Pond Boss Forums Thread Like Summary - Just Dug a 4 Acre Pond, Send Help!

Hi guys, so we’ve just dug a 4 acre pond in Southwestern Ontario. It’s still filling but about 1/3 of it will be 25-35 feet deep, 1/3 10-15’ and the last 1/3rd will be about 8’ with some shallower flat areas and trenches mixed throughout. We’ve got a ton of rocks piled throughout different depths giving some good structure and probably 50’x300’ of washed sand which is basically a super fine gravel placed from shore down to about 7-8’ deep in the water. I’ve got a few different questions as it would be awesome not to screw it all up at this point.

First the fish mix: I would really like Yellow Perch as they seem relatively self sustaining and would hopefully be the kind of thing we could have a few big fish fries a year without hurting anything too badly. I’ve also always been a big trout guy, would some Rainbow and Speckles do okay with the Perch? I was originally hoping to do Crappie as well but as I’ve done more reading I don’t think I have enough water, is that right? As far as feeder fish go what would you do? I've seen ponds with Creek chub overrunning them and definitely don't want to get into that. Are there any sunfish that stay small enough to be feeder fish their entire lives? I’ve already put some crayfish in to give them a head start on the big fish, what (If any) fish could I put in this year and how long should I wait to add the Perch and Trout for instance? Currently the deepest areas of the pond are 15-16’ deep with lots way shallower. The whole thing will definitely be full in the Spring.

As for fish habitat is there anything I should do besides all the rock stacks we made? I understand that Trout spawn in something pretty similar to the washed sand but with running water, do you think I’d have any hope of getting them to spawn in the pond if I placed a pump say 30’ down and used it to pump cold water through the sand to simulate a spring coming through?

Any other ideas that I should do now but may not have thought of? Thanks in advance for any input, this seems like one of those things where preventing future problems is a lot easier than fixing them.

I'm no expert on any of this but I do have a cool water pond with some of the species you are hoping to raise.
#1. If you have some feed and can get the FHM to eat, you may really enjoy feeding them. Many of us get a kick out of hand feeding our fish; some even enjoy the feeding more than the catching.
#2. Rainbow and tiger trout ( a hybrid of brown and brook) eat plenty of sunfish in my pond. They probably eat plenty of my YP, too. The 18" to 24" trout grab 5", 6", 7" BG carcasses that I've removed the fillets from. They are probably eating the live fish, too.
#3. Rather than LMB, you might be advised to add SMB , particularly if your panfish are YP and not sunfish species. LMB generally need BG as forage; the BG generally need LMB to keep the surplus population down. SMB and YP play well together. PS would be hard for me to resist though. I imagine I'd simply take on the role of primary predator of the PS if their population was getting too high.
Keep posting; your pond will be so very different from the typical USA bass and bluegill BOW and for many of us, very interesting to follow.

If you want to just have a YP/Trout pond, then I would NOT add any panfish. BG/PS will need a bass species to keep them under control unless you can find Saugeye to stock. FHM spawn on the underside of things, so a lot of 12" rip rap along the edges down to 36" depth, stacks of pallets in shallow water (<36" to 6" of surface), or other material in shallow water that they can spawn on the underside of. YP drape their egg skeins over things, so boderate thickness brush piles with the tops of them within 24"-48", maybe 60" of the surface is needed by them to pull off a good successful spawn.

I'd make sure that the Fatheads are from a farm, not wild caught fish. If wild caught fish, sort them VERY, VERY carefully to ensure that there are no other fish in there with them like bullheads, etc. You could use a small aquarium net, dip out 1/4 net full, inspect closely, then release them into the pond if wild caught fish. Anything that doesn't look like a FHM, toss on the bank far enough that it can't flop back into the water.

It's OK to add FHM now because they may not be available at ice out in the Spring.

To have YP reproduce in the Spring, I'd stock 6"-8" in mid summer 2026 or the 8"-10" like you said. WE target more fusiform fish like YP, Saugeye target more round shaped fish like panfish.

I am in N.Y, the other side of the lake, so our climate is similar. You definitely get colder in the winter as you don’t often get the moderating influence of the lakes.

If I were you, fathead minnows first ASAP. You won’t need to feed them as they will find plenty of what they love naturally. With some patience, you will have huge amounts of fatheads by late summer next year which will set the stage for regular stocking of game fish. I put in the FHM before the pond was even 1/4 full.

A type of sunfish that stays in forage range for larger predators is the pumpkinseed sunfish. They also multiply fast, and it is possible you can stock them early summer or spring next year assuming you stock FHM this fall to let them get a leg up first. They are a ton of fun to watch, and will take to hand feeding easily.

Otherwise for a top predator fish, I would initially start with yellow perch in the early fall next year, as they are great for controlling snails and leeches. Perhaps the following spring, choose a fish that is unlikely to spawn in ponds, like walleye. I am suggesting this as new ponds tend to have low fertility. Ponds need to establish for a few years and accumulate nutrients before putting in fish that will multiply and quickly strip the forage base, leaving you with the need to manually balance the pond with excessive fishing.

I went too fast and wound up with pencils and credit cards with eyeballs. Walleye don’t take to feed well, and black crappie was an ill advised mistake, which also don’t take to feed well. These along with yellow perch stripped my large forage base clean in a month as the forage just wasn’t able to thrive and keep up.

Our seasons are shorter up here than down south where most members on these forums reside, so my advice is more from cold water pond observations and some advice from here. It takes longer for our ponds to “mature”. There is a lot of “it depends” here, and there are far better experts here than this electrical engineer, so there may be contradictory advice. Listen to others with more weight than me,

The good news is you can likely have cold water fish like various trout, as you have depth and size for refuge during the hotter month(s). For example, this year in the Finger Lakes, it got too hot this summer and I would have lost my brook trout if I had stocked some. I tried LMB for the first time in my 10+ year old pond instead, and they love it.