Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Creating the food chain My Second Pond:Stocking Plan,Strategy,and Tactics

Please help me pick stocking numbers and timing.

A synopsis of the pond: Size will be 0.4 to 0.5 acre; Max depth will be 11+ feet; Watershed is about 5 acres of pasture/hayfield. Pond has a thin treeline to the East and medium thick woods to the West. Electrical aeration should be provided about the time the predators are stocked, certainly before biomass peaks in 2-3 years. Pond will be hand fed (40% Aquamax Carnivore, appropriately sized) once a day, 5+ days per week, in season.

Goal is to have breeding populations of RES, YP, and SMB, plus bonus trophy male-only BG. YP and RES will be utilized for the table; YP/SMB/RES will be transferred to the main pond in small numbers if a surplus of any are available. I would also like to use the pond to grow out a few HSB regularly (anually/semi-annually); since it should not have as large a mouth size predator as my main (LMB/BG/RES/CC) pond, I should be able to get by with a size smaller HSB stockers with minimal predation loss.

The story of constructing this pond can be seen in My Second Pond: Ground Breaking! Assume suitable spawning structures will be available for the RES/YP/SMB; I'm sure working on them.

Stocking Plan Species: RES/YP/SMB plus male-only BG and HSB for grow out. See Brettski's Help me adopt my fish family for a discussion of the first three species.

Strategy and Tactics:
1) Already Pretty Much Decided: Forage Stocking
Spring 2008, I will purchase FHM (5-10 lbs) and Gambusia (100-200) and stock them when they are available for delivery. Also, once water temps are conducive to pellet feeding, I will stock 20 adult feed-trained RES currently camped out in my basement.

Additional adult RES (in what will probably be small numbers, probably another dozen or so) will be added as they are caught during the Summer. Certifiably male BG will be added also as they are caught.

I expect to get a RES spawn in this new pond next year, to add to the forage base available for predators on top of the young the FHM and Gambusia produce. I am also planning to add moderate numbers of juvenile RES to the pond in the August/September time frame (perhaps 3 dozen or so) as they are seined out of the existing pond, to provide an additional year-class and, eventually, additional brood stock.

2) Up for Grabs:SMB/YP/HSB Numbers and Timing
I would really like your input as to numbers and timing for stocking these three species.

I am planning on initially stocking small fingerlings of all three of these - 3-4" SMB, 3-4" HSB, and either 2-3" or 4-6" YP. SMB are, of course, the most expensive and hardest to get; I feel decisions on stocking the other two species should be secondary to obtaining a good, healthy population of Smallies to grow (and hopefully spawn, after they reach adulthood) in the pond. QUESTION: Could 6" YP eat 2-3" SMB/HSB? If so, no medium YP stocked concurrently with small bass.

My current WAG on these is to stock 50 SMB, 50 HSB, and 100 YP in either Fall 2008 (provided the forage base looks as good as it should) or Spring 2009, based on the availability of the small SMB. They can be stocked at completely different times, if it is best for the SMB.

HSB will be fed and grown out until they reach roughly 12" in size, and then will be transferred to the main pond as they are caught.

Please let me know your thoughts on this stocking plan. Thanks.