Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations 1 year after stocking question

Hey everyone, I’m coming up on a year after stocking my pond with catfish, bass, and carp. However, I haven’t been able to spot any of the catfish or bass, and the carp have been elusive for the past few months. I do see the bluegill, both hybrid and regular. I’ve been feeding them in the summertime and stopping when the temperature drops, and I’ve just started feeding again. Considering these factors, I’m thinking about adding more fish/fathead minnows this coming week. Any recommendations on what I should add to my 1-acre pond? Any insights or advice would be greatly appreciated! Below is what I stocked it with 1 year ago. It’s an old pond that had little to no fish before my initial stocking. Deepest part is 13 ft.


75 bass
150 catfish
15 cups of flat head minnows
3 carp
200 hybrid specklbelly
200 bluegil

I stocked something similar just less than a year ago, I see minnows daily, a few catfish have come up to get feed, saw a school of bass for the first time last week and got so excited about it

Did you stock minnows first? If so, how far in advance of other fish did you stock the minnows?

EDIT: Just seen your 15 cups of FHM...so 3-4lbs . should have got off a pretty good spawn last summer then.
Adding more FHM won't hurt anything if you have the habitat to support them enough to get off 1-2 egg laying events, probably be a waste of money to stock more FHM after this year.

Requa, what size were the fish that you stocked, and what are the fishery goals for the pond?

5-8” Channel Catfish
2 ½-3 ½” Native Bluegill
2 ½-3 ½” Hybrid Specklebelly
2-4” Largemouth Bass

Until you know what is currently alive and a guess at numbers then you are shooting in the dark.

FHM won't hurt but may be a waste of $. I would wait to see what spawns and go from there.

Thanks.

What's the fishery goal for the pond?

Goals include fostering healthy fish populations, managing biomass to prevent overpopulation, maintaining water quality, and potentially enhancing biodiversity. Ultimately, the objective is to create a sustainable and enjoyable fishing environment while promoting ecological health.

With those goals in mind, I'd take out 35-40 of those bass asap and start a supplemental feeding program for the bluegills and catfish. There aren't enough bluegill and forage fish in the pond to support the amount of predators that you stocked.

How many more bluegill and forage fish would I need to support the predator fish?

You will need to up the Bluegill stocking rate to between 20:1-30:1 for a BG/LMB ratio.

After the LMB have spawned, you need to harvest 20 to 25 pounds of them per year. Unfortunately you didn't start with a clean slate, so you have no idea how many of the initial stockers were eaten by the other fish in the pond.

How many more bluegill and forage fish would I need to support the predator fish?

The best stocking scenario is to start with about 1000 fatheads and about 500 bluegills per acre. Give them about a year to spawn and then add predators.

I hate to say it but anything you add to balance it will be immediately eaten.

Best but hardest to do is rotenone the whole thing and start over.

See my post above your question. That is where my answer is. Look at the ratio I put there. The bigger number is the number of bluegill you should have stocked for every LMB.

Here's some math for you. A single LMB needs to eat 10# of forage fish to gain 1# in weight. That's when they are young and small. As they grow in age and weight they need to eat more and more fish per year just to survive, and way more fish to put on 1 pound in weight. Think of a human. How many calories do you need to eat per day to stay the same, vs how many calories a baby needs to eat to stay the same weight? Fish are no different.

A LMB needs fish to eat that are roughly 1/4 to 1/3 it's body length or it's wasting too many calories chasing down smaller fish to eat. A LMB does NOT catch a fish every time it tries to, so that is more wasted calories.

You stocked 75 2"-4" LMB. At that size, they need fish in the 5/8"- 1.3" range to eat. As they grow the fish they need to eat have to be proportionately larger.

Bluegill that are 1"-2.5" in length weigh 3-9 pounds per thousand fish. Bluegill that are 2.5"-2.75" weigh 10-14 pounds per thousand. Bluegill that are 2.75"-3.5" weigh 15-24 pounds per thousand.

So, with that information you should be able to do the math and figure out how many fish you need to add, and what size they need to be..

I stocked something similar just under a year ago. I spot minnows daily, a few catfish have started coming up to feed, and last week, I saw a school of bass for the first time, which got me really excited.

Running back through some of these old posts and what I've heard Mr Lusk talk about in trying to protect BG fry for 45 days as their weight changes dramatically.

Had a couple of questions. Let's assume that the pond has good water quality (Alk 50+ and PH in desirable range), Fertilizing of the water and supplemental feeding 2x a day are included.

BG fry at 45 days I'm assuming are in the 1"+ range?
BG in the 2.5"+ range are 3 months old?
BG in the 3-5" range are YoY from the early spawn in Oct/Nov?

Running back through some of these old posts and what I've heard Mr Lusk talk about in trying to protect BG fry for 45 days as their weight changes dramatically.

Not 100% positive but my guess is that is southern fish (BG). Every pond is going to be different but in KS, in most places a 3-5" fish is 1.5-2+ yrs old. The hatch continues throughout summer and hatch rates as well as growth will be very dependent on suspended sediment, development of an entire mature ecosystem that is fertile enough to support and grow 100's of thousands of BG every season.
I would expect to see a lot of 1.5 to 2.5" fish by September in your pond.

Snipe (and others),

What are the reasons for being "very dependent on suspended sediment"?

I have seen lots of Kansas farm ponds get very muddy after big rains, but I don't know the causes of harm.

1.) Can enough silt deposition actually smother fertilized eggs in the nest?

2.) Does the murky water prevent the fry and fingerlings from sight-feeding for extended periods?

3.) Does the murky water shut down the bottom of the food chain based on photosynthesizing organisms and that quickly has negative impacts moving up the food chain?

I know it is important to practice good erosion control and keep silt out of our ponds. However, in arid regions people sometimes need to include things like their neighbor's plowed field in the watershed to keep the pond supplied with enough water to survive the drought periods. Therefore, some crappy trade offs sometimes must occur.

1) Yes if the male doesn't keep them cleaned off.
2) Don't forget about their lateral line, but it will inhibit some feeding
3) Not shut it down 100% but depending on how dense it is it will surely reduce it.


I'll let others expound on the answers.

Snipe (and others),

What are the reasons for being "very dependent on suspended sediment"?

I have seen lots of Kansas farm ponds get very muddy after big rains, but I don't know the causes of harm.

1.) Can enough silt deposition actually smother fertilized eggs in the nest?

YES

2.) Does the murky water prevent the fry and fingerlings from sight-feeding for extended periods?

Somewhat but it also reduces the food base (plankton) for them to eat. If that is extensive at the wrong time it can do a lot of year class damage.

3.) Does the murky water shut down the bottom of the food chain based on photosynthesizing organisms and that quickly has negative impacts moving up the food chain?

Yes - see above.

I know it is important to practice good erosion control and keep silt out of our ponds. However, in arid regions people sometimes need to include things like their neighbor's plowed field in the watershed to keep the pond supplied with enough water to survive the drought periods. Therefore, some crappy trade offs sometimes must occur.[/quote]