Pond Boss Forums Thread Like Summary - When to stock LMB?

Hey everyone. I stocked my pond last year with all the bait fish, have let them do their thing for almost a year now and will be adding my LMB this year, I just caught word that there will be a stocking truck near my place on the 13th of this month. This is way more convenient than driving all the way out to my nearest fish farm to pick the bass up. Should I have any concerns about purchasing bass fingerlings this early in the year? I would be purchasing their smallest fingerling 1-3". Just want to make sure that these weren't the runts of the litter from a fall spawn.

Thanks,

David

If you purchase the 1"-3" LMB, just be aware that the majority of fish will typically be the 1" and not the 3". You didn't say how big your "bait" fish are, nor what species they are. BG/CNBG that are 4+" can eat a 1" LMB. Plus like Bill said, any LMB that you purchase in Feb/March were spawned in 2025. I'd look at getting minimum 4"-6" fish. If you want to get 1"-3" LMB I would wait until June. That way you are getting LMB that were hatched in 2026.

Personally if I lived near Austin, I'd call Overtons in Buffalo, Tx. and drive to them to get the LMB. They are what? 3 hours away? We all know you will get good fish from them. I'd stock 150ish :LMB in there. Remember, LMB eat fish that are 1/4 - 1/3 their body length so your stocker LMB have to be of the appropriate size that the they can consume the bait fish.

ANY fish you stock, when stocking smaller numbers, I would look at each fish to ensure that they are the correct species. That's hard to do when you are stocking 1,000's of fish at the same time.

I fully agree with 'hendog'. The TX LMB of 2" to 3" obtained in February thru March are slow growers due to several reasons - most often reason is they were raised as too crowded lacking enough foods. These fish can be healthy but will never grow to the size of their faster growing siblings that achieved 7"-10" lengths their first year. They have lost some of the 1st year growth they could have had. This is because these LMB have lost their potential first year's growth of an ADDITIONAL 3" to 7" (6"-10") that was their ability WHEN getting unlimited foods. It all depends on your goals. If you are not trying to grow real high quality big bass and want just bass that 'could' top out around 5 lb to 6 lb those 1"-3" LMB in February will do that for you providing they have lots & lots of good food each year for the next 7 to 9 years. Lack of adequate foods and when too crowded, ALL types of 1"-3" stocker LMB will not grow their best of 1+ lb gain per year before they die. If those 10" long LMB at one year old get PLENTY of food almost daily EACH year the rest of their lives, these one year olds will be your 9 lb to 12 lb pounders.

Another option if big bass are your goal in Texas, is to wait until the 2026 TX-AK LMB spawns have occurred and best individuals have grown to the 1"-3" size which should be around June to mid summer. In Texas February, 1"-3" LMB in Feb-Mar were last year's hatchlings and they for a few reasons did not get enough food to grow in one year to the possible 5"-10" lengths by Fall-Winter season. To my knowledge TX LMB should be spawning in late March to early April and there is basically very little if any chance of a LMB spawn in TX during late Summer to Fall without very special conditions. Sunfishes BG can spawn in Fall but usually no LMB late Summer-Fall spawns occur especially those LMB sold by traveling fish trucks.

The big disadvantage of getting fish off traveling fish trucks is you have no way of knowing how long those fish have been held in stressed conditions riding on a truck. Those fish are never guaranteed. You have no recourse of those that died. Note - not all dead fish float. It all depends.

Contact a fish farm of noted quality and arrange for pickup or delivery. ask for fish from more than one brood source. Picking the fish is a critical element of success. Arrange for fewer but larger stockers as provided (suggested) by Bill.

Something to consider ...

A year with no predators should have made tens of thousands of fish prey items for your new LMB stocking. If the numbers of YOY are large enough, they should have mostly filled carry in combination with the adults. So there is good bank of consumable forage for the stocked LMB ... provided ... the LMB that are stocked can consume them. If you are sparse on minnows but have many 1" to 3" BG YOY overwintered, it might be a good idea to stock LMB that are large enough to easily consume them. Like Dave said, just hold their mouths open and allow their bellies to be filled. 1" -3" LMB will find 1"-3" BG too large to easily consume. Now if you have enough minnows to grow them past the 1"-3" BG forage ... no problem with 1-3" LMB. I would probably err on the side of safety and stock larger fingerlings from last year's crop and travel to get them or have them delivered from a reputable supplier. You are going to get only one chance to do it optimally. So be willing to do the initial stocking most optimally however inconvenient it may be.

I'm a good bit further south than some are, but our water temperature is 60 degrees and the bluegill are feeding like piranhas right now.

From what I've seen the past two seasons I've concluded that in our neck of the woods we will STOP feeding around Thanksgiving and START feeding again mid/late February.