Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Corrective stocking YP pond needs advice......

My YP pond was started late in 2009 and is 3/4 of an acre. I stocked 65 "shooters" and 250 3" to 5" in 2010. Also, 65 RES and lots of minnows (Golden shiners, Bluntnose & Spotfin) and cray's. I had no hatch in the spring of 2011 due to silt. I feed AM 2x a day and aerate via windmill.

I set a trap and found a successful hatch had occurred this spring.

I'm interested in volume eating of YP and need help in stocking numbers & size of WE and HSB.

I would like to maintain a healthy number of minnows and keep YP from stunting. WE's will not be available until the fall in my area.

I've posted before but lost my log in info.

Anyone willing to take a stab?

The best man to answer your questions is Bill Cody and I'm sure he will be along shortly.

The best species to keep the YP numbers down are largemouth bass but from my experience they can do too good of a job.

HSB are more of a pelagic species and may not feed as much on perch which hang close to the bottom.

Bill?

My experience is you can put enough HSB in the pond that they can eliminate all YP recruitment. I've seen that happen in a few ponds with overstocked or over crowded HSB (150-200/acre). IMO you should be somewhere in-between too many small YP, and no small YP recruitment. Since you are now "behind" the 2012 YP hatch, you will probably have to manually remove a significiant number of this year's crop of small YP to maintain a balance in year class numbers. You have to do this because you do not have any existing predators besides larger YP to eat the young of year YP. IMO you want about 125 to 200 (maybe 250-300) of the 2012 YP to survive to be one year old (5"-7") to provide a harvest in 2013-2016 as 8"-13" perch. You now have breeder YP and can start harvesting some of the original stockers.
Back to your original question for your 3/4 acre I would start by adding 16-28 HSB. Or 12-15 HSB and 8-15 WE. You can stock fewer predators if you help them annually to remove YP. I usually remove every YP egg ribbon that I find and still always manage to have small YP each yr. Stock 5"-8" HSB and or 7"-9" WE those are standard sizes usually available in fall. Thereafter watch your YP numbers of small YP in every Aug-Sept. When YP are very numerous in fall add predators or trap out some. If you have too few YP remove some HSB or WE.

If in fact that is a YP hatched in 2012 it is growing very well for being 2 months old at the average rate of 1.2mm/day and looks in good condition for this years fish.

Told ya BigBambo! They don't call Bill Dr. Perca for nothin'!

Thanks! Last year I set this same trap many times with no YOY YP caught. My water clarity has not improved one bit. I have a few large areas that have not grown grass and I put in 25 ton of sand when dry. I'm not sure why it is so murky or why I had a hatch this year and not last year.

I've trapped 2x this week and have some a tad larger than the YP shown. I caught 10 YP in both 1 hour soaks.

I've called around and found some 8"+ HSB available now. Will stocking them now eliminate my need to remove them by trapping? If not, Is it fair to say I could trap every day and remove all that are caught to achieve my 125-300 YOY survival rate? Also, I have an acre pond with LMB, BG, Crappie. Can I put the YOY YP in this pond as forage? It's bass heavy in hopes of growing large BG.

Can I harvest all that are caught of the original stock?

Yes you can stock the HSB now. The main caution is to not temperature shock them during travel and stocking. Stocking some now will help reduce the small YP but I would still remove 40-100 by trapping and try angling with a small hook (#10 or #8) and small pieces of worm under a bobber. One an often catch 15-30 per hr, but catching may be slower in turbid water. Make some small splashing noise near shore which may draw 'nosey'small perch to the angling area.
I suggest trapping in a different area of the pond each soak but not trap every day. Maybe trap only on weekends or twice a week. This way the YP won't become as trap shy and extending the trapping season will allow you to see the gradual growth of this year class as the summer progresses.Keep track of number removed. By Sept these 2.5"-3"ers should be 5"-7" providing they are this years hatch. Do you have adequate numbers of minnows and shiners???? If in August they are still 3"-4" then they are likely stunted YP from the 2011 hatch that are just now showing up in traps. Stunted YP will be easy for the HSB to feed on all summer, fall, winter and early spring 2013. turbidity issue my play a role in HSB predation of small YP.

