Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Starting over...(rookie)

It's easier to manage for large BG and small (14" and less) LMB than it is to manage a smaller BOW for large LMB. Figure on 50# to 100# of LMB per acre, once the fish mature. Think about those numbers for a minute. That's roughly 13 to 26 of LMB in your pond if they're all the size that you are shooting for. It'll take a number of years to get them that big, so with them being caught a few times in the meantime, they might get hook shy.....

You can grow HSB to that size quicker, and they won't have the overpopulation potential that the LMB will have. In my pond, I have 38 LMB that are tagged, and I shoot for removing every other LMB that is caught, no matter how big or small. I'll usually remove 100+ LMB per year, and I still have a hard time keeping enough forage in the pond for the LMB.

IIRC, if I were to do it all over again, I'd start with RES, HSB, SMB, and YP. FHM and GSH for forage to get the fish going, and hopefully the GHS will establish a viable population in the pond. AAll the fish would be feed trained if possible, the RES would be the iffy fish for feed training.

If you stock 50-75 LMB fingerlings per acre, you should also stock somewhere between 1,000 to 3,000 BG per acre to provide a bunch of forage for the LMB to grow quickly.

Feed a good high quality carnivore fish food (not floating catfish food) and all the fish will grow quicker.

Stock some FHM first, and wait as long as you can before stocking the LMB/BG. A year would be great.

Or, if it's legal in your state, stock HSB and HBG. Pellet feed the fish, and re-stock every couple of years the number of HSB that you removed, and close to 75% of the HBG that you removed. A 5# - 6# HSB will pull an 8# LMB backwards......