Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose 1/2 acre ne oh stocking ideas

Unfortunately had a winterkill haven't seen any movement in the water since the ice cleared and dead fish everywhere. Looking at stocking HSB as main predator with RES, FHM, and brooder GSH. Thoughts on this combination good or bad? Something different from the LMB,BG,CC and a few WE we had for the last 16 years.
Pond is 9' at deepest area and fish were doing great until this bad winter we had. Also possibly looking into a basic aeration system before fall.

Two rules of fish kills:
1. There are more dead fish than what you find.
2. There are more fish left alive than you think.

I'd let things warm up and do sampling by all possible methods - observation, angling, feeding, seining - to see what you might actually have left alive. If you want to stock FHM, GSH, and RES without final results, none will be a problem if any of your previous species remain. If you plan on feeding, you can stock HSB anytime, but may want to let the FHM/GSH forage base establish first.

Smart Winter aeration (with a shallow diffuser) can prevent most Winter fish kills, and prevent their severity. (I think I channeled a Listerine commercial there.)

I agree with Theo. You I am 99.9% sure you didn't have a 100% kill. I am willing to bet that you still have all those species still alive in the pond, although I would be surprised if any were keeper sized. Wait until water temp is in the upper 60's to low 70's before making a stocking decision. Get a swimming pool thermometer to take water temp at 12" below the surface. Get a galvanized Gee Minnow Trap or a Z-Trap to sample small fish in your pond.

That stocking plan isn't bad, although ask Jones what size their regular Golden Shiners are. I'm assuming you are talking about Jones because of the "Brooder Shiners" nomenclature. I would NOT stock any RES smaller than 3.5" and tell them that you want to be sure that there are no Bluegill in the mix because of your stocking plans. RES smaller 3.5" than that will be VERY, VERY difficult to tell apart from Bluegill and even some Hyb Bluegill when they are looking at them quickly to put in your pond. At fish farms that deal with several types of sunfishes there are handling situations when sorting fish, they can be accidently dropped into the wrong holding tank.

If you want to make sure that you are starting with all new fish because of concerns that all of the existing fish haven't died, pump the pond down so there is 2'-3' of water or less left in it. Put enough hydrated lime in the pond to register 11.0 - 12.0 on a pH test strip. Make sure you get ALL puddles treated with the hydrated lime. That will kill any remaining small fish. Then wait until pH is back down to 7.5 or so (or whatever your well water pH is) and then restock the pond. You don't have to keep the pond pumped down, just pump it down to treat it so you don't have to use a lot of Hydrated Lime.

Thanks for the replies, I will let the water warm up before adding new fish.