We have made the deal with a fish supplier to supply us with some rainbow trout to add to our yellow perch pond.
Brown trout and walleye were sadly out of the question to add. For some reason is it impossible to get them supplied in Ontario Canada. The MNR has the walleye market cornered and have rights to all the walleye.
With a very well established yellow perch population since 2012 we are seeing some perch in the 14"s range but most in the 13" range.
We have stocked emerald shiners, they are boom or bust. They have been repopulating but not overly. Fathead minnows and they are doing very well. Common shiners and also are doing very well. Crayfish with 12 feet of good rip rap around the entire pond they are doing very well too.
One fish I was not expecting and must have been mixed in with the common shiner stocking or I am miss ID'ing the common shiners that are really creek chub. The creek chub are repopulating in the pond and doing very well. They have also have taken very well to the pellets and have trained them self's to feed on the pellets. The perch and the creek chub are on the pellets very well. 100#s per year at least.
So the next step was to read read read on here about what to do with the creek chub. The choice was made to add Rainbow trout next week. Mostly because of the availability and the hope they will target the creek chub ahead of the yellow perch. Smooth soft tube like fish compared to tube like with lots of pokeys.
I am not sure if this was too aggressive for stocking numbers, but let me be clear, delivery is to be 1.5 hours away and they guaranty the trout survival. It was required we spend $1000 Canadian. So we asked for 18" or larger rainbow trout. This size will be able to target the creek chub from my understanding and from reading so much on this web site. I did reach out to Cecil Baird and he also recommended the 18" size or larger.
Here is my worry. The pond is aerated with a very large food base that we also pellet feed 100#s a year. The pond is about 1 acre at full pool and we keep it there with pumps to top up. The supplier has the 18" plus size and will deliver but to hit my $1000 mark will be delivering 75 rainbow trout. I plan on feeding an extra 25 to 50#s more feed with the added trout. The hopes is the trout will target the creek chub spring, fall, and winter when we are not feeding. The pond is deep, and I am not worried about the trout not surviving because it is too warm.
We do have some wild life, Martin and mink and do expect to loose some trout to them. I am wondering if 75 in the 18"+ range is too much pressure on the perch?
Does anyone have experience in fishing these two different fish in the same pond? Will too many trout not alow us to catch the perch?
Any thoughts, and, or advice after reading this is greatly appreciated.
Wow, this is a great plan and a neat experiment. You probably can't find too many others with your pond chemistry, size, depth, aeration, water flow and mix of forage options vs predators. You will have to see how this goes. I bet the trout will be resourceful and make their own choices. They may choose to chase down the shiners and younger YP? Or they may like the lack of 'pokeys' on the chubs! Not sure how you will know unless you catch and remeasure lengths or find some way to sample belly content on a mortality trout or one that may have been leftovers from a four legged predator?
We have sources of Walleye here in MI and folks from around here used to go across the border regularly but it sounds like the border will be sealed for a bit yet and I don't know the legality of a transport plan.
