I have a new to me, old pond. I know I have a leak in the dam and plan on watching things for year one. It’s currently full after recent rains.

The former owner says there are no fish and I’ve yet to get a nibble with a couple of worm fishing attempts. I suspect a low or no current fish population

My question is would it make sense to stock fatheads or some other forage fish now while I see how things go with the leak? If the pond holds through the year, I plan on stocking it as a BG / LMB pond.

If it holds, I have a bait population. If I need to rebuild the dam, I’m only out the baitfish stocking. Make sense?

I agree with you.

Yes but don’t over do it. Uncontrolled spawning can lead to an O2 crash. That’s a mess. Also, Fatheads need some sort of structure to attach their eggs to.

Re spawning, a LONG time ago I asked a guy I met named Lusk about stocking baitfish. He asked when I would add predators. Then proceeded to tell me about over spawning leading to an O2 crash.

He said “Remember this. Every predator needs prey and every prey needs a predator. The relation is as important to the prey as it is to the predator, because predators keep them from over eating their environment. But in the case of fish, they have a closed environment and can’t go elsewhere if they over spawn. Thus an O2 crash.”

So the predator/prey relationship is important in all of nature whether it is or wildlife like coyotes and rabbits or fish.

For a year that they are there without predators, I don't see that problem happening. When I say without predators, there will be predators, just not to the extent that LMB are predators. If there are GSF in there, there won't be much successful reproduction.

I have a few logs and a small bed of cattails. Does this sound like enough spawning habitat?

Also I was thinking 10 lbs. Perhaps I add 5 Lbs and see what happens.

My thoughts is that it would be worth the $50-100 risk if the pond proves to be in need of a rehab. If pond hold well for the summer, I'll have a nice forage base built up for a fall stocking.

Shipping pallets stacked in shallow water are ideal spawning habitat for FHM.

I'll second the pallets. Adding FHM's will tell you if you have a lot of fish or next to none as the FHM population over the course of the summer will explode if you don't have a fish population (or next to none). If you have a decent amount of fish...FHM reproduction will not show up near as explosive.

Here is what worked very well for me in my 1/4 acre pond. Seven stacks of 2 or 3 pallets, all separated by bricks to maximize the horizontal flat surfaces. I think the lay their eggs on the bottom side of the boards. I can't say if I had too many or two few stacks, but by the end of the summer I could walk across the water on the backs of the minnows. lol

Please note that I had to add several more cinder blocks to the top pallets as some of them went rogue and floated around the pond. I'd say a good rule of thumb is at least one cinder block per pallet in the stack.

I like it. However, I just burned all my pallets to get rid of them. I like things tidy but I knew that would come back to bite me.

Maybe. The few logs, *if* they are in less than 24" water AND they are up off the bottom of the pond to allow the FHM to get underneath them will work, if they are resting on the bottom, then no, that cover will not work. Fatheads spawn on the underside of things, I've seen them using the underside of lily leaves to spawn on in a pond with no predators.

Wooden pallets are often free by just asking the owner and hauling them away. That way they don't have to find a way to get rid of them. Notice in the pictures that there were spacers placed between the pallets of the stack to increase the amount of spawning surface area.