Pond Boss Forums Thread Like Summary - Stocking Trout in my Accidental Bass Pond

Hello everyone,

I know many of you are familiar by now with my somewhat odd pond situation. I have a 1 acre 16' deep trout pond in Ontario, Canada that was stocked with brown trout (80x 8-10") three years ago. It then accidentally got bass added which have now populated the pond with a lot of smaller 4-10" bass.

You can read about it here: https://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=526302#Post526302

and here: https://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=509811&gonew=1#UNREAD

I've finally decided I want to leave the bass in the pond other than the ones I catch and also add more trout, giving the pond 12 months of fishing (bass in summer, trout in fall and spring and through the ice). I just talked to the local hatchery and I've decided to go with 80 10-12" brown trout to be stocked this fall, probably in the next week or two. The hatchery recommend that I also feed the trout when I'm able to, probably twice a week given how often I'm at the pond.

Does this sound like a reasonable idea given the situation? I've realized the pond in its current state probably won't grow any trophies but should provide good fishing and good eating bass and trout 12 months a year.

Any input is appreciated. Thanks.

Thanks for this great advice. I think I will hand feed as much as the trout need to grow to the size of the current ones in the same amount of time. As in, feed the 10-12" trout so that they are 20" in 3 years. I don't need any massive trout if that's going to risk their Survival rates and cost more in food. I will have ice from December until March, making feeding tough, but the hatchery actually said I can feed through the ice. I might use that as a way to feed and chum my ice fishing spots.

It definitely seems like feeding is a great way to take some stress off of the pond's forage and grow some nice fish. Thanks again for your advice and I'll update everyone as this progresses.