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

I have a 1 acre pond that I have ordered 400 blue gill 100 redear 50 channel cats and 50 large mouth bass from DNR to stock this year. I am also about to have the dam on a 1/2 acre pond finished this week. What should I stock in the second pond my goal is to have the best fishing experience from my family I have 3 young daughters

Welcome to the forum!

What are your goals (i.e. species and size of those species) that you want to catch (in both ponds)?

In the 1 ac pond (I'm assuming that there are no fish other than forage fish in it now?) that stocking plan that you listed is a little skewed if you are wanting to fish for LMB that are larger than 12"-14". What size are the LMB/BG/CC that you are planning on stocking? Typical LMB/BG ratios are 1:10 to 1:30 depending on your fishing goals.

Both ponds are spring feed the 1acre pond has been there long before I bought this farm I fished it with everything I could think of to see if there was any thing in it all I ever brought in was snagged tadpoles which there are a large population of frogs constantly filling it with tadpoles. The ratio was what Georgia DNR will stock for $65 great thing about it it's cheap bad thing is you don't get much choice on what the give you. they provide the BG RES CC in January and bass in May. From what I understand there all fingerlings. I have to put them in so I can reduce some but can't increase. My goals are to have the best fishing experience for the whole family big fish for Me and fish my 6 year old can handle too. I have 1 feeder and I can always get some minnows if needed

That 1 ac pond, how deep is it? (maximum and average)

If it was there for a long time before you bought the farm, and there are no fish in it, that raises a red flag to me. Before you stock it, you really should find out why there are no fish in it.

I might be able to find the old owner but he might not be to keen on talking about a farm he lost to forcloser. I know it was used as a cattle tank and the spring is just above the pond. I guess I just assumed it was never stocked in the first place. Now you got me thinking should have some tests done? thanks so much for your help

Its between 12 and 15 feet at its deapest

So, you are getting the BG/RES/CC this month, and the LMB in April/May 2014?

The typical pond stocking usually goes something like this:

Stock forage fish (Fathead minnows, Golden Shiners or a combination of both) and let them reproduce for a year. Then stock the BG/RES/LMB for Northern ponds, BG/RES and then later stock LMB.

Think about this for a minute. It usually takes 10# of fish to put 1# of weight on 1 LMB. Now, with all the tadpoles in the pond, that might help with the LMB food problem, but if the LMB are 1" when stocked, the tadpoles will be larger than the stocked fish.

If you plan on feeding the fish pellets, make sure that the fish are pellet trained. BG will train themselves, RES are hard to pellet train, and LMB will not typically train themselves to eat pellets.

I'd fish the pond hard with a variety of lures and live bait. Vary the hook size and bait size. In looking at the Georgia stocking plans, that program is for new or newly renovated ponds without fish in them.

They say:
"Bream (bluegill and redear) and catfish are distributed
from approximately October until January. Bass are
provided the following spring (usually April or May) for
those that receive bream in the fall."

If there are fish in the pond, then you might be throwing away a good portion of the $65 because a lot of the stocker fish will be eaten.

If there are no fish in the pond, you might need to do some water tests to find out why if you cannot talk to the previous owner. I'd at the very least check it for hardness and alkalinity.

Not disagreeing with anything esshup said, except that $65 is not a drop in the bucked of what most people that have to pay to buy stocking fish. Not much financial investment to loose to try it.

BUT............ if you don't get the water checked, the fish die, and you are still where you are at a year later, lots of time has been wasted with no results to show for it. So everything esshup said is good advice and should be done. With or without going ahead and getting fish lined up to stock at $65.

Maybe that spring water has something in it that fish do not like or do well in.

Another possibility. Build a cage, put it in the pond, catch a few fish from someone you know that have healthy pond fish (maybe half a dozen), put them in the cage and feed them for a few weeks to see how they fare.

Just an idea. Not saying it is a good one, because it is going to take some time and investment, but one possibility, especially if you happen to be the curious type and want to learn. If you are more the impatient type and just want fish, might not work so well.

Of course lack of patience does not go well with fishing to begin with.

yes Jan/feb BG/RES/CC May/June on LMB Depending on where I'm on the list with DNR I'm not sure if they are pellet trained but I can find out If not and the BG will train themselves will the pellets Increase BG population any or just size? Should I go ahead and try to get Minnows going anyway? With the new smaller pond sounds like I should start with minnow and wait tell 2015 how soon can I start minnows after pond is filled? With the smaller pond should I just do CC like DNR suggests or is there better options?

I have hit the pond with Spinners jigs Cranks worms Snagged tadpoles and catfish bait nothing but tadpoles in the spring about every 3rd cast I would snag A tadpole

High numbers of tadpoles suggest few in any bass.

I still don't think there are any fish in the old pond and it seems I'm light on BG. I had an idea since the new pond will be built by the time I receive the fish should I put a few BG in the new pond so I can supplement the old pond with larger BG and more later in the summer after they have had a couple of spawns?