Moved into my new home last week and have a bit over a half acre 6 month old kidney bean shaped pond dug at 1/3 ratio. About 18 foot in the deepest part. We love to swim and will want to use the pond for that, but I'm also a fan of eating fish. LMB are fun to catch, but I don't really want to eat them. I am considering doing a Walleye / YP pond with 20 lbs of fatheads that will have most of the summer to reproduces as sole occupants of the pond (have good structure for them hoping for survival but who knows) until this fall when YP / WE go in. YP are pellet trained and considering continuing that to increase table yield. I will aerate with (1 or 2?) bottom diffuser(s).

I know the gold standard for ponds is Bluegill / LMB. I hate swimming in a bluegill pond though, the little bastards are always nipping at you, so I'm trying to stay away from them. I'm assuming this will work, but not sure how well I guess. I don't really expect reproduction from WE, and I somewhat ok with that so I can manage their population better. I wonder about their teeth though, a nibble from a BG is one thing, a walleye wouldn't be fun though. How are they in a swimming pond?

TLDR How are WE YP in a swimming pond. Will they leave me alone. Any fish to add / avoid in a pond meant for swimming as much as fishing.

Thanks.

I don't think you'll have issues with WE or YP regarding swimming.

The YP will need structure to lay their egg ribbons to maximize their spawning potential as forage for the WE.

Regarding the WE, there may be some certain kind of structure that will help them thrive better, but I'm not exactly sure what that would be. Perhaps rip/rap and rock piles.

The idea of letting the fatheads get a good jump is the right way to go, but realize that they will get almost fully eaten out in the second or third season, most likely.

It may be a good idea to add Golden Shiners at the same time as the fatheads, but let's see what others have to say about that.

Finally, it may not be a bad idea to add Red Ear Sunfish (RES) to the mix to control the potential snail/parasite population as you are wanting to eat fish. RES may not be the same as bluegill as far as nibbling on people, but I don't know that for certain.

If you provide such structure, depending on what you use you may need a "No-Swim" zone around it if it could snag swimmers and cause safety issues.

Definitely stay away from BG, I got talked into stocking some HBG into our pond. Big mistake. They nip swimmers worse than regular BG, and they reproduce like crazy. We swim in our pond a lot. We kept the banks steep to limit plant growth. It means it’s more difficult to climb out of. 90% of entrance exit is off the ladder on the dock. We have YP and SMB. The combination with golden shiners and RES works great. If I wouldn’t have put in the HBG, we would have the best of both worlds. (Swimming and fishing). And YES, the YP are delicious and very easy to clean. My FHM were cleaned out by year three (as mentioned above). Both the YP and the SMB are working hard on the shiners. I added three more cedar trees last week for more cover, and increased feed times on the TX Hunter feeder. Trying to keep shiner population stable.
There’s nothing better than floating in the pond after mowing for a few hours, on a hot day.

The Bluegill are getting a bad rap here.
I understand the problem, nipping of people, not sure it's the Bluegill that are guilty here though.

It's more likely the Hybrid-bluegill, and more importantly their offspring - the Green-sunfish, that is mistaken for Bluegill.
The man made Hybrid-bluegill are 1/2 Bluegill, 1/2 Green sunfish, their offspring are, all Green-sunfish. Those are the nippers.

Stay away from the Hybrids, if you want an enjoyable swimming pond.

BG nip. Never was a big deal for us. Our main pond is full of them and they nip. My kids (boy and girl) and most of our guests could care the less. Heck, its a farm pond!

There's another deterrent for swimmers, and it's not something you want in your pond. I can't seem to find the picture I had of the King-Ding-a-Ling monster.

Theo, I think you must have that picture...

SetterGuy do you not have any issues with the RES nipping? I had wanted to add them for parasite controls as you stated and to provide a bit more forage for WE, but had no idea if they were little bastards too lol. And I am going to have to get a dock in ASAP. We have steep slopes as well and it's almost entirely clay.

Ya, I don't care that much, but also don't really like it, so why not try without them is my thought. My 5 YO daughter is a bit squeamish... I suppose this could be how I break her of that though

Save this somewhere; you reference it about every other week.



To set the record straight, this is not a danger to swimmers, but actually a gentleman's swimming companion.

The picture is just so wrong in so many ways....

Adam, I’m not sure. It could be the RES, but when the grandkids are worm fishing the catch is 90/10 HBG vs RES, so I’m guessing HBG. I’ve swam in farm ponds my whole life, and never really have gotten used to the nipping. The nipping I’m referring to though draws blood. I’ve thought that the HBG I added we’re crossed with piranha. The good news is though, for kids, active swimmers don’t get nipped, it’s just old guys floating around with an adult beverage in hand. A bloody nipple is no laughing matter, although it is. . Wife stays in a floating lounger. They can’t get to her. Although she feels them trying to bite through the fabric. Grandkids splashing and swimming never get touched.

Good info to know, Thanks. I think I'm gonna just try perch / WE and see how it goes.