[Moderators: If this would be better in a different forum, please feel free to move it -- Ken]

Let me start by saying I know very little about trout, except we like watching and feeding them, I'm sure the grandkids would love catching them, and I know we all like eating them.

In the next two to three weeks I plan to put 25-30 trout in my pond (half-acre / 9-feet deep) for the winter. I plan to put them in when the water stays consistently at, or below, 65 degrees about 20 inches down at the end of my dock. This week it has ranged from 67 to 71 degrees. Half would be rainbow, the other half would be West Virginia goldens. As far as I can tell from what the hatchery person told me, they would be 9-11 inches.

Because of my recent poaching problems, I am also thinking about possibly adding some LMB. I haven't caught an RES in two years, so I'm planning on adding some of them at the same time.

Before I commit, is there a chance the trout are going to eat a lot of my small BG and LMB winter forage and stock? My pond is mainly for great BG. I don't want to disturb that significantly.

Do I need to get special trout food? I now use either the TSC farm pond 36% protein feed, or a similar feed from the local farm co-op. The hatchery where I get my fish has food, but it sure seems expensive.

If I do adopt special trout feed, and my BG feeding season overlaps with the trout feeding season, will the same food be OK for both?

For transportation, I figured I'd take two 20 gallon coolers, and get two of the 12-volt cooler aerators from Gander Mountain. I'm about 40 miles/60 minutes from the hatchery. The hatchery guy thought that would be satisfactory, but he also suggested I bring some ice. Does this seem reasonable to get them home?

Are 25-30 trout of this size a reasonable quantity for a half-acre pond? That is about how many I'd like to harvest by next May.


Thanks,
Ken

Subscribe to Pond Boss Magazine

Peculiar Friends are Better than No Friends at All!