It was nice and hot and dry this weekend so I spent about 10 hrs digging out an old mudhole to make a nice 1/4 acre minnow/bait/BG pond. I should be able to achieve 5 ft depth with a nice slope back to the banks to run a seine in later.

This area is fed by a "cow" pond that is always just that - a dirty pond the cows love to keep stirred up.

This new pond - I know fencing out the cattle would be ideal to keep it stirred up but the runoff from above will likely keep it muddy.

Do I have a chance to raise FHM here? I read through many posts on this subject and understand to create the breeding structure. But if I know that this is likely to be overall dirty water - should I skip the FHM and go right to bluegills?

My goal would be to raise forage to transport down to my larger bass pond.

Thanks
Scott
NE Oklahoma

What is the bait pond forage going to be used for ?

He said, "My goal would be to raise forage to transport down to my larger bass pond." I'm not sure how well FHM do in muddy waters, or even BG for that matter. I guess it depends on exactly how muddy it is. 0 visibility? 6" visibility?

That is my thought; I would guess 6" visibility. If I tried the BG I could add a feeder and supplement the poor water conditions.

My pond is pretty muddy most of the time, 10-18" secchi, and the FHM do well in it especially the first year without predators. They can withstand poor conditions as far as water quality and they are cheap to invest in. My muddy waters may be the reason they are still prospering after two full seasons with HSB and HBG in the pond. I would not exclude them from the mix of baitfish.

You said the forage pond is "fed" by a cow pond.

This likely means that whatever kinds of fish are in the cow pond eventually, even if not at first, will be in the forage pond.

You can probably raise either BG or FHM fine, at least until predators from the cow pond end up getting in the forage pond. Then you can probably still raise BG but the FHM will probably go by the wayside.

FHM will do fine in that.

I'd toss some golden shiners in there too.

Golden shiners would most likely thrive in your pond, with it being nutrient rich.

Correct Snrub, that cow pond has some bass and bluegills in it; I suspect some fry could end up in the new hole. Wouldn't be the end of the world as this is a fun project to see how it works.

Thanks for replies I'm looking forward to finishing the dig, setting up some breeding structures, and then for some rains. Will definite try to get some golden shiners, too.

I would go with the FHM to start but my experience with GSH is they will eventually extirpate the FHM. I had FHM in my forage pond a few years back. They did fine then I added a couple dozen GSH. The FHM lasted another year but eventually all I had in that forage pond as far as minnows go was GSH. My theory is that the GSH ate all the FHM fry and eventually the FHM adults dies of old age (they only live about 18 months). GSH will make a lot of forage though. You might want to hold off a year on the GSH to let the FHM get well established and big numbers.

Sounds good Snrub, thanks for the info.

Yes, I strongly suspect you are correct in this assessment. Really good point - GSH are highly piscivorous and will hammer anything within their gape. Stinks to have to keep GSH in a separate cell from other forage, but results will likely mirror yours if these steps aren't taken.