Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Stocking a new 17 acre, 25 ft deep pond in KC, MO

New to the site and a preemptive "Thank you" for your advice and help!

We finished construction of a 17 acre pond in the Kansas City area about 4 months ago. It is filling up nicely and I am starting to figure out what and how to stock the pond.
17 acres, and 25 feet deep at its deepest point. Best guess is we have about 4 acres of the pond that is 20-25 feet deep?

Fresh start on the pond so open to anything. Really want to try Walleye but understand they won't reproduce but that's ok if that's the case. Any thoughts?

(sidetones below)...

Next to this pond we already have a 8 acre pond that is well stocked with LMB as well as other fish. Blue gill, etc. This pond does have its overflow pipe that drains into the new 17 acre pond so at some point I'm sure bass fish eggs will work their way into the big pond. But for now it's clean so figured we could throw a bunch of walleye in there now as starter as well as whatever else is recommended for a good ecosystem.

We also have a 1/2 acre new pond about 10 feet deep. What would be fun to put in there so the kids can slay fish all day? Crappie pond?

Also have an acre pond that's new. Wiper Bass pond?

Open and eager for any advice! Thanks!

Welcome to Pond Boss, and congratulations on the new lake and pond.

With such a large body of water in the 17 acre lake, most advice will be pointing towards getting the forage base established, and along those lines, consideration would go to whatever fish you want to be the apex predator in this pond.

If Walleye is the desired apex fish, then you may not want Bluegill as part of the forage base, and may lean towards Yellow Perch and perhaps Golden Shiners at some point.

If the 8 acre pond drains into the new pond, then there's going to be some fish coming over, but that will be very hard to quantify, change, or modify.

If the walleye dont reproduce then that is great in a way - you can control exactly how many predators you have in there, a 17 acre lake that deep will hold many so just keep track of what you take out, account for predation and then add a few more in each year. Like what was said the forage base is key or they won't have enough to eat and will clean the whole lake out of forage. Good cover is also important so the forage can hide and reproduce.

Have you added any structure to hold fish, or any spawning bed locations?

MUCH easier to do that now, before the lake fills up.

A 17-acre lake is a pretty huge body of water. Creating habitat and cover will increase your fish populations, AND make the fish easier to catch by concentrating them into certain areas.

Thanks for the advice and the kind welcomes!
So since it's a new pond, there isn't vegetation yet. The water is coming in from watershed and is pretty clear. We have 300 acres of land and keep all livestock on the far side on other side of hill to prevent nitrogen from cows out of water shed so hopefully water quality will remain good.

*Re: Vegetation/food for the forage base to eat on: What should we do in terms of making sure there is food for the forage fish to eat? This may be a stupid question and the fisheries can answer but figured I'd display my ignorance here in full disclosure and inquire.

*Forage Fish: Yes, we would get plenty of these per our fishery/stocking source's recommendations

*Structure: As of yet, we haven't put any in the pond but assume this can be done at anytime? We have a ranch hand who can make one. Suggestions? PVC? I'd prefer not to put old Christmas trees as they do degrade, yes? Also don't want to spend the $ it takes to buy retail. I do have a seasonal fireworks business so can get many many wood pallets and have ranch hand use to build structures and sink? Thoughts on this and tips for same?

*Breeding ground: We have graded an area for spawning and were going to put smaller rock on the base. Current area is maybe 30 or 40 feet by 30 or 40 feet and shallow and flat. Is this correct? This is currently still dry so we can increase size if needed and put whatever rock type we want still in the spawning/breeding area. Do we need more than 1 of these spots?

We are working with power company to get power out to the ponds which would allow us to get aeration going as well as auto fish feeders. Hoping that will help keep health of pond great!

Thank you!!!

Fletch...Pretty big body of water and some additional ponds that can drain into it. Big enough that if I were in your shoes I would enlist some help from a pond management company or one of the fellas here that works in the industry to get your goals set before stocking anything except Fathead Minnows.

Standard rule of thumb for Habitat/Structure is 10-20% of the surface area of the pond/lake. Which in your case is a pretty big number. There are lots of types from what nature provides in the way of rocks and trees to manmade in PVC or concrete blocks. It is MUCH easier to put habitat in before the pond is full than after.

Pond plants are another area to consider. You can take the time to try to plan for what you want now or take what mother nature and the wildlife say you "need" later.
- Speaking of plants....One thing I wish I had done after our pond was built was really focus on erosion control both inside and outside the pond. Anywhere the water runs into the pond will likely get cut by water and anything inside the pond where water runs across will likely get cut with erosion as well. Focus those areas now with cheap grass seed and/or plan some habitat in line with them.

Not that you have to have it all done before the water fills the pond but putting fish in the water that don't line up with your goals for the pond well....it's really, if not nearly impossible, to remove all the undesired fish on a 19 acre lake after they get in there. Hatcheries are in the business of selling fish. I did have several conversations with various hatcheries when we started working on species to stock and there were two things that almost all of them had in common.

1. How many acres is your pond? After I answered this question they said then you need X lbs of ???, ???, ???, ???.

2. A lack of any interest in my goals for the pond was the second commonality. All but 1 or 2 of the hatcheries played the cookie cutter approach standard stocking rates without understanding if we were going to feed the fish, aerate the water, or planning to fertilize.
There were 1 or 2 companies that asked about my goals for the pond. I found those same companies are also forum members here.

Do your homework and arm yourself with good info on what to stock, how to plan habitat, where to place habitat. All if it will stem from your goals for the pond.

If you can get your goals set you'll be ready to not only stock, but refuse a fish that doesn't line up with what you want in the pond.

Sounds like a great project on a nice body of water. Good luck as you move forward!

Call Bob Lusk at Pond Boss - he is managing a similar lake in that area with most of the same species etc. and extensive history of the fish and area.

Welcome to PB!
I finished a 15 acre lake just east of you here in MO, N of Columbia, about 5 yrs ago, the fishing is just starting to get really good, I have walleye in it, they are coming along nicely, along with yellow perch, LMB, BC, CC and tons of baitfish including redear, don't be shy in getting plenty of redear, they will help control parasites and they cant over populate if you have predators in your pond.

Stocking that size body of water can be considerably expensive, which if you paid to have that size pond built you are aware of big expense.

I stocked mine on the low end, and let the fish sorta populate themselves some, just to save some money.

Good Luck! looking forward to seeing pictures of your success!