Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Swimming in Half Acre Trout Pond?

Hello everyone,

I am very lucky in that my in-laws just purchased a property in upstate New York with two, small, connected ponds. The larger is ~0.5-0.75 acres, and the smaller is about ~0.25 acres. We're definitely interested in stocking the larger pond with trout (this fall if possible), and we're not trying to maximize yield, just to have some opportunity for fishing. We do also, definitely, want to be able to swim in the pond in warm-water months. So far, I haven't heard of any folks swimming in their fish ponds. Is there some reason nobody seems to? We're pretty new to this whole process.

Thanks so much!

haffee, welcome to Pond Boss!!

Many pond owners do swim in their ponds, but perhaps its not goal #1 for the majority.

In some ponds, maybe further south than your ponds, some people complain of being nipped at by bluegill. However, not everyone complains of such problems.

I don't think the trout would affect the swimming in any way.

Congratulations on the new ponds!

I agree with Sunil, there are a lot of Pond Boss members that mention swimming in their ponds and probably more in total based on the backgrounds of pictures where I see swimming docks, ropes with floats, etc.

I suspect a family swimming outing will spook the trout (but probably less so as they get used to the activity). Perhaps make a rule that the trout fishing people get first crack at the pond, and then the swimmers and aquatic adventurers can go after?

Good luck on setting up your new ponds for maximum family enjoyment!

Thank you for the warm welcome Sunil and FishinRod! The advice is great as well! I'm very glad to hear stocking some trout won't affect the quality of swimming.

As Sunil noted, BG have by far the worst reputation for nipping swimmers. (I used to poo-poo such reports, until they nipped the heck out of me last Summer.)

I can't recall any complaints about trout.

Welcome Haffee , last year I did stock some rainbow trout , they were a lot of fun catching in the winter when most everything was " taking it easy ", the trout were on fire anytime we wanted to wet a line , My pond is used pretty often for swimming in the summer months but IMO if your swimming the water will be above the thresh hold of anything a trout can live in anyway , its just my own opinion as we stocked 200 trout NOVEMBER 17 2022 and caught almost all of them , we noticed MAY 17 2023 ( exactly 6 months to the day ) our first " floater " as the water was reaching 70 something degree's and even though for this old guy that's to cold for me to swim in I am sure some KID might have made a day of it , my thought is that i am just not sure how much swimming a family would do with water temps in the mid to upper 60's if in fact your pond sustains that beautiful cold water . here in Missouri we open up the beach and pond Memorial day and we DO have the little NIPPERS like everyone talks about , its possible no one talks about swimming up there as the water stays cold enough to be prohibitive to fun swimming but if that is the case the Trout should LOVE that cold water