It wasn’t perfect. We had SMB in it for 11 years. They did pretty well, but did not have a lot of recruitment. We caught offspring through the years of various sizes, but not a lot. This smaller one was caught last year. There might be a couple left, but the days where I could catch 5-8 in a morning are gone. We kept very few over the years. Maybe 10 total of the 60 stockers. The trees provide a fair amount of shade, so my water temps never get very high. I built several spawning beds for them when we built, but the beds are on the south/inlet end. I still see a larger fish occasionally moving through the water, but a small fraction of the activity we used to see. I just don’t think I provided enough structure for the SMB and YP to keep away from the otters. And I don’t want to start back down that long path. There’s millions of golden shiners and weird RES/HBG crosses left, that’s about it. We’ve caught one YP, and Zero SMB this year. We had five otters in the small one ac pond a few years ago. I drove them out, but I think I’m getting return visits. I just don’t get up to visit the pond as often as I used to. I’m hoping LMB can thrive with all the smaller fish, and loads of crawfish, and glass shrimp. Maybe they can out produce the otters I’ll throw in the cedars along that bank, there’s a lot of rock all around the pond. We almost quit the project during the build because there was so much rock in the clay. Pic of last SMB caught. By grandson last September. This is not an original stocker. The one my wife is hold is an original stocker caught two years ago, and released.
Last edited by SetterGuy; 09/10/2607:52 AM.
12 yr old pond, 1 ac, 15' deep. RES, YP, GS, FHM (no longer), HBG (decreasing), SMB, and HSB (only two have been seen in 5 yrs) I think that's about all I should put in my little pond. Otter attack in 2023.