IMO it is better to remove too many than to leave too many in the pond. Heavier thinning results in better growth or remaining fish and more surplus forage. YES put removed YP into the other pond - LMB will Love them. Any survivors will be bonus YP but don't plan on that happening.

I would not remove all the original stock this year. At maximum this year remove 20%-30% of the original stocked YP. In 2013 fall remove another group of fish which some will be 2012 YP (8"-9"). When the 2012 year class YP are 8"-10" (spring-summer 2014?) then remove more of the original stockers which should be 12"-14".

One of the big factors as to how many YP can be raised and harvested in a 3/4 ac pond or any pond is the pond's productivity. Generally the more common way for us pondmeisters to raise more fish for harvest is to fed them high protein pellets. There are a couple ponds near me that have only YP or a very few predators and a good annual harvest. To keep YP common and growing it is best to feed them. A fair number of youngster YP are eaten by larger YP and many of the survivors resort to eating pellets to survive. Thin bodied slow growing youngsters often become food items of other larger YP or a few WE or HSB in the pond. For a 3/4 ac pond that has only a few predators,low weed growth, some blue dye, and receives regular pellet feedings of blended Aquamax 5D05 and 5D06 one should be able to harvest 60-100 YP 8"-12" annually. The pellets keep them growing and the harvest keeps them from becoming overabundant. IMO without pellet feeding the harvest (3/4ac) would be closer to 20-35/yr.

Bill,
Answers like this should cost money! I thank you!

You have me concerned with stunting and possible hatch in 2011. I know that a sign of stunting is the eye size but I'm not sure what the standard is. I trapped a few this morning and will attach photos. The numbers stated in my opening post are wrong, 250 YP should have been 350. I harvested 14 on March 1, 2012 for my mother before she passed and they were full of eggs!

I do feed AM 2x a day with a TH 125.

The 1st pic YP is 3.5" long or 74 days old. With your growth rate of 1.2mm x 60 days= 2.84" 2nd pic, the smallest of 4 caught.




The minnow population is less than a year ago and beside the Golden Shiners, these are the most prolific. Is it a spotfin?

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I think the bottom two pictures of YP are likely from the 2011 year class or hatch of YP. The 2nd picture above shows the fish with a thin body and low relative weight indicating lack of food. The otehr two YP in pictures don't appear overly stunted. A fast growing YP of this years hatch at teh end of May will not likely be as large as those you are showing in the photos. Growth of 1mm /day is very fast growth for YP. At 1mm/day growth rate the YP at years end in October will be 8.5". This is possible for a very small percentage of very well fed YP that hatch in early April. Most of a good growing year class of YP at years end will be 4"-6" long - normal well fed YP.

The good thing about the one skinny YP is it is more vulnerable due to a skinny body to predation by the HSB when you put 8" HSB in. I would be moving all the traped smaller YP to the other pond.

The fish in the 3rd photo is a female bluntnose minnow (BNM) carrying eggs. BNM survive YP predation well, although their numbers may dwindle when you add the HSB. Hopefully the HSB will target GSH first since the GSH are a more open water dwelling species. Are you catching any spotfins that are more silvery colored with no spot on the body back near the tail?

Bill, that fish doesn't look like a typical BNM I see. Is there something different about this pond? I am pretty sure as I remember you supplied the BNM and SFS for this pond...

CJ - remember this pond is turbid thus the lighter body hue and lack of prominent lateral stripe and faded peduncle spot. Light hue also makes the scales of the BNM not appear normal color / markings. The distended abdomen full of eggs sort of distorts the body shape somewhat. I probably wouldn't have quickly recognized BNM if I didn't know they were in this pond. The fish is definately not a spotfin nor FHM which were also stocked. Also note the light hues on the YP.

Yes, the tail spot was an indicator. Interesting how unusual the BNM looks compared to normal.