Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose My new Southern VA pond Stocking

If the stumps are not anchored expect them to sooner or later float. Attached dirt will soon fall off the root ball allowing buoyancy.

As Catmandoo mentioned CC can be beneficial if you expect to regularly harvest and eat them otherwise IMO omit them for the first few years. Most CC also find a way to reproduce in a pond even if they have to dig their own small cave into the bank for a spawn cavity. Numerous CC can be a management problem if you don't have a good number of LMB which are great predators of small CC.

Considering what Catmandoo said about FHM you may not want to stock any fish this fall and use the time do better develop a stocking plan from intensive homework reading posts here and self-reflection of your ultimate goals. Consider stocking fish that will allow you to ultimately manage the pond for a bass-BG pond. Your original stocking plan sort of does this by stocking mostly hybrid 'species'. If the hybrids do not meet your goal then stock reproducing fish who will take the pond in that direction. A ample stocking of LMB will over time almost always trend the pond toward a LBbass dominated pond.

IMO your main concern is if to stock some form of regular reproducing BG. BG can always be added later but removing them once in the pond is almost impossible unless the whole pond is killed. If you decide to not initially use BG consider starting with some yellow perch as mentioned by your 'neighbor' FINnFUR. Contact him by Private message for his supply source. YP make a good panfish that grows to 2 lbs(15") and provides small slender body forage fish for all predators. HSB easily control YP and hy.crappie offspring. YP struggle with replacing their numbers in ponds when LMB are common. YP will work with HBG and HSB. Adult perch as with many pond fish will feed in fish fry (upto 1.5").