Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose New pond stocking

Nice report, Josh!

Glad to hear your YP and RES sunfish are thriving.

I think it might be just fine to add some SMB this fall.

You might also read some of the threads about adding seasonal spawning habitat for your YP. If you can get them to pull off a good spawn, then I think you will really enjoy your pond if you can get even a few dozen of those to reach adulthood every year.

I plan to try and find 4-5 Christmas trees and will tie a rope to them and throw them out in the ice in different spots. Once spawning is over I’ll drag them back out. Does this seem like it would suffice? I don’t really want to keep the trees in shallow water allsummer

I don't have any YP (yet!).

I think the YP people that do seasonal spawning structure place some tall, narrow tree cuttings in the water propped off of the bottom a little bit.

I believe the YP like to "drape" their egg masses over the structure - like you hang a towel on your towel rack.

Maybe post a YP spawning structure question as a new thread, since I am not knowledgeable enough to give you good advice. I would like to hear you got some successful spawning in your pond, since I think that would be a big benefit to your long-term goals.

I don’t see much sense in dragging the trees out after a spawn. The smaller fish keep using them.

I just figured the trees would break down fairly quickly and just make more muck. I have quite a few pvc trees/shrubs but just planned to use those Xmas trees in shallow waters for the perch spawn. Maybe I’ll leave a few that are away from the main swimming area and see how long they last.