Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Planning New Pond in Northern Waters

At this point do your best to stock YP at 4"-6" this fall because the 2"-3" YP received July 12 were likely mostly all the small ones and males from the 2022 year class. 4"-6" in fall could be a mixed gender ratio. Ask about year hatched when you buy them - you want 2023 year class of YP. The length of the 100 YP from Zetts in Sept (hook and line) will be an indication how well they are growing. If in Sep-Oct they are 5"-6" they were 2023 hatchlings; smaller - then runts form 2022. 6" YP bought in fall 2023 will produce spawn in 2024.

Daphnia were probably already present in the pond, however adding some will not be a waste of money. If the pond was not turbid muddy then the hay was not needed to have Daphnia succeed. Shiners as open water fish will eat a lot of Daphnia and keep the population pretty suppressed. After several years the original stocked shiners at 8"-9" may become pests and have to have a focused harvest. These big shiners can be hand-fed to the SMB by removing tails from the shiners so bass can easily catch them. Entertaining way to grow really big SMB.

If you can locate some SMB this fall as fingerlings, I would stock around 10-15 to get them well established on the abundant minnow population. Then in 2024 you can add 20-30 more to have two initial stocker year classes so the pond has a good SMB size distribution of predators.

At this point I would not add PS until the bass are well established and have spawned the first time. This will help reduce chances of them becoming over abundant as noted by esshup above. . With your habitat conditions the YP and GSH could easily sustain the SMB population if the SMB are not allowed to over populate. Just several adult SMB can put a lot of predation pressure on the YP & and smaller GSH. Lots of GSH can be somewhat of a problem. Later if you want PS you can add some PS when bass are established and reproducing.