Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose New Pond

Hello everyone. Just discovered this forum a few days ago. This place is great, I'm glad I found it before I stocked my pond. I'd like to stock it this year and I'm looking for suggestions.
The pond has about 2.5 surface acres.
It was built in May of 04.
It filled up in November of 04.
Prior to it completely filling up I put in appx. 10,000 rosey red fathead minnows and gambusia (June 04).
15% of pond is between 12-24 ft. deep. The rest of the pond averages 6-8 feet deep.
I brought in enough pea gravel to cover about 1/2 acre of the shallow section of the pond.
I put in three large (40x40 feet) artificial reefs constructed of old tractor tires.
The pond is aerated. I plan on putting two Stren feeders on it.
The type of fish that I'm interested in are as follows. BG, HBG, RES, LMB, HSB, Channel Catfish and Chain Pickerel. My goal is to raise giant BG/HBG for my kids and really large (5lb.) Channel Catfish for myself. Also I'd like to catch an occasional 3lb. Bass. I don't know if this is achievable or not but if anyone would like to make some recomendations I'd greatly appreciate it. I'm particularly interested in when and what quantities of the above species I should stock. Also could anyone direct me to where I can get this Pond Boss magazine? I've looked for a link to purchase it but I can't seem to find it (blind or stupid I suppose). I read in a post that there is going to be an article on Big Bluegill in it and I'd like to check it out. Again any help will be very much appreciated.

Joe,
I'll let the pro's advise you on the numbers of fish to stock.

If you back up to the first page of the forum look to the top right (all the way to the right but not all the way to the top) for a rectangular icon (red, orange & black) to subscribe electronicly.
Welcome abord. Lots of smart pond guys on here!

I'll leave the recommendations to Cecil or other knowledgable people in your area. Regarding the magazine, click on the Pond Boss link at the bottom of this page. Then click on the link at the bottom of the page that says Free Trial issue. Or you can probably click on the Contact Us link to get your subscription questions answered. The Bluegill issue just arrived. Ask about it.

Welcome. This is a good bunch of guys. I would definitely subscribe. It answers qustions that I'm not bright enough to ask. I would also recommend buying the book by Bob Lusk titled Raising Trophy Bass even if you only want 3 pounders. It has the best water quality discussion I've seen.

Another easy way to subscibe. ON the main Forum page that lists all the forum headings look at the top right corner. There is a red rectangular box that says subscribe. Or get the free trial issue first and ask for the March April issue. When you subscribe be sure to tell them which issue to begin your subscription with so you don't get two duplicate issues, unless you want to give one away. They are not collectors items yet.

A brief note about Your stocking plan. AS I look at it I see only one good forage fish and you are expecing it to feed LMB, HSB, Catfish and chain pickeeral. A lot of the catfish will eat food from the feeder, but I am not sure two feeders will be enough to adequately feed all the catfish that you or someone tells you to stock. I think a good portion of the 18+" catfish will be eating fish.

If you search in detail here about HBG and RES you will find that they will not produce bunches of small forage sized fish. Some of the HBG will also eat all types of small 3/4"-1.2" fish when they are available. So I foresee You having a lot of hogs over eating the small bgills that are produced each spring early summer. I think you will find that the select few fish that are feeding at the feeders will be growing quite well whereas most of the others will overall have pretty slow growth due to the shortages of forage fish. All the current supply of rosey reds and Gambusia will pretty much disappear in 12 to 24 months. I know it seem almost impossible, but it does occur frequently. All the predatory fish including lots of the HSB will have gotten a jump start on growth from consuming Gambusia and rosey fatheads, and then the bottom falls out of the forage fish base. I am sure bgill alone will not be able to keep up the forage supply for the total predatory community.

Basically you have too many predatory fish compard to the numbers of species that are good forage fish producers. Some pondowners would also want to put crappies in the pond too, which would even more reduce the numbers of small forage fish. I am kind of suprized you did not list crappie also.

One thing your stocking combination will do is severly restrict the numbers of bluegills. The ones that are able to feed at the feeders will get big IF they are not crowded out by the hoggish catfish. You will see what I mean once a bunch of the catfish get 16+" long.

I can't think of much good advice right now for you, if you are firm on the types of fish you want to stock. Others may be able to think of some good ways for this to work for you.

Hello again, thanks everyone for the replys. Found the link. Also Bill, I'm not really firm on the types of fish that I keep, if HBG are not a good choice then their not a good choice, I kind of thought that I'd answer the question for myself on which got bigger, BG or HBG. And as far as the Chain Pickerel if they don't work so be it. I'd hate to throw the catfish out but if thats what you would recomend then I probably would. I'd probably rather watch my kids catch a 3/4 pound BG than me catch a 5lb. cat. Also I'm not particularly attached to the HSB, just think that they are a neat fish. Anyways thanks for the input, if you get to thinking about it anymore and got any other suggestions it would be welcomed. I have seen stocking recomendations for BG/HBG from 200 per acre to 3000 per acre. Thats too big of a spread for me to take a stab at and from reading the posts here I figure that the advice I get would be pretty good considering that it doesn't seem that anyone here stands to profit from what I put in my pond. Thanks, again.

Joe, your situation is much like mine, brand new pond, not completely filled. I posed the same question several monts ago, and here is what was recomended to me:

800 BG/acre, 200 RES/acre, 5-7lbs fathead minnows/acres and 100 predator/acre (the predators being LMB or Channel Cats). These figures are based on 1-2inch fingerlings.

Stock the BG, RES and minnows now. Next spring stock your predators. If you like catching an occasional cat, maybe stock 85 LMB, and 15 CC per acre. The CC won't generally reproduce, so plan on restocking them annually with larger sizes than fingerlings to maintain your population.

This is my plan. I am only a novice, but I have researched this site very thoroughly for recommendations.

There are alot of varying opinions regarding hybrid bluegills.....do a search on this site for the pros & cons. My plan is to avoid the hybrid.

Good luck.