Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Stocking an existing pond

This is my first post and I want to say this site is extremely informative. Thanks for all of the great info.

I hope I am posting in the right place. I am in the process of purchasing a property with an existing lake. The previous owners stocked HBG and LMB several years ago. I would like to stock CC and have no idea what else to stock. The pond is just over 1/2 acre and is in VA.

I know I am a long way off from actually stocking fish, just trying to do some homework and make the correct preparations. Any help or info would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Welcome to the forum! Good to have another Virginia member... Where in VA are you located?

The biggest factor in answering your questions are what are your goals? Trophy fishing(bass, sunfish, etc), family fishing, fish to eat, mostly catch and release, etc...

Also, do you plan to feed, aerate and do you have time to heavily manage the pond or would you like a more hands off approach? Do you want fish that will most self reproduce or fish you may need to stock every year or every other year?

Also, it is important to know what is already in your pond before truly accurate advise can be given. There are huge differences between HBG and regular BG, etc... Have you fished the pond before, if so any pictures of the sunfish you have caught?

Hopefully these questions will get us the information to give you the best advice possible...

When did this stocking occur?

I am located in SW VA.

As far as goals, I would like to start with just famliy fishing, then possibly work into something like a a very nice, but small pay lake (maybe). As far as feeding and aerating, yes, that is something I would do. Apparantly, its been several years since the pond was stocked. Again, I was told the owning family stocked HBG and LMB. I haven't fished there yet, the pond hasn't been very well maintained in a long time. The person that maintained the pond passed away a few years ago, so the info that I have was relayed by his brother in law.

I could see a pay lake working, especially if you're not close to SML or Claytor, etc. I'm from Patrick co. myself.

I have been out of power since Friday due to the snow. I am in Wise Co VA and it takes around an hour to get to the nearest pay lake that I know of.

Where Dave D was going with his question .. the HBG have very likely reverted back to mostly green sunfish. HBG are a very poor forage base for LMB.
CC is a good choice for 1/2 ac. as would be HSB. You should def plan on feeding if you choose either or both.
You came to the right place. These guys can help you have the best pond in your area. Give lots of info on your pond as it is & your goals for it. The ideas & advise you get will help shape a great fishery & a great pond.

Merry Christmas!!

Using a 1/2 acre pond as a fee fishing pond will be a real challenge unless you stock adult fish from outside sources... You just won't be able to grow enough biomass to make the customers happy. Even with catch and release, the amount of fishing pressure the fish would see would make them incredibly hook shy and your customers would really struggle to catch any fish. However if you constantly stock adult sized catchable fish a half acre pond could work. That may be very cost prohibitive and not allow you to make much of a profit...

If we are fortunate enough to buy the property, I would like to enlarge the pond to around an acre.

Any suggestions of fish hatcheries in VA or close by?

Thanks again!

You could conceivably run a fee lake with a one-acre pond if you load it up with catfish (and nothing else). You would definitely have to have a good aerator running 24/7 because you would need to stock several times the normal carrying capacity of a pond that size to have the fish crowded enough that they'll bite well, and just to have enough fish for people to catch on a daily basis; you would also have to feed, a lot, daily, as in probably at least twenty pounds daily if not more (I'm just guessing, it may be more than that). I have never run a catfish pond, but I have seen catfish feed on pellet food in several ponds in which they were not overcrowded, and they still eat like hogs at a trough, so with several hundred two- to five-pound or larger catfish in one pond, you would have a very substantial food bill monthly. But you could probably charge at least a couple bucks a pound per fish, and more than that if you clean them for the fishermen.

Other than a catfish pond, it would be nearly impossible to run a fee operation on a pond that small. Even with catfish, you would have to regularly stock adult fish as CJ noted, probably every couple or three months depending on how many customers you got. I suppose you could make it work with bluegill and bass but you'd have to stock adult fish regularly in that scenario as well, and the bass would all have PhDs in terms of their education and hook-shyness within a month of opening for business unless you used feed-trained bass, required anglers to keep all bass they caught and regularly stocked new adults.

Just wanted to say "Hi" VaHeel.... I'm in Tazewell County (SW Virginia, also)! Was out of power yesterday and a tree fell down right before my driveway.... nuts!
Good luck with your pond... you'll get the perfect advice here!

Nice to "meet" you!
Stacy

Here is the listed provided by the VDGIF:
http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/fishing/pondmanagement/commercialfishhatcheries.pdf

I am not real familiar with the south western part of the state... I don't get down that way much other than for a couple hiking trips in Grayson Highlands each year. Zett's in WV has been used by some members. Unfortunately VA doesn't have a lot of near by options.

I have been to a few catfish only ponds that are about an hour drive and most are about an acre. They always seemed to be cowded with fisherman, but it didn't seem like people were always catching fish, but they seem to always come back...I did.

Those places stocked fish on a weekly basis and only charged an entry fee, not per pound. I think a small entyr fee then so much $ per pound may work.

Any other thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

How much was the entry fee? Seems like they would go broke quickly that way just with the cost of stocking and food. I think you'd definitely have to charge by the pound. I fished at catfish farms a few times as a kid and they always charged by the pound.

I have no experience with pay to fish ponds, so I cannot give you much more information... I can say you're looking at a lot of overhead and I am not sure how much profit. Do a search on the forum for pay fishing. If you can't find what you are looking for in the archives, then I would recommend you start a new post to obtain more exposure to your question(s)...

I do know of a couple catfish ponds in my area that have been in business for a few years now and still are, so it would seem they haven't gone bankrupt at least. I doubt they're getting rich but they've been going steadily for a few or several years, hear people mention them every now and then.

Same here Walt. The ponds here I've heard have an entry fee & a % goes into a pot for the biggest fish. I believe there are other pots that can be bought into also. Winning the $ seems to be the biggest attratction.

The fees were $12-$15 and the limit of fish ranged from 5-10 per day, depending on the pay lake.

VaHeel,

Welcome to Pond Boss.

As CJBS mentioned, Zetts is one of the best known local hatcheries. Over the years, I've bought a fair amount of fish from them, with no complaints. They also have a lot of fee-fishing ponds on their property. They are about 15-20 miles north of Winchester, just off I-81.

You might also check with Fred Hays, near Charleston, WV. He raises many of his own fish, and he is pretty knowledgeable. He's got quite a few different kinds of fish, he delivers, and he even has grass carp. Here is a link to Fred's website: Fred Hays

Ken

Instead of CC, how about a trophy BG pond? Just wondering what options may be the best.

Thanks again for all of the info.

Just depends on if there is a market for that type of fishing in your area...

I still feel in a pond of your size, it will be difficult to produce a fee fishery without constantly stocking it from an outside source. The fish will either be fished out or insanely hook shy if not.

In order to have a pay lake, sounds like it needs to be at least an acre and preferablly larger.

I spoke to our local extension agent, but didn't get much help. Any other resources that can be recommended for my situation?

Thanks again!