DR, not a perennial stocking plan at all. When and if you do need to stock you should stock 5 to 6 inch bluegills. 99% of the fish eggs laid or hatched never make it to sexual maturity. They get eaten an it's a good thing. Texas BG generally have what is called a rolling spawn. In other words it keeps going from Spring thru Fall. Maybe 12 months in the Houston area. But those small BG are what feeds the other small fish.
After you have some experience with your new toy your log should tell you whether you need to remove bass. If it's 40 years old I would bet that you need to remove every bass under 14 inches. Escort them to the kitchen or flower beds or? Most Texas ponds are bass heavy. Catch and release and too small keep lets bass over eat their food supply. So, you are the management tool. But that bass heavy judgement is premature on my part. Start fishing with a set of digital scales and ruler in your tackle box or pocket. Go to lakework.com and see Greg's WR chart. That should tell you whether your fish are under weight for their length. Under weight generally means that the environment is lacking in the proper size forage that your fish need to grow. And a bass need forage that is 1/4 to 1/3 their body size to thrive. It's a matter of energy expended vs calories received. When the WR factor starts increasing you will have made some improvement and taken some pressure off the forage base.
Next year you might consider stocking about 20 pounds of tilapia. But do it in the Spring. Tilapia are pretty sensitive in warm water stocking unless you know a lot about acclimating fish. Tilapia pull off some pretty heavy spawns and just about everything eats their progeny. They can take some pressure off your BG base. You have some time to learn about the tilapia.
I would take a water sample and send it to TAMU to get a water analysis.
As I started out saying, don't get in a hurry. Fish it, learn about it, read the posts here and don't stop asking questions.
This stuff is addictive. My number 1 advice to new pond owners is to never lie to your wife about the expenses. You're gonna get caught.
Last edited by Dave Davidson1; 06/30/12 05:03 AM.
