Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Leaky pond: making lemonade - warmouth?

Good news that your wetland should aid your pond water level against a future drought. That should make it worth your time and money to start a new fishery.

I think that warmouth eat more invertebrates at all stages of their life cycle than most of the other sunfish. You might have fun making a pond to optimize production of the tiny invertebrates all of the way up to crayfish.

However, I think a well-fed population of warmouth would be prone to stunting. (Hopefully, an actual expert will chime in if you keep advancing this project.) If stunting is going to be a potential problem, then you will have to add a top predator.

Will flooding conditions be capable of allowing fish to move from this pond into any of your other ponds or wetlands? If not, then you can stock with any large predators that you desire.

Many people on the forum have very specific fish goals and plans for their ponds. In my recollection, you do NOT manage your ponds in that manner. Perhaps you could run your warmouth pond as a fun experiment for you.

Consider adding some top predators with a smaller mouth gape. Hopefully, they would clean up many of the smaller warmouth and allow a few "trophy" warmouth to exist in your pond.

A few HSB might be a good option. Supplement with a few gar? Shortnose gar shouldn't get too big in your pond, and could eat a lot of smaller warmouth. I think they also eat invertebrates. You could also add a few of either type of pickerel. You could even add a few walleye. Watching all of your top predators grow in your pond could be part of your enjoyment.

Aren't your ponds mostly fished by friends of your family? I would think the warmouth would be pretty aggressive most of the year. Little kids could probably catch 25 on worms on a good day and have a blast at your pond. (You could also cull some at this stage, as needed.) If you have older kids or adults at your pond, then your few top predators could be a rare bonus fish - that would give them a good fight and a good picture for their Facebook page!

Good luck on your 4th pond project. It sounds like it could be lots of fun!