Pond Boss Forums Thread Like Summary - Is this a good mix for a new pond?

Hi PB Community! First time poster. I just built a .75 acre pond on my property, and have decided to use a reputable pond and lake management company here in Georgia to stock it, just to make sure I get it right. My goal is to have a fishery that provides fast fishing action for my kids and their friends and family, and get bass in the 4-5 pound range, eventually.

I'm curious what everyone thinks of the mix and numbers they have suggested, as it somewhat resembles what I'm seeing on the boards here, but includes a couple more species.

Here's what they suggested and when to stock:

1,000 CNB - Feb
150 RES - Feb
2,000 FHM - Feb
2,000 GS - Feb
25 LMB - late summer
50 CC - Feb
60 lbs of crayfish - May

Total cost is $2250.

Thoughts? Thanks in advance!

This plan will work with good population mgt. ! With feeding and those #s of LMB the first 3 years should be good. It will be managing the population from 3 yr out which will take some effort but is doable. This 3 yr on mgt. aspect is true of all LMB/BG stocking methods.
I would make one suggestion on initial stocking. I would find and stock 30 4-6 inch CNBG (50/50 male/female) along with the initial CNBG stocking (1000).

If you FIRST start with establishing a strong forage fish and crayfish community, I think in your 0.75 ac you could easily stock 65 to 75 LMB and get great growth rates for the first 3 years with some bass 4lb and maybe a few 5 lbs. Stock your minnows/BG early in the spring then in the fall try and find Young Of Year bass that are at least 7"-10" from Georgia which shows they have been fed well and will have good growth rates. Also try to find pellet trained LMB which will greatly enhance the fishery. After the first bass spawn, then be observant and harvest at least some bass based on the numbers of small bass you are seeing and catching. This could easily be 15-30 small bass out per year. Small bass will be eager to bite on anglers bobber fishing methods. Use this forum thread and the members to help you with information to manage the fish numbers to achieve and MAINTAIN your goals.

Everything QA said.

Especially the part about holding off on crayfish until your bass are big enough to eat them.

The Red Swamp Crayfish are what are typically used for "crawfish boils" and are available in 50#-60# sacks. They will burrow into the pond banks.

What Bill is alluding to when he talks about cover is 110% correct, typically you want to have 25% of the surface area of the pond in cover for the fish. Once you start doing the math for artificial cover, that gets either very expensive or very time intensive very quickly. For your pond you would need to add approximately 7,600 sq. ft. of cover for the fish. A single stack of pallets is only 16 sq. ft. Cover needs to be of different sizes and at varying depths, large fish will utilize cover with more open spaces in it vs. small fish that will utilize dense cover with small spaces.

Further most of the low LMB stocking #s are for southern waters where reproduction is sooner and LMB overcrowding is more prevalent. Northern LMB stocking is substantially different for the opposite reasons.

Cody Note: At least in the smaller ponds in northern midwest and probably in most of the midwest, it is common to have various degrees of overcrowding of LMB. Four of the most common things I think cause this to occur: 1. no bass are removed (Harvested), 2. poor survival of the originally stocked BG. 3. State agency stocking recommendation is stock a ratio of 100LMB to 500BG at the same time. This often results in the bass quickly growing and over powering the first year class of BG. 4. BG only spawn once maybe some twice a year and too many LMB are present for the limited number of BG produced each year. Some well fed LMB in the midwest can spawn at one year old.