Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Corrective stocking How do I know what fish I want in my pond?

I am new to this site and i need to know if the fish in my pond are helping or not. IM only 15 and cant affrd professional help.The fish in my pond are bullheads, bluegills, bass, golden and silver shiners, green sunfish, pearch. Are these fish good or bad and is there any fish I can add if there is a problem?

JD, I'm 61 and can't afford professional help either. This is kind of a do it yourself web site.
You know, thats quite a mix of species. The first question is how large is the pond? Second, what shape are the fish in? Third, what do you want to catch or raise or play with or?????? Instead of asking what shape you are in; figure out where you want to be in the future. In general bullheads and green sunfish are not particularly good for the pond and the overall population. If its less than one acre in size, bass may not be either.

Do a couple of things. Read all of the posts on this site. There are some pro's posting here and some guys that do things that surprise and educate the pro's. Next, go fishing and keep a careful log of your catches. That will tell you the status of the population. There is nothing a pro likes to see more than a carefully kept log including species, size, weight, general condition, etc. Welcome and don't hesitate to study and ask questions.

JD - In addition to size in acre (or dimensions)of pond, also respond with
1. what is the deepest water in the pond, (note try to get an actual measure (weight& string from a boat) not a guess or what others say it is.

2. is there an average depth, try to do 6 or 8 depth measures across the pond's mid section.

3. what percentage of the pond is less less than 4 ft deep

4. what shape is the pond? long and narrow, triangle, round, rectangle, tear drop,

5. what approximate amount of the bottom that is covered with weed growth during mid & late summer.

6. is the pond a dug out pond or damned ravine?

Give us some basics about your pond and we can provide some fish managing ideas.