's had water almost to his back door before the pond was dug. There was 12" of water standing in the woods in 2009, and the woods didn't dry up until May. I had the forester from J.F. New swing by the year after I bought the place and he said the woods was a "wooded wetland", which normally sees about 6" of water in the Spring. I can't access the back of the property in the Spring because of the water about every other year.

Yeah I would go with the pond liner vs. Visqueen as I've used visqueen and not only does it break down it is easily punctured while you're working with it.

I used it from a Greenhouse supply company (best way to order it and cheaper too) to line a small 25 by 25 pond. I was great until I dropped in the aerator and popped a hole in it. I put a layer over it again and put trout in it that were moved from the 1/10th acre pond. They got really stressed for some reason.

Scott, I also have a wet area. A neighbor got a contract from the Guv of some kind to channel the spring fed creek that starts on his place and then goes through mine. He stuck a dozer on my land about 100 ft uphill from the creek. The hogs seem to like that area real well.

Well, I placed my order with Castaline today and I'm supposed to pick the fish up Thursday morning at 10. I ordered the following:

50 each of 8-9" and 9-10" rainbows
25 each of 10-12" rainbows and goldens
25 each of 12"+ rainbows and goldens

I've never done this before so I'm kind of nervous about transporting and stocking the fish and if everything will go ok.

I'd bring coolers or something like that to put the plactic bags in. Usually the fish are in a plastic bag with water, and they replace the air with pure oxygen. The fish will be quieter if they are in a dark place, and if a bag starts to leak fish water in a vehicle will stink for a while......

Ask them for specific acclimation instructions, everyone has their own system or procedure.

How far of a drive do you have? I get my trout for our creek on our hunting land from a hatchery about 45 minutes away. They provide a haul tank with an aerator that attaches to a car battery. It works quite well.

If the hatchery doesn't have a haul tank you can use then bring some big coolers, or get some big heavy cardboard boxes from the grocery store.
I ended up using cardboard boxes cause when they filled the bags with oxygen they were too tall for the coolers, just duct tape the boxes closed to keep it dark for the trout. The tigers I got last year took 2 hours to get to the pond and didn't lose any.

Looks like your gonna have cool rainy weather on thursday, that's good.

In our area, this is the a very good time of year to transfer trout.

I've got to believe that Byran has a way of packaging the fish to make it to your pond, like filling the transport bags with oxygen. But, trout are one of the most difficult fish to transfer because of oxygen deprivation -- at least for me.

The trout dealer I worked with for a number of years had transport tanks with aerators that he provided free of charge. The only caveat was that the tanks had to be returned by the next day.

I have a 40-gallon aerated transport tank, which is OK for about twenty-five 12-inch trout, for less than an hour transport. Even then, I add a ten pound bag of ice, and about a cup of Kosher (non-iodized) salt to the water after the fish are loaded into the water. A few years ago, my aerator died, and I had to stop about every ten miles to provide manual respiration to the trout.

Call before you buy, and make sure they have a way of preparing the fish for transport.

Warm water fish like bass, bluegill, and catfish are much easier to transport.

I'd rather eat a bluegill or catfish, but trout are unequaled for fun in ponds, and they are extremely beautiful.

If you need "experts" to verify the success of your stocking plan, I believe I could probably arrange for a fish fry picnic research project at your site.

Ken

Ken,

Why do you add the salt AFTER you add the trout? Seems to me that would create hot spots and could actually burn the skin of the trout if the salt lands on their skin. I would strongly suggest mixing the salt and water before adding the fish.

They have 55 gallon drums that you can use to transport the fish with, just have to pay a deposit that's refundable when they're returned so I'm going to take that route. Bryan said that 2 should work for what I'm getting but I may go with 3 just to be safe. It'll be about an hour transport and he said that with the current weather I'll e able to add them to the pond with no issues. He also said rhey take rhe fish off of feed for about 4 days beforehand to reduce waste in the water. I'm certain he knows what he's talking about, they've been around for quite a while and forum members here seem to have a good opinion of him, just hoping I don't mess things up on my end somehow. Thanks for the tips everyone

Look for an indoor/outdoor or pool thermometer. Check the water temp in the pond vs the barrels. If it's more than 4°F difference you'll have to acclimate the fish to the temp. If the temp differential is greater than that it's a pretty big shock to their system.

Vaheelsfan,

You might check into buying a couple of plastic 55 gallon drums vs. paying a deposit. I can get them really cheap from a rural farm supply here for $12.00 each. Not sure what your deposit is, but by the time you drive them back you might save some cash just having your own. They come in handy for other things too.

Cecil, I picked up mine from a guy that sells them for trash cans. He normally cuts off the top, then sells them, but I ordered them with the tops uncut, and specified that I needed the bungs. IIRC I paid $5.00 each for them. Blue Poly Plastic drums.

I get them from ag fertilizer plant for free.

Thank you all for the recommendations. Depending on how well the trout do I was planning on building some sort of transport system for future use. I didn't know that 55 gallon barrels were that cheap, I'll definitely have to look into them. My cousin was going to help with the stocking but he couldn't make it until the afternoon so I'd emailed Bryan asking if I could switch the pickup time to the afternoon and he replied that they're going to have a delivery not too far away tomorrow and they could add my order on and deliver for $40. Considering the travel time and gas money I'd use to pick them up myself that's a great deal and he guarantees live delivery on top of that. I have to second everything that has been said about him being a good guy to do business with. For being a first time customer whose order probably isn't that large he has been a great help and easy to work with.

VAheelsfan: I'm just over the mountain in Afton. I have a 1 acre pond that I stocked with Castaline trout this past fall. I got the minimum delivery order (about 200 or so pounds) of brook, rainbows and a few golden trout and the total was around $500. They are some of the most beautiful stockers I've ever seen. I feed Aquamax by hand every few days. I don't follow any particular schedule but the water erupts within 1/10 of a second when the food is thrown in. I stocked the trout on October 15th a week or so after the water was consistently below 65 degrees. The trout were 10 - 12" at that time. All of the trout have grown well and are now 12 - 16 inches. Some of the brook trout are the largest I have ever caught. What a blast! I can confirm that working with Castaline is a pleasure. Unless I run into some sort of fisheries disaster, I will do this every year. We're planning a 'fish-out' party in Mid-May to fill the freezer before the trout succumb to the heat/O2.

PS - the Augusta Coop in Staunton can order the Aquamax for you - just call or email ahead of time. You'll just need one 50lb bag. Don't bother with the junk they sell at TSC.

That's great to hear! I feel very fortunate to have such a well regarded source for trout nearby. I'm really hoping that everything goes well with this stocking. If there's a problem I think it'll be due to some issue with the pond I'm unaware of, not with the fish themselves. If everything works out I definitely will go with Castaline for a fall stocking. As you aren't too far away, perhaps we could order around the same time and save some on delivery? I would've prefered to have brook trout over the golden rainbows but they won't have any available until 2012. I think they'd do better in the fall though so it's probably better to just do the rainbows now. There is a small trout farm outside of Harrisonburg, Hemlock Springs, that I've visited a couple of times before to get some fresh trout in the summer that seemed to mostly have brook trout. I may check with them in the fall and see if they have any available to supplement whatever I get from Castaline. Bryan did say they'll have some 7-9 inch browns in the fall which I'd like to try but they may be a little on the small side for a put and take pond. I called the Co-op yesterday and the lady I spoke to said the have some Aquamax in stock but wasn't sure exactly what type so I'm going to go by and check it out this afternoon. The Aquamax 500 or 600 is what seems to be recommended. Is the Game Fish Chow suitable for trout?

The trout came today and we got them stocked. I was very happy with what I received, they were plump and colorful. There may have been one or two that didn't make it, the rest seemed to disperse pretty quickly. I went down to the pond about 2 hours after I stocked it and the trout had spread out across the dam, could see goldens here and there along it's length from walking about 1/4 the way up the dam. I took the hook off of a kastmaster and threw in a few times from the top of the spillway and could see the fish swarming around it. Couldn't resist trying to hook one so I switched lures and got a good hit after about 10 casts. It came off about a foot from the bank which was fine with me as I was going to put it back anyway. I'm working this weekend but I think I'll see if I can catch some dinner Monday

Also, I went to the local feed supply place to see what they had for feed and all they had in stock was Game Fish Chow and some of the Aquamax omnivore stuff for catfish and tilapia, which I thought was weird for this area. I'll need to order the Aquamax 600 by tomorrow and it'll come on Wednesday. Will the trout eat Game Fish Chow and is it suitable for them? I know it won't produce the growth of Aquamax, but is it ok as a feed for trout?

Trout will eat the GFC just fine.

Minor modification to rmedgers post

Good to hear! I did a couple of different google searches and couldn't really find any info and the Purina site didn't say anything about it being usable for trout from what I could find. I'll go with that for now and order a bag of Aquamax this fall before I stock again. Hopefully the sunfish in the pond will take to the GFC as well.

Good luck on your trout stocking, post some photo's when you catch some.
If the trout don't eat alot of pellets in the first week don't worry, you might have more forage in the pond than you think.
In my experience even hatchery raised trout just love natural forage.

I will definitely post some pics up when I catch a few out. There does seem to be more aquatic growth than I initially thought in the pond although I'm not certain what it is, I'll try to get some out and get a picture of that, too. I guess that increases the chances of there being some insect life for them to feed on. When I catch some out I'll check out their stomach contents and see if they've found anything to munch on since they'll be in there a few days before they get some pellets.

Wow that's even better!