Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations whats wrong with

me catching 500 bluegills out of a couple of freinds ponds this spring.Then I could buy bass in the fall after the bgs had a chance to get a spawn.

Hey Steve,

from what I've read here, I'd put in fathead minnows before anything else to set up a good forage base for your future bluegill and bass populations. You could get them from just about any bait store. Credit Island Bait shop sells them to me on a regular basis (to feed my aquarium full of crappies). Every once in a while, a stickleback will be mixed in with the fatheads, but both species should be great for your pond and I've never seen any "trash" fish mixed in with the minnows from that source.

I talked to the guy that works there and he said they buy their minnows from a fish farmer out of Missouri. In other words, I don't think they are wild caught. Again lessening the chance that you will get an unwanted species in the pond.

I think they'll even sell them to you by the pound.

Once I got some minnows in the pond, I'd start putting in redears, blugills, and pumpkinseeds. (All 3 for diversity)

Like you, I'd probably catch and stock them myself so that I'd know first hand what I was putting in the pond.

If there is nothing in the pond now, you could get the Iowa DNR to stock it for free but then how fun is that? Answer: Not very!

I've had great luck keeping live fish and moving them to and from my father-in-law's ponds in a medium sized cooler with a battery powered aerator. I find they are pretty resiliant as long as you keep the air flow going.

Good Luck! Let me know if I can help you catch a few specimins for the pond.

Tim

P.S. how far are you from the Wapsi riverbank? I fish a few farmponds in NW Scott County that get flooded by the river each year and stocking them would end up being a wasted effort: the river seems to replentish the fish stock every time the pond seems like its getting fished out! They are great crappie ponds, although very few of the crappies ever get bigger than 10 inches.

There are some 5-6 lb bass though...

That's what I did to get my forage going -- as long as you add the bass at the right time before they bluegills get out of control. I question the need for 500 adult fish though. How big is the pond?

my pond might be an acre now but the plan is to have it grow to 4-6 acres as we sell dirt. Depth is 13 feet at the hole and a large 2-4 foot area.I have 15 acres 7 open 7 timber lots of springs in the timber that form a creek that feed into the back waters of the Mississippi.The 100 year flood plane runs through part of my property water has been there 3 times in 100 years.My permit says I can take dirt out which I am selling and using to build and level out building sites.Property is set up for 3 houses.I may in the future sell my lots the wife wants to keep one and build sell the other 2.I would perfer not to have neighbors.My bottom is limestone rock with some clay.We opened up a few springs when we started digig trying not to let to much water in too soon because of the plan to sell the dirt and enlarge pond as we go.

I stocked my pond from a neighbors pond. My son had stocked the neighbors pond from another neighbors pond several years earlier. Free fish are always nice and being of mature age get you a head start. Just make sure of what you are getting.

steve22, you are doing what we did. If a person puts a dam across a drainage, essentially the whole thing happens all at once. However, if a person digs out the lake, it can happen in stages. Our lake took 4 years to dig. As people wanted dirt and were willing to pay to get it out, our lake got bigger.

One of advantage of this type of construction is that we can create lots of bottom structure. One thing that I really like is our 7 islands. There isn't any fishing between these islands. The other structure we use a lot is ridges and channels. They are made with a back hoe as people dig out the dirt. Our ridges are be 10-20' wide and anywhere from 3' below water to 3' above water. The channels are 20-50' wide and 10-20' deep.

Be absolutely positive the fish are bluegill. I know that's a simple concept, but it's a common mistake, since there are several different species of sunfish.

Not only are there several different kinds of sunfishes, there can also be sunfish hybrids present; natural and stocked varieties. Catching and transplanting can be risky business. Be willing and prepared to live with your mistakes.

Steve:

I was just at Farm & Fleet in Northwest Davenport and I noticed that they have a flyer offering live fish for pond stocking available.

Unfortunatly, according to thier flyer it appears that the only blugills being offered are "hybrid". And I don't know about you, but I don't think I would want to tak the chance of bringing in green sunfish...

The flyer doesn't specify the hybrid type which makes them sound like they might be of mixed or unidentifiable genetics...

However, if you need catfish, LM / SM bass, crappie, fatheads, or some other species you might want to check it out any way...I'm sure you've been there: Its right off of I-80 - NW Blvd interchange.

I believe they were taking orders now and they would be deliver the fish to the store sometime in May... (you would need to arrange transport from the store to your pond

If I find out more I'll let you know.

I am pretty sure those fish off the truck at Farm&Fleet will be small fish 1-2" or 2"-4"; basically feed for small bass.

The flyer from my co-op down here also only advertised hybrids. However, you might want to call the company. Many times they will have other fish but won't advertise it. The truck I bought from here last week had both coppernose bg and redear.