For reference this is the pond background from an earlier post. "I am building a 1 acre pond approximately 20 feet deep. It will be a combination rain fed and well fed pond. I want it to be a combination swimming pond as well as fishing. I don't want to feed as this is a cabin property and only go up once or twice a month. It has a 6500 ft elevation with summer temps that can reach as high as 90 degrees but more often high 70s low 80s."
I have no experience with trout(RBT)&YP combo. Lots of YP experience but none with YP-RBT. Since you do not live at the pond consider not adding YP because they my overpopulate. If you lived there, you could control their numbers pretty well by removing egg ribbons and trapping young fish. There may be someone here with experience YP-RBT, but I don't recall reading about the combination.
IMO I would first stock just FHM and RBT. You have the FHM established. Number of RBT to not over-eat the minnow population is at this point unknown, at least to me. However I think you could stock at least 50-70 RBT per acre and still have good minnow survival. RBT esp smaller trout (8"-16") will eat a lot of insects in addition to fish. Wild trout can survive on invertebrates alone. In some natural trout fisheries a 16" trout is a pretty big trout. Trout will grow slowly on limited food. In mid-summer the FHM should stay out of the cool niche area of the RBT, thus during summer breeding season, FHM should repopulate well. FHM are very prolific if you have ample spawning structure. You should also consider providing a significant amount of cover as minnow refuge protection places to help protect FHM from predation. I would start by adding tree tops or brushy limbs along the shoreline with butt ends on shore so the branches could be later pulled out if needed. I would start with 30-50% of the shore lined with brush.
You can monitor the numbers of FHM by using a bread baited minnow trap when you visit the pond. Pay attention to how many minnows you catch, the time of year (water temp), and how long the trap fished in each trap set. Over time these data will tell you how well the FHM are surviving. You can also use the minnows as bait for trout fishing. Fish them in the deep water layer where trout are likely to be during summer. Measure the water temp as a depth profile to know how deep trout are likely to be in mid-summer (60-68F water layer).
Brushy unfishable areas along shore will catch poacher angler lures and may also deter trespasser poachers from shore angling and stealing your trout which is very likely to happen once the word is 'out' that good easy fish are in the pond. 4 wheelers & off road bikes go about anywhere these days.
Once the pond has aged with FHM & RBT for 4-6 years, then reassess the fishery to see if other fish are needed. It may happen that RBT cannot tolerate the hottest part of the summer in your pond. IMO it may be hard to know if the lack of RBT are due to dying or getting poached. Usually poachers are 'trash pigs' so if you see strange fish lures/gear on the ground or hung up in brush, or general people trash, such as smoke butts or disturbed surroundings on the property then you will know you have trespassers/poachers.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 02/26/15 11:46 AM.
