I stocked my 1-acre pond in late January with 1500 bluegill/shellcracker and 1500 fathead minnows. I set the bags of fish in the pond for 30 minutes to acclimate. Only had one FH that was dead; all other fish swam into deeper water. As of this week, I have only seen one minnow; probably a FH. Is it normal not to see them? How big should the bream be? I’m thinking of trying to catch some with small flies. Thanks

Are you feeding them? I rarely see any of my fish until I throw fish feed

Welcome, Edwardo.

What size were the bluegill that you stocked?

If you saw a lone fathead/minnow, it kind of suggests that other fish are in existence.

Sometimes, you need to observe an area for a long time to really see some fish.

Bream we’re about 1-2 inches

Was it a new pond without any fish in it? With fish that small, I doubt you will see them until later on in the year. You will have a hard time catching any, they might be 1.5"-2.5" now. Do you have cover in the pond for them to hide in? Are you feeding the fish a good fish food?

Like esshup says, those fish may only have grown to 2-3" by now and would be not so easy to see.

Using fish feed will help congregate the sunfish as well as the fathead minnows.

Do you have a buddy with some fish traps you could borrow?

Or are you ready to make/buy some from yourself? (They are an important pond management tool.)

Sunfish of that size should be relatively easy to trap if you can congregate them in the area of the traps.

If you have good water quality and food for the CNBG then they will spawn this summer in your location.