Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Smallmouth bass in new pond?

TJ,

I apologize for any confusion. Actually, I think we are pretty much on the same page. The pond has to be actively managed for all aspects. If you check back to my posts you�ll see I actually said some predators need to be removed if they start to overeat their forage (so no stunted predator population) and also said that excess BG that make it to recruitment also need to be removed to control their numbers (so no stunted BG population). I believe that agrees with what you are saying. My thought about adjusting type and number of predators is this should help keep the number of BG that grow to recruits at a more manageable number. Maybe not. My point is that it should be much easier to impact pond dynamics of a small pond by adjusting type and number of predator and thru harvest than it would be with a large pond. If that is true, then perhaps small pond owners may have more species combination options that are not available with larger BOWs.

Anyway, thanks for taking the time to try and educate this newbie. I guess I will move ahead with my strategy(so far so good moving into year 4) but will definitely take your advice to heart. It is much appreciated! Who knows, maybe I will learn something of value I can share with the forum. Another advantage of a small pond is it is way easier to nuc and start over!

Mitch,

Sorry for hijacking your thread! To answer your question, IMHO SMB can be hard to find in the spring. I would stock a few now if you have a source. I don't know about HSB.

Bill D.