Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations When can I start fishing???????????

I just stocked my 1 acre pond(4-12') in September with a collection of fingerlings. I purchased my fish from Zetts Hatchery in Drifting PA & was very pleased with them.They have been in business since 1907.The package cost $650 & included: 100 Oswego LMB,500 BG,100 Channel cats,100 yellow perch,1500 minnows,100 shiners & 250 trapdoor snails,100 jumbo bullfrog tadpoles,100 crawdads. They recommended wait 2 years to fish . What do you think??? Thanks

Is your pond in PA?

I would guess that if all of these fish are fingerlings, the fishing may not be too much fun, and you may stress a fingerling here or there if you catch one.

How big were the fingerlings?

I've heard that Zetts has pretty good smallmouth bass also.

I am located in Northern Maryland. Most of the fingerlings were 2-3".Zetts does have an excellent reputation for pond raised fingerlings.

Well I've certainly caught 3" young of the year fingerlings of LMB in my pond before on various baits and sometimes flies.

Can't say it was much of a rush as they were not the first fish in a new pond.

It could be interesting to see what hits some small bait like a maggot on a small hook, however, you could be stressing the fish.

There is a discussion happening about pellet trained LMB vs. non-pellet trained LMB on this board. Several of the replies discuss fish getting "hook shy" in smaller bodies of water.

So maybe you'd have to weigh the pros & cons of trying to fish now vs. in a year or so.

The less often you fish a body of water, the easier the fish are to catch; Cody's Law.

When people fly into wild remote Canadian lakes, they can catch fish on can openers with hooks!. Remove numerous fish, give the lake steady fishing pressure and fish become difficult to catch and the catch rate per hour and the average size of fish caught decreases dramatically.

Zett's definately has a reputation but I'm not sure I would call it excellent.

Judging from the way the fish grew in my little pond (1/3 acre), two years sounds about right to me for the bluegill & catfish , maybe 18 months.

I'd add another year to that for the bass if you plan on keeping them after they are caught.

I purchased my fish from Zett`s three years ago. With the knowledge I have from Pond Boss in the last three years, I probably wouldn`t use them again. They recomended crappie which I chose not to get. I think ther were some hybrid bluegills in with the bluegills I ordered. The shiners and the Yellow Perch are excellent. I have millions of shiners and the perch are 14 inches long and are great table fare! My bass now weigh up to three pounds. I can say that the fishing is very good after three years.

Thanks for the info.Martin , I also did not order the Crappie for my pond. I look forward to catching 14" fish in 3 years!!!