Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Corrective stocking newbie needs help!

Welcome to the forum, Mike. Is there an Ohio somewhere that's not in the USA?

Are BG the only fish in the pond? If so, 2"-4" LMB should be safe from any piscine predation. I would think that there are lots of small BG (fry + stunted YOY) right now for bass this small to eat. So the LMB you add would, I think, do well, grow, and start reducing BG numbers right away.

While the new bass will grow rapidly on a stunted BG food supply, they will not be ready to spawn next Spring; I am sure in Ohio that they will still be too small. I think they will probably be ready to spawn in Spring 2009, by which time they will have eaten a great many small BG. This will greatly improve the odds for LMB fry to survive BG predation and a good number of baby bass will probably grow through the danger zone AOK. You don't really need (or want) very many bass out of the 10s of 1000s which will hatch to make it.

What are your goals for the pond? If you want to manage for large BG, I would suggest stocking 100 of the small LMB; if you are interested in larger bass, perhaps 50. OTOH if you are heading towards the popular bowfin/snakehead/alligator gar combo, I haven't a clue.