Benefits are your current pond of 0.25 ac is it is small and very manageable. As wisely noted by jpsdad, Management of the current small pond should focus on fewer fish present that will allow their average size to be larger.
If your budget and land space is adequate, and for your Colorado situation, I very much like FishinRods suggestion of - ""a tiny brooder or grow-out pond? A pond as small as 1/10th or even 1/20th of an acre might be useful to you and fairly easy and inexpensive to construct"".
A mini-pond would eliminate your problem or sourcing YP since that seems to be one of your main goals. Pond could be as small as 60'X60' and 5-8ft deep. It would be easily filled and dewatered with a 2" semi-trash or trash pump. In it for your YP goal you could raise FHM and YP. YP could be stocked using a section of a YP ribbon or some mature adults (5"-7") to produce egg ribbons. A egg ribbon from a 8"-9" YP has around 20,000 eggs. One ribbon or 1/4 ribbon would produce more than all the YP you would need or want each year in this mini-pond. Pond could be lowered or dewatered and fish removed every 1-3 years and then restocked in Spring pre-YP spawn and some FHM. Annual Crop of YP the mini-pond could produce when YP are reasonably balanced density would be 4"-8" sizes for moving into the larger 0.25 ac pond.
A 60x60 pond is 0.08ac at 6ft deep has around 78,000 gal. and relatively quickly and easily filled and drained using a 2" trash pump rented or purchased. Stock pile all the dirt from the mini-pond in case someone later wants to fill it back in with dirt. 80x80 mini-pond is 0.14 ac. 6 ft deep -= ~143,000 gal.
For a colorado multi-species fish supplier are you aware of Beaver Fish Farm Longmont CO north of Denver? He raises big perch, SMB. trout plus numerous others.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 04/19/25 09:05 PM.
