Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Need Help - Wild Fish Contamination from Stream

I have a YP/WE/SMB/RES/GSH fishery in a BOW about that size. At this stage of my education I know that's where I should have stopped for my ideal results. Didn't happen that way, though - through a series of mistakes/errors. Here's my story on unwanted/unintentional/uneducated species stocking that might help shed some light on your situation.

- BG were originally stocked before I realized what impact they'd have on my fishery devoid of LMB [meaning, the first few months the pond was holding water I was too eager and too green to know any better]. This was early in my stages of development and now I have an overpopulation of stunted BG with a rare fish exceeding 8-9". Although not favored by my specific predators - I do have a predator heavy and prey heavy fishery, which is fairly uncommon. If I quit feeding the YP, SMB, and HSB - they'd certainly come to lean on the BG population more. Still, the BG outcompete YP and that population has suffered. Typically BG are not favored in a pond featuring predators I listed. I'm still not sure how this will play out, though - as my angling research is demonstrating a HSB at 18" [still fairly small HSB] can take a BG up to 4.5". That's an encouraging sign, so the jury is still out on the BG "problem".

- HBC [hybrid black crappie] were accidentally introduced because I wasn't careful enough with flow through on one of my experimental ponds. I have witnessed reproduction, but the single fish I trapped was stunted and low WR. Adult fish at age 4 are up to 13", and they may be helping to hammer the BG population. Only time will tell if they will end up becoming an issue or not. For now, they're a nice bonus fish that I pretend are helping to manage my BG population.

- BH were accidentally introduced in an original FHM stocking years ago. I hand sorted, but apparently missed a few. I now have a reproducing population as evidenced by a few 7" fish and a 1.5# lunker sampled this Spring while WE fishing. In a predator heavy fishery, I'm hopeful BH won't ever become a major issue. However, they certainly could.

I'm taking the time to walk through this for a reason...traditional wisdom dictates NO BG in a SMB/YP/WE fishery. Gape limitations of those predators renders them less capable of effectively managing the BG population - leading to BG stunting, etc. While I'm seeing BG overpopulation in my fishery in this situation, I'm also seeing a virtually inexhaustible supply of forage for my predators, too - should the artificial feed cease and they are pressed to other options. I try hard to find the bright side here - I'm not a dead man walking, necessarily. Again, what I ended up with is a pretty unique fishery: Predator heavy and forage heavy. Will the HBC or BH explode and take over? Could the whole balance come crashing down due to high biomass and heavy feeding? Yes on both counts. For now, however, things are going well and I'm learning to approach the BG role in a new lens.

Will BG introduction destroy your fishery? Depends on your goals...personally I'd go with a YP/WE/SMB/RES/GSH fishery and eliminate the known variable that could cause problems down the road. However, BG introduction would not prevent me from trying to establish the fishery...