Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Put and Take Pond

Even if you don't drain it completely, I would either Rotenone the pond or use enough hydrated lime to get the pH to 11 to kill all the GSF. While GSF aren't bad per-se, for your particular pond and goals, they will cross with the RES and become a problem like Bluegills will if they aren't removed when caught. And a lot will need to be caught. If you plan on feeding, the fish can get the majority of their food from the commercial feed. I recommend Optimal Fish Feed - you can order on-line and have it delivered right to your door. Optimal is very digestible and has less waste pass through the fish to end up feeding plants and algae in the pond than other feeds.

You can get a bigger feeder (a 100# Texas Hunter Feeder) and not have to fill it for up to close to two months if you don't want to feed a lot. They make directional fish feeders that hold up to 400# of feed. I would rig up a solar electric fence controller and wires around the feeder to prevent cattle trying to use if for a scratching post, or hogs from trying to get at the feed and tipping the feeder over even though it comes with 18" long 1/2" dia metal stakes to anchor it to the ground. .

You might need Triploid Grass Carp, might not. Let the weed growth dictate whether you need them or not. Rainbow Trout in the winter will be a nice change and they do great on artificial pellets. I would think yes to the Tilapia. It's cheaper to stock them than to have a pond management company make bi-weekly trips to control the FA that will grow. I'm saying that with the thought that you will be fishing from shore vs. a dock or pier.

If going more than 6-8 feet deep, then yes aeration will help make the whole water column have enough O2 so it's usable to the fish from surface to the bottom. .

The HSB will be a put and take especially in the warmer late Spring, summer, early Fall days because they will fight to the death. The only way you may have a chance on releasing them is if you have a container with water and run pure O2 into there to get O2 back in their system. George Glazener made one years ago. Sadly he passed away a while back. Maybe Fireishot has a picture of it? From what I remember, it was a large Rubbermaid tote, Water from the pond, a micro-pore diffuser, a flow control valve, an O2 welding regulator and a pony O2 tank. You need to set the regulator at 40-50 psi max, put the flow control around 0.5 SCFM and after the HSB is pretty frisky, re-release it back into the pond.

Try not to release any CC back into the pond, the ones that were caught will be almost impossible to catch after that. If you can source some 14"-18" CC, stock them year 2 after the RES have grown too big for them to eat. You might want to look into stocking Golden Shiners too. They will also help feed the HSB.