Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Should I stock Bluegill and Grass carp now

2 acre pond that was completed in August 2022. Construction company needed dirt and I wanted a pond. They took out over 28,000 yards of dirt. Stocked CC and BG in September of 2022. Pond was only 1/4 Acre when BG and CC were stocked. NO cover. Stocked Bass in June of 2023. All fish were free from the state hatchery about 5 miles from me. I have caught 15" bass, I see Catfish (BH and CC) 8 inches or so feeding on the Aquamax 400 I hand feed. Removing all BH I catch. I have only caught GSF 3 inches to 7 inches, no BG

Just completed a depth survey and creating a bathymetric map. Pond is down about 1.5 feet below normal. Current status is that I only have about 1/3 of an acre that is deeper than 5 feet. Most of it is 4 feet or less. 8 Feet at the deepest. I'm raising the pond level by 2" by adding on to the drain pipe but obviously will not see results until we get rain. I'm adding BG spawning beds with heavy artificial cover beside them prior to raising the water level. Several GSF spawning beds throughout the pond.

Thinking of adding TGC and 3-5 inch BG. How many should I add or should I? Just learned about Pond Boss, Subscribed and have watched every podcast and Facebook live I can find so know the pond needs some work. Trying to avoid the Dumb Tax.

Local Biologist says I have filamentous algae, chara and either sago or leafy pondweed.

My goal is to have a good pond for family and friends to come catch eating size fish of all species. BG, CC and LMB

See pictures.

It's odd that you have not caught any bluegill as of yet.

The Green Sunfish could also have come from the wet-weather-creek, but there's also a chance that they were mixed in with the bluegill stocking.

A 15" LMB can eat many 3-5" bluegill, so the larger the bluegill that you can get, the better chance of survival. If you can't source any larger bluegill, then maybe add 25-30% more in the actual number of bluegill to stock to factor in predation.

Thanks, I am wondering if any survived since the pond was only about 1/4 acre when they were added and there was not any cover. Stocking rate was Largemouth bass 2" (100 per acre), channel catfish 2" (100 per acre)and bluegill 1" (500 per acre).