What would the best fish choices for a 15 acre pond? I like the idea of a trophy bass pond. I am not quite sure about everything. here are the options

trophy bass pond
trophy bluegill pond
trophy channel catfish pond
trophy blue catfish pon

Please tell me what you think is the best.

Welcome!

That's quite a few choices for a pond.

What part of PA is the water going to be in?

Well I'm guessing that you'll get a variety of answers with that question. A 15 acre pond is a fairly large pond and can hold quite a bit of fish. One thing that you have to keep in mind is that when you're dealing with one of the larger predator fish (Large Mouth Bass, Channel Cat and Blue Cat) a "trophy" sized fish is a large fish. And any given body of water can only hold so many pounds of predators and so many pounds of forage. With 15 acres though you would have a much great carrying capacity then say a 3 acre pond (such as my pond).

For me I'm not looking for a "trophy" anything pond. I just want a good overall fishery. I would prefer higher catch rates. In my pond for example, being 3 acres, I couldn't hold that many trophy fish. I'll break it down for you. Let's say that a pond can hold 50 pounds of predators per acre (the actual amount will depend upon various factors hence you'll hear the saying "it all depends" quite a bit around here). And lets assume that a trophy bass is 10 pounds. Therefore my pond could hold 5 trophy bass per acre or 15 trophy bass in total. That's not very many bass. Eventually catching the same bass over and over could make them "hook smart" and more difficult to catch. So I would have the chance to catch a large bass each time I fished but it is unlikely that I'd catch one very often. You can see the basic idea here.

But that's just one opinion and I'm certainly no expert so hang on for others to chime in.

PA? I want the pond to be used for trophy bass.

My question is were is the 15 acre pond going to be? A LOT more information would be needed to offer suggestions on the management and stocking of 15 acres.

Variables needed to be known would include PH, topography, climate, watershed, feeding plans, aeration, geographic location, budget, experiance, etc.

Plus, Western Pennsylvania has a lot of elevation variances.

I think I would start a solid forage base from outside the box thinking.

Maybe about 50 pounds per acre of Bullheads, 500-1000 hybrid bluegill or Green sunfish per acre, 50 common carp per acre to eliminate weeds, and maybe 50 pounds per acre of Gizzard Shad.


Thoughts anyone?

No snakeheads?

This is the most intelligent stocking recommendation that I have seen in a long time.

Theo, would Snakeheads compete with alligator gar?

Some freshwater drum would be cool too!

Don't leave out the bowfin.

I find the white sucker to be a useful pond addition in Western PA.

Electric eels - to get a good charge.

A bull Shark or two would be cool, but they may thin the monstor Bass this thing is bound to produce!

Geez, while we're on helpful stocking tips, I'm shocked no one has yet recommended some nice Asian Carp.

I wonder what therrien would suggest? He's a sharp rubber band when it comes to pond managment!

Don't forget the snakeheads!

Or was that supposed to be "pond manglement?!"

It would probably begin with an in-depth analysis of what other places could be suitable to keep fish before ever getting to the pond angle! Or was that Animals' first post? Kind of tough keeping those two straight when I wasn't here yet for the Animals episode!

Hey, cool! Check it out - I finally hit 100 posts, even though #100 wasn't of much substance!

Lol, poor bassmanager...

I don't have a ton of knowledge, but I think it would also be good to know what you consider a trophy bass fishery to be.

Either way, feel good because 15 acres is a nice chunk of water.

Brutal...

Spell checker... Don't post without it!

That's OK Todd. Jhaps first 2000 didn't have much substance either!

My posts taste great but they're less filling.

Besides, I didn't start with the jokes until my second post, so it's obvious I'm capable of restraint, I just choose not to use it.

JHAP's first post, a trip down memory lane....

Hey, do you still have the Max IV?

What an innocent beginning! It's really quite tragic that Rainman and I weren't members yet, we might have been able to gently lead you down a different pathway in pond management, one that involved rotenone, lime, and dynamite. Followed, of course, by the stocking of higher quality pond residents, perhaps bullheads.

Tough choice but I am going to say bluegill even though if you will fish the pond bass are a lot of fun to catch and challenging.

Why so Tommy1? I would think since the goal is a trophy bass pond, it could be assumed bass would be in it......

Do tell.

Awwwww....how cute was that post? Seriously though, I enjoy reading first posts and see how far we all come through experience. Jeff, how are your building plans coming along?

JHAP

I never knew you created a website for your place - great photos. I feel like I just took a stroll through your gigantic cedars, past the "interesting stump" and through the meadows of Lupines - thanks.

Then I'm on track to be in good company one day!

See? There's another worthless post to add to my total!

Yes I do Dave. Currently it is sitting here in my garage in Southern California. I sheared a couple of axle bolts and decided to replace all six of them. The back two bolts require the removal of the engine and transmission, which I just haven't got around to. (I need to rent a cherry picker to remove said engine/tranny.) After looking at the tires I realized that they are cracking from age so I also need to replace all six tires. Jeez, yet another item to add to my to-do list.

I'll have you know that my pond came pre-stocked with bullheads.

Unfortunately, they have been put on hold TJ. Originally Ricki and I and my mom and dad were going to build homes on the property. We even considered one large home in sort of a V shape with one wing housing mom and dad and one wing housing JWHAP and JHAP, and with the middle part of the V containing a common great room and kitchen. We were leaning toward the "V" house because all four of us got along so well and it would make it easier for us to build (one set of building plans, one set of building permits, which in El Dorado cost in excess of $50,000, etc, etc). When my father passed away last year we had to re-assess what we intend to do with the property. It is still the goal of Ricki and I sell our property in Southern California and to build a home there. Unfortunately the decline in property values hasn't helped this cause any.

So for now it is admire the property from afar and get there as much as possible, which given the events of this past year, has not been anywhere near as much as we would like.

Thanks for the kind words. It's not a fancy website but it works. It makes it easier to show people what we have going on there. Most folks in Southern California can't begin to imagine what 30 acres looks like.

Tell them to think of about 20 Rose Bowls.