Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Pond Stocking Question.

I stocked a 4 acre tank in central Tx February 2024with 200 large adult bluegill, 300 3” bluegill, 100 red ear, and 10 lbs of golden shiners. I stocked 25 northern large mouth 3”. I had intended to put another 25 Florida fingerlings in later last summer but never got around to it.
The bass I stocked last year are over 2 lb. The tank is full of bait fish. Is stocking this few bass going to be a problem? Should I stock some Florida fingerlings this month or advanced NLMB this fall? If I don’t will I have enough genetic diversity in the long run? Will these few bass produce enough surviving offspring to control all of the bait fish I have?

If you stock fingerlings, their chance of survival is slim.

I would think survival rates for 3” fingerlings would be pretty good in this situation.

Genetic diversity is always a good thing. While some of the 3" LMB will get eaten, I sincerely doubt that it will be greater than 40%. I would fin clip the fingerlings that you stock to tell them apart from the 1st stocking of fish. I am assuming that the goal for the pond is large bass. To ensure genetic diversity, I'd check with the original supplier and see if they raised the bass themselves or if they sourced them from another supplier. Then use a different supplier for the new fish.

The original stockers might have pulled off a spawn this Spring. Double check for that.

In order to have a higher survival rate for newly stocked LMB you need to habituate the new stockers.

See this

https://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=536404#Post536404

another option is to stock fewer larger LMB that are too big to be eaten - about 10 inches.

Thanks for the tip. I have a spot I can do this with a sein.

Good advice has been provided. Adding to it, IMO the survival rate of the new bass as previously noted will be better if you add larger sizes such as 5"-7" or 8"-10". Plus fewer of them would be needed to get the genetic profile enhanced of LMB in your pond even if only 4-8 of the larger sizes of the new ones added survive. They will reproduce to add to the pond's genetics background.


You in the next 2-4 years are in for a fish management education.
Traditionally when you have a lower number of reproducing individuals (LMB/ac), their natural offspring survival rate increases. IMO your major challenge will not be having enhanced genetic diversity. It will be properly managing the numbers of new bass that are going to be produced in the next 2-5 years when you will be seeing significantly lower numbers of forage as bait fish species. This is when the forage bait fish base has been noticably reduced from having too many LMB and LMB fast growth rate of the original stockers and the larger bass will "hit the wall" and growth rates will not be what you are seeing with the original LMB population at the present time UNLESS you can remove enough of the annual LMB offspring individuals to maintain abundant baitfish populations. High numbers of new small bass they will overeat the baitfish. With too high of numbers of new LMB produced each year, this often involves frequent multiple stockings of supplimental forage species. Most pond owners that I work with are usually saying - "What happend to all my bait fish?" Time will tell the rest of this story.

Thanks for the advice. The bass I have caught this year have grown so fast they look funny with small heads compared to their body size. The tank is full of bait fish. We were swimming last weekend and it felt like piranha schools attacking. The bluegill are all different sizes with some over 9” around the feeder. We have also caught shiners over 7”. This tank has been dry for a while so there’s plenty of cover. We currently have 15’ of water in the middle and are four feet and several acres from running over. I’m looking forward to see what these fish will do if the rain keeps up. Hopefully we will have water for the long run.