Pond Boss Forums INTRO New Forum Member Introduction New Pond NE Ohio

Sunil does bring up a point about the GSH being nest raiders, but I don't know if they will be a big enough nest raider to be an issue. If you think that will be a problem, you could always stock them at the same time that you stock the LMB in the Fall. Many fish hatcheries have a minimum delivery, so stocking them later might help you make the minimum order size in the Fall if the LMB/HSB order doesn't meet it by themselves.

GSH will spawn once a year in the Spring, starting when they are about 4" long.

Since your goals are to grow large bass, I'd keep the BG numbers up closer to the 2,000 fish/ac and cut back on the YP numbers from 500/ac to 200/ac. The YP will be food for the LMB but not until the 2nd or 3rd year. If the YP pull off a spawn next Spring, then the hatched YP can be eaten by the LMB in the pond, but since YP only spawn once a year they cannot provide the food for the LMB that the BG can.

The FHM will feed the bass up until they get to about 9"-10" in length. The GSH if stocked at a size that will breed, will be too big for the stocked LMB to eat. The FHM will only last about a year or less in the pond, just to give the stocked LMB a food source until they are large enough to start utilizing the BG as forage.

If your goal would be to grow big bass, I'd skip the GS, PS, HBG, BG mix JUST BECAUSE he keeps them together and cannot tell you how many of each species you would be getting. It won't do you any good if you got 90% HBG and PS in the mix instead of 90% BG.

Bill Cody should be weighing in on the YP genetics from them, I think that there are really only a few suppliers of YP in Ohio and most of the genetics are shared. I get my YP from 2 different suppliers in Ohio, and I will be trying to get some YP from a supplier out West that supposedly has grown YP bigger than 16". Time will tell on that.....

Questions:

- Since I am stocking larger bass, do I increase the bass harvest or start harvesting sooner to prevent stunting? You will harvest the same weight of bass per year once they start spawning. You want to remove the fish that were born in the pond, not the stocked fish. The only reason that I'd remove some of the stocked LMB is if they are showing signs of poor growth - you will want to remove those genetics. So, if the bass spawn a year sooner due to stocking bigger fish, then you just start harvesting a year sooner, that's all.
- What month do I stock the bass in NE OHIO, or is it indicated by temps below x or something? Sept/Oct/Nov. Basically when the water temps are between 75°F and 50°F
- Can I stock the HSB and LMB same time in fall 2022 or is it correct above? You can stock them at the same time in the Fall.
- How do I know if the 6"-8" LMB are not just stunted? Their eyes will look exceptionally large for their body size.
- Do you have trusted fish farms I should look into or avoid?