Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Creating the food chain How do I increase food availability for RES?

I stocked some RES last fall (50 in Oct 2019) and some more this spring (25 in Apr 2020) into a new pond built in 2019; all RES were 2"-4". Caught a few in my clover leaf in July 2020, after not being sure of their survival. The RES in the trap were still quite small at about 2.5". So, I'm wondering how to increase available food for RES in my BOW to get better growth rates? Ideas? - Thoughts about this?

How productive (fertile) is the pond ?

From a prior post FYI :

Trans. Am. Fish. Soc., 107(5): 713-719, 1978

� Copyright by the American Fisheries Society, 1978

A Discriminant Functions Analysis of Sunfish (Lepomis)

Food Habits and Feeding Niche Segregation in the

Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana Estuary

WAYNE J. DESSELLE, MICHAEL A. POIRRIER, JAMES S. ROGERS, AND

ROBERT C. CASHNER



Bluegill, Lepomis macrochirus , Green Sunfish, Lepomis cyanellus , Redear Sunfish, Lepomis microlophus ,

Pumpkinseed, Lepomis gibbosus , Longear Sunfish, Lepomis megalotis , Redbreast Sunfish, Lepomis auritus









From another AFS study

Would it be possible for some of the 4" RES stocked last year have spawned and the ones you are catching are YOY RES?

I have seen RES late in the year on beds or perhaps could have been an early spring spawn if you had some warm spring weather.

I stocked RES 1.5"-3" on 6/24/19. Most of them closer to 1.5" than 3" Those fish pulled off a late spawn. I was trapping lots of 1"-2" RES in May of this year.

I haven't tried to catch any since the surface temp hit 80°, but I accidentally caught a few earlier this year that were ranging 4"-8".

I figure the difference in size is mostly due to some of them being pellet hogs and the others primarily eating natural forage.

That would be a normal expectation and one encountered by many of us as well. +1 here.

Ohio RES offspring current year class in early July should be around 1" at most 1.5" long. The RES he stocked in Oct 2019 would not have spawned because Ohio water temps in October ranged from 55F-65F. Reported RES spawn temps are 69F-89F.