Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Restocking Pond

My pond is 2 acres, spring fed and up to 25 ft deep in places. Judging by what eats it has approx. 25 or 30 2# CC. Seems to be plenty of BG and Minnows. I'm thinking about restocking 400 CC. My question is do I need to put more than 400 CC to due to the fact that some will become dinner for the larger CC?

As the saying goes, "it depends".

How many CC do you plan on removing in a year, do you feed pellets, is the pond aerated, and how large are the CC that you plan on putting in the pond?

To me, it sounds like a LOT of CC, but then again, I don't know what your goals are.

BTW, welcome to the forum!

My plan is to remove 200 per year. I will have a few freinds and kids help me with this. I do feed pellets and no the pond is not aerated, the CC I plan on stocking are 6" to 8." I don't wont to over stock so any advise is welecomed.

If the CC that are in the pond are 2#, then the 6"-8" are plenty big enough to avoid getting eaten. To figure out how large a CC's mouth is (thanks to Theo) measure their length. 10% of that is the mouth gape for a female, 15% is for a male.

I think your plan on putting 400 fish in is sound. Figure on the maximum carrying capacity of 500# of fish per acre in your pond because you are feeding and aerating.

400 CC @ 2# each = 800#.

If you stop aerating, or it breaks down in the peak of summer, get it fixed ASAP or you could possibly have a fish kill, wiping out a lot of fish in the pond. I'd go as far as to have a spare pump and diffuser on hand in case something happened to the one in the pond. The hose is readily sourced practically anyplace, the pump or diffuser, not so easily.


I would re-stock every year the number of CC that you take out. I would also keep an accurate log book of the fish that you take out/put in. Not just fish numbers, but their weights as well. You could easily go over the carrying capacity if you were to think you took out 200 fish last year and only took out 100. Also, if you catch any CC and toss them back in, they will become hook shy (in my experience anyway) and those will get a LOT larger than 2#.

Oops. I just re-read your 2nd post and you are NOT aerating. In that case, I'd cut back the number of CC that you plan on putting in by 100 to 150 fish to 250/300 fish max. Without aeration, total carrying capacity would be close to 350#-400# per acre, but that's also including any BG, minnows or other fish in the pond. It's better to be under the carrying capacity than over!!!

Thanks for the input but I do not aerate that being said in your opion is 400 CC to many? I stocked this pond almost 20 years ago with 300 or 400 and never had any issues but that may have just been luck.

Thanks, for the advice. BTW this site is addictive sooo much info here. Thanks..

Without aeration, I don't think I would do that. The usual # given is 100 pounds of predators per acre for a healthy, balanced, pond. Once they get to 2 pounds average size, assuming no mortality, you're at 400 lbs per acre. I think you're really risking a disastrous DO crash with those numbers. I would get sick and tired of having to eat that many fish. Also, remember that some of them will get hook shy and conditioned. Those whoppers can be tough to eliminate.

Maybe you got lucky last time. Or maybe you can just chalk it up to clean living.

Dave:

That's exactly what is happening in my pond. I stocked 50 2 years ago, didn't keep records as to how many were taken out and last Spring stocked 100 more. This year's goal is to take out at least 100 CC, every one would be better. If I can't whittle down the numbers significantly by hook and line by the 2nd week in August, I'm buying a catfish trap or 2. There are 4 really large ones in the pond, and as long as I don't find any signs of recruitment, I'm thinking of leaving them in there for "mystery monster fish". I caught one last Spring, tagged it and released it. At that time it was 28" and 14.5#.

Ok I took the much needed advise and only stocked 300 CC. Can't wait to see the results. Now if I just get that new fish feeder for Fathers Day.

Scott, I'm down to, I think, 6 five+ year old cats. I really have no hope that I'll catch one but I'm trying 2 to 3 inch bluegill. My next trick is to build a cork out of some natural materials so they won't see the red and white plastic bobber. I need something to keep the BG off the bottom and the algae. I think I'm going to get a stick and attach it to the line with small rubber bands.

DD1:
I've gone that route before, even to the extent of taking a brown sharpie marker to the rubber bands..... Are you fin clipping the BG?

Nope, I like the idea of them moving around a lot. I just need to keep the bass off of them long enough to maybe entice a cat.