Pond Boss Forums Thread Like Summary - Oregon Pond Initial Stocking

After a couple of years I was able to get the permit approval and the pond build completed and now have a .75 acre pond on my 150 acre property in western Oregon. Pond build went great. We have heavy clay soils and the pond filled quickly with the fall and winter rains and runoff from a season creek. I will post more on the structures placed in the appropriate forum but I wanted to ask a question specific to stocking. Because of the regulations out here getting a pond built is very difficult with lots of hoops to jump through. Reflecting this there are only 2 (really 1) authorized warmwater fish grower for stocking private ponds in Oregon (we need a permit to build a pond, stock fish and transport fish from an authorized hatchery). BOTH available stocking guys want to stock the same way which is WAY different than what I have seen recommended here and I wanted to run it by the experts:

They want to stock Qty 30 a 50/50 mix adult bluegill/pumpkinseed and 20 2-3" LMB

The reasoning is that the panfish adults will spawn this year and the LMB fingerling are not big enough and wont be numerous enough to overconsume the bluegill fry and allow for that population to establish quickly while delaying the first LMB spawn until next fall.

More about the pond:

Goals: Skew population to larger Bluegill sizes with healthy LMB presence but nothing approaching trophy size.

Pond:
Built pond with fish in mind, variable depths from 2-12 feet with benches at 3, 6, 8ft. Ave depth 6 ft .75 surface acres.
No established water plants or FA blooms
7 large 5-6 ft tall bolder piles spread out and have 14 sunken brush piles and trees (Scotch pine). Planted Duck potato and pickerel plant in shallows in clumps.
3 large (150-250 sqft pea gravel beds in 2ft, 4ft and 6 ft depths) variable to account for summer water loss.
Solar Aeration w/ AIR400 RPS system no battery backup (maybe someday)
No feeder

Water:
2-2.5ft visibility
pH: 7.2
Alkalinity: 180ppm
Hardness: 175ppm

I look forward to your responses to their recommendations.

Ross

Personally I feel the BG/PS numbers that they want to stock are way low. 1) If you have any mortality on stocking, that really drops the numbers. 2) BG and PS will interbreed, and create hybrids.

If the LMB are stocked now, ask the hatchery what will they be eating? Ask the hatchery what length they will be in 12 months. Doing that will allow you to check to see how they are arriving at that low of a stocking rate. LMB need to eat 10# of fish to gain one pound, and that doesn't take into consideration that a fingerling bass needs to eat fish to just survive, then tack on 10 more pounds of fish to gain the pond of weight PER BASS.

Here, LMB don't spawn in the Fall, they spawn when water temps warm up to the upper 60's/low 70's in teh Spring, usually around the full moon in May.

You didn't say how big the BG/PS would be at stocking. You did say adults, but what size (length) are they considering adults? So , they are saying stock 15 BG and 15 PS.

Are there any minnow species available for stocking?

here in the midwest, our stocking rates are exponentially higher than that.

I second the question of what is your water temp going to be? How many days will it be between 65°F and 85°F per year?