Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations How did my trout survive?

Last year I thought I was pushing the limits when my pond was hitting 75 deg. for a week and even peaked at 76 deg. for a day. This year, my pond hit 76 deg. for close to 2 weeks and maxed out at 79 for a day or two. I thought my trout were toast!

I checked my temp a few days ago and it was 69 deg. I decided to try feeding the fish to see if some bluegills or whatever would eat. I was shocked to see trout slamming the pellets!

I have a bottom diffuser set in the deepest part of the pond and I run it 24/7. When I check the temps, I check them at about 2 feet down, and one right on the bottom, both are always within 1/2 deg. of each other.

That is awesome! Congratulations!

Luck be on your side, thats great news !!

If DO levels stay high enough 79 is not lethal to brown trout and some strains of rainbow. It certainly is stressful on them though...

Yes we are finding the "trout die at 70" to not be true either. We did lose trut but I still have two stud rainbows. 76 was the minimum temp for well over a month. THey fed well with the fed trained bass in our little 1/20 acre holding pond. Very cool thanks for sharing.

That is cool.

If one would like to stock trout what time of year should the put them in, and since in Oklahoma I guess they would need to be taken out by May correct?

There have been several threads on here about trout stocking for a put and take fishery. Generally October seems to be a good month to stock the trout. And yes, May is about the latest you want to start taking them out as if you push it to June, although they still may be alive, they are generally stressed and very difficult to catch.

I always new it was better to be lucky than good

I have "golden" rainbows.

Who did you get them from?

Crystal Springs in Muskegon MI

John is a good guy to deal with.

What would be a minimum depth and size of pond to put them in?