What a fascinating collection of information this place has. I've spent hours reading here over the last few weeks.

I'm building an approximately 2-acre lake next to my house in north-central Missouri. It will have about an acre of open water above the dam, with relatively steep sides dropping off to a meadow. Over the meadow, the open water will range from 10-12 feet deep. The lake will also have an acre or more of dense, flooded hardwoods and cedars, running up two long draws out of the meadow.

The pond builder assures me that it should be a clear-water pond. Other ponds around here are generally clear.

He's already cleared the area for the dam, which he'll build with clay off a nearby hillside at the end of July. The lake's floor will be clay as well. I'm going to build a couple of rock piles and put down a long strip of pea gravel on one of the banks.

I plan on adding FH, GSH and papershell crayfish this fall, as soon as there's enough water in the lake. Next March, I'll add RES and BG.

That's the easy part.

But what should I do once the lake is swarming with baitfish?

In my imagination, the lake will hold EVERYTHING: lunker F1 bass, eating-size WE and YP, a school of a couple dozen HSB, and enough CC to produce a couple of good meals every year. I've even thought about adding a couple of tiger muskies, just for grins.

So what would be a realistic plan for the lake? LMB are essential. What combinations of other fish could I reasonably consider?

The standard stocking configuration around here is LMB, BG, CC. That's what the MDC recommends. I'd really like to punch that up a bit.

Welcome to the forum...

Lots of excitement in building your new pond, no doubt about that!

What is your definition of a lunker bass? 5 pounds, 8 pounds, 10 pounds, 12+? Are LMB going to be your primary goal species with others added in as a bonus or are other species of more importance?

Are you willing to feed your fish? Are you willing to aerate the pond?

I enjoy bass fishing, but I also enjoy catching just about anything else that will hit a lure. A 6-pound bass is a nice fish in this area. My personal best from here was an 8-4, and it came from a power-plant lake with shad and year-round warm water.

A pond managed primarily for bass, with other species available as a bonus, sounds good. What do you think of adding maybe 100 WE and a couple dozen HSB to a basic LM, BG, RES mix? If half of the HSB survive to adulthood, that would make for some fun C&R. As for the WE, I've read on here that pond WE max out at about 20-22 inches, which would be a good size for harvesting in a few years.

I'm definitely willing to feed my fish and aerate the pond.

You will have to work hard at removing large numbers of LMB to keep them from over populating, destroying the forage base and stunting. If you can keep their numbers down, the WE may do well. HSB should do well if you feed your fish as they are reliable pellet eaters.

What if I stock only F1 LMB? Do they produce as many young as do regular LMB?

Bill,

The F1 LMB's don't do particularly well in our geographic area. You'll find the HSB will do great. Walleye will also do O.K. but I think you are wanting to stock too many given the size of your pond and other goals that you have. I have a couple of walleye in my personal pond just as a bonus, but I do manage some ponds around here that have walleye. I'm about 45 minutes North East of KC. You mentioned a power plant lake- you gotta be talking about Thomas Hill!! I, too, have caught some nice fish out of there but its been over a decade since I've fished it. In the construction phase, put some effort into the right type of habitat that will be conducive to the species that you desire. Right now is the best time to do it and to do it right.

Shawn, you're right, it was Thomas Hill. Used to be a decent place to fish, but for the last several years, it has been a mudhole.

What kind of numbers would you suggest? I'd really like to put a few hybrids and walleye in there, just to make things interesting. How about 25 hybrids and 50 walleye, along with a normal stocking of northern LMB? Should it be fewer?

Three years ago I bought a farm with a 9 acre pond. I've been overseas and haven't had many opportunities to fish it. However, prior to this year I've caught several LMB in the 4-6 lb range, a few CC, BG, and a few big crappie (14-15 inch). Last fall I put 250 HBG, 250 WE, and 50 SMB in the pond. I was back in the US for the first 2 weeks of June and went fishing about 8 times. During that time I caught 15 of the WE. They were about 6-7 inches long last fall and they averaged 9-11 inches in June. I didn't catch any SMB, maybe they are still too small (they were 3-4 inches last fall), or maybe most of them were eaten by the LMB. I'll be back in September and whether pemitting I'll try again and let you know if I catch any walleye and their size. I hope that they are able survive and thrive. I'd be interested to hear how others make out with walleye in ponds with established LMB populations.

Mike, Welcome to the forum, and THANK YOU for your service! Yes, please let us know how they are doing, and we always like pictures. (hint, hint)

Mike welcome...I would imagine your smallies became fish food unfortunately...SMB will rarely do well with LMB and at 3-4 inches...avoiding initial predation after stocking is a real longshot.

HBG can be a fun additional species to catch, but stocking too many could cause some minor problems in the future with the forage base...in 9 acres of water, 250 is no worry.

Before my pond could fill with water I worked on habitat as Shawn said, putting in posts for my deck house and adding gravel at intervals around the pond for blue gill spawning beds and constructing reefs from rocks, blocks and bricks. You don't get that kind of opportunity once the pond fills.