Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose new pond

If killing off the pond isn't an option for you, then you need to solely focus on that forage base. If your goals are large bass, you're way behind already. Bluegill should probably be added immediately.

What I would do is try to remove as many bass now as I could. Fish, trap, cast net, seine, drain down, whatever you have to do. Remove as many as you can now, reduce their effect as much as possible. Proceed with your forage plans, but continue to remove as many of these bass as you can.

It won't be long and those bass will be starving and will readily hit a small fathead minnow on a tiny jig. Hopefully they help you out by eating each other too. I don't think it's the end of the world, but your relatives definitely didn't do you any favors with this one.

How long do you think those 10 lbs of FHM will last the 100 3-5 in LMB?

I'd bet they are gone within a month.

Stock the BG now. Stock at least 2,000 of them and stock 400 RES too. You want the BG/RES to be a size where the largest LMB can't eat them. So, if you have 5" LMB in there now they have to be 2"-4" or 2"-3" fish. When you are buying fish, it's normal to have the majority of the fish to run at the small end of the size range. i.e. if the supplier says they are 2"-4", expect the majority of fish to be in the 2" range.

The longer you wait before stocking the BG, the bigger they will have to be.

If you can, get 20# of GSH 3" long or larger in there ASAP too.

Don't stock any other predators right now (HSB/BC) until you can get the forage fish established. This Fall, you could stock the HSB, and I would wait at least a year before stocking the Crappie.

At least. With an already volatile forage base, crappie could completely destroy any hope of pulling a big fish from this pond.

Should I also add more FHM to keep the LMB from starving?

Okay so..
2000 3-4 in BG
400 3-4 in RES
20 lbs 3-4 in GSH

Then in the fall 100 6-8 in HSB, and either forget the crappie or put them in a year or so from now. Also should I add any mor LMB later on?

If any consolation, my dumbest pond stunt ever.....many years ago .....stocked CNBG, RES and several hundred (!) CC fingerlings in brand new two acre pond.
Good friend (?) invited me to fish his pond and transferred 10 adult LMB to new pond - BIG MISTAKE - DUMB A** me!!

Before PondBoss forum, but found Bob Lusk and Bob Waldrop and asked for correcctive action:
"Stock as many adult size BG that you can afford".
Good advice - it worked.
Good luck,
George

What size were the LMB that the friend stocked?

What are the drawbacks of stocking a few 4 to 6 lb LMB in an established BG/LMB pond?

1 - 2 lbs.....

In Sam417's case, I am wondering why it would be bad to add a few adult feed trained BG to kick off a minor early spawn to feed those LMB?

I think that's a good idea providing he also stocks the 3"-4" BG too. He's going to run out of forage fish relatively fast. Plus, the longer he waits before stocking the remainder of his forage fish, the larger the fish he'll have to buy to prevent the LMB from eating them.

I wasn't thinking to replace his initial mass stocking. I was thinking along the line of only 15-25 adults. That should get 5 to 10 pairs spawning. Too much/too little?

You will get a quick spawn if adult BG pairs are stocked as soon as possible - worked for me.
Lusk advised 7 adult BG for each adult LMB stocked - I stocked 100 hand size BG - problem solved.
Of cource that many not needed for fingerling LMB.
5 to 10 pairs spawning sonds like good numbers to me.
George

I'd go heavier, 25 pair. Just be absolutely sure that they are pure BG!

You don't want "Oh, these Look like BG but they have really big mouths and they have white/yellow margins on their fins, but I gotta get some adult BG in the pond so in they go."

I will be sure to find a hatchery to buy these bluegill from. Anybody have any suggestions for hatcheries in Missouri?

http://www.midwestlake.com/pond-n-lake-fish-stocking/

Talk to Shawn Banks.

With our weather pattern being very wet...siphon or get a trash pump running to drain your pond pretty low and add roughly 1000 pounds of hydrated lime till your water turns crystal clear. This will kill the LMB...cheap fix....then punch the stocker in the face...lol

Your pond should be back to full pretty quickly, hydrated lime will be dilluted and neutrilized allowing you to restock in a week or two.

Rainman, would it be possible to add the hydrated lime without draining the pond down? We drained a pond this summer, and it was not a very good experience.

You could...I have the boat set up to do it quickly...the Hydrated lime is really cheap, but it depends on your water volume. At full pool, draining as little as 3 inches could be a massive reduction in water volume since as the pond gets higher, the water volume is increased exponentially due to the slope.

Raising the PH rapidly is the key to it's effectiveness and while the PH will drop back down quickly (within a couple weeks) the lime could also kill wanted aquatic plant life if you have any.

I will probably just go with the stocking of about 50 adult BG, 1500 3-4 in BG,400 3-4 in RES,30 lbs of GSH, and about 20 lbs of FHM as soon as possible, and then stock about 100 6-8 in HSB, and possibly some CC this fall.

Would I even need any adult BG if I were to stock 30 lbs of 3-4 in GSH?

Here would be my take on it........

The GSH should be big enough ,3"+, to avoid being eaten by the LMB.
That means no food for the LMB until the GSH get older to spawn themselves. So the adult BG will spawn now giving food for those LMB till they get bigger, and will prevent the LMB from getting stunted. When it comes to LMB, they are eating machines. It would also be nice to still have some of those GSH around when you stock the HSB. So having the BG fry will help distract the LMB from the GSH. You will not be able to get GSH established so easily, once those LMB get a little bit bigger. In the long term, GSH will most likely disappear from the pond.