Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat New build

If there isn't enough habitat for the panfish to hide from the SMB, then the SMB will also control some of them. I have a customer that has YP, RES, SMB in a pond along with some HSB that someone bucket stocked. VERY little cover in the pond for the fish to hide in. The SMB are stunted and there are very little other species that grow to adulthood. The SMB control all the other species, and actually they do too good of a job. More SMB need to be harvested, and if I can convince the owner to put the correct amount of cover in the pond it would be a good fishery in a few years. Right now not enough SMB harvest is going on.

Remember you need roughly 20%-25% of the surface area of the pond in cover for the fish, from shallow water to deep water. Small openings in the cover for small fish, larger openings for larger fish and predators.