Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Creating the food chain Should I stock Golden Shiners?

My GSH story:

In April 2002 I stocked 20 lbs of GSH (and another 20 lbs of FHM) in a newly filled 2/3 acre pound. BG, HBG, RES, CC, and LMB were stocked in May 2003. The year long head start let the forage fish produce incredible numbers of offspring.

By 2005 I had decided I wanted to concentrate on growing large BG, and decided to remove GSH so that the LMB would have to feed more on BG and reduce their numbers. I pulled 552 GSH out of the pond that year by angling - GSH were still quite present at that time. GSH numbers were down after that, as I only caught 75 in 2006 and 11 in 2007.

I feel GSH are valuable starting forage if you want to grow large bass. They also might have a place in a pond where sheer fish catching was the emphasis, as they are quite catchable.