Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Stocking new pond.

It never fails, I spent lots off time to compose a message on these stupid machines and I lose power and lose all my work. I'm going to buy a UPS.

Lets try one more time and if it happens again I throwing this thing in the trash.
Where was I?

I recently had a pond dug on my recently purchased retirement farm and I have recieved these stocking plans from a local hatchery.

1. STOCKING. The following fish should be stocked in your pond to provide for enhanced recreational fishing opportunities. You can stock the forage fish (minnows and shiners) this fall, if your pond reaches a minimum depth of 6 foot, then stock the remaining fish in the spring. Otherwise, consider stocking all the fish next spring:

Species Number
Fathead Minnow 10lbs.
Golden Shiners 5lbs.
Largemouth Bass 100 3-4”
Hybrid Striped Bass 25 3-4”
Bluegill 150 2-4”
Hybrid Bluegill 100 2-4”
Redear Sunfish 100 2-4”
White Amur 4
Bullfrog Tadpoles 125


Or, for accelerated growth:

Species Number
Fathead Minnow 15lbs.
Golden Shiners 10lbs.
Largemouth Bass 75 5-7”
Hybrid Striped Bass 25 5-7”
Bluegill 100 4-6”
Hybrid Bluegill 100 4-6”
Redear Sunfish 75 4-6”
White Amur 4
Bullfrog Tadpoles 125

Would anyone care to comment?

The pond is slighly smaller than 1/2 acre, max. depth is 7.5 to 8' deep with a average of maybe 4 or 5 feet ( fairly steep banks). I hope to start stocking soon just waiting for enough rain. There will be no supplemental feeding at this time, but will feed sometime in the future.

I don't care about trophy fish my main objective is catchable healthy fish ( looking forward to the day my 5 year old catches his first fish).

From what I think I've learned from Pond Boss I don't see a need for the amur at this time, or the tadpoles, and the HSB ( no supplemental feeding). I do plan on adding the HSB once I start feeding. This is my first of two or three ponds with this being the smallest and least techinal to build.

I have started a online photo record of the farm.
In case anyone is interested I have started with a few photos of the pond.
www.snapfish.com

Use my email address to log in darinalexander@bellsouth.net
password is 12345

Thanks
Darin

Darin,

Welcome to the Forum...and patience is not one of my virtues either

You have your objectives for this 1/2 acre pond and that is good. Here's my comments on the stocking plan in view of your objectives.

1) too many bass...total for 1/2 acre without feeding and/or aeration should be about 50 in whatever combination of LMB/HSB you wish. For LMB, consider the F1 variety or the northern variety, not pure Florida strain...meets your objectives.

2) stock more BG(I prefer CNBG)...about 400, no hybrid BG, and stock about 100 RES. The hybrids will not help sufficiently with forage and may not "mix" well with other BG/RES...undesirable crosses

3) stock 1 GC (white amur) next spring when weeds first start growing and plan to change it out every three years...only add more than one if situation dictates, but it probably will not.

4) forget the tadpoles...Nature will provide them free of charge and provide ones that will live in your pond.

Now, here's something which I could not do when I started, but think ahead to what you want the other ponds to accomplish and make sure that this pond complements your overall game plan...wish I had done that...and wish I was doing it now...as I said, patience is not one of my virtues either.

Darin :

Welcome to the forum. You are in NE Ky. What a beautiful place you have. What is your elevation ? It apears to be in the mountains or on the edge.

I agree with most of ML's suggestions.

To many bass --I would stock 35 to start. You can go back later and add more. You are to far north (esp. if at elevation) for Fla. LMB and I would not even try F1 but would use northern strain LMB. If HSB then split the 35 in what ever ratio you like.

BG -- not enough and forget the hybrids as ML says 300 Bg and 75 RE. You may be to far north for CNBG -- a great fish but they are a deep south varity. Others on forum from your general area will know.

There is a lot to be said for getting fish conditioned to your area but from a proven quality source. No guessing here be sure of the source and where the fish came from.

Fatheads yes - GS up to you , GC 1 or 0 up to you , hold off on frogs or catch your own to add.

At one time Ky. had some good online pond mgt. material. see below. ewest

http://www.kdfwr.state.ky.us/navigation.asp?cid=136&NavPath=C101

http://www.kyafield.com/sum02mg7.asp?lid=612&NavPath=C101C136

AGree with comments made. One major point. Highly recommend not stocking these fish together, I mean no bass at this time. You have to get forage established first prior to bass stocking. Also too high on other numbers as well. I think F1 bass will do fine in that part of KY. I have a client there and they did fine. However coppernose bluegill did not do as well. I like coppernose but better to get local strain of bluegill.

Goals are not really clear but sound like if building others and want just good fun fishing slightly bass heavy might be way to go. You future larger size ponds are better suited for quality bass.

My 2 cents:
Fathead Minnow 5 lbs.

Golden Shiners 2lbs.

Largemouth Bass 50 1-2” next JUne

Hybrid Striped Bass 15 3-4” Next year-?

Bluegill 350 1-2”

Redear Sunfish 75 1-2

White Amur 4 3-5" (save lots of $ on small ones)

Good luck!

I agree with you guys except for one thing. I wouldn't mess with an Amur or 3 until I had a problem. Sounds like putting a cow in a pasture without any grass and betting it will come.

Greg makes a great point about stocking the predators in spring after previous fall stocking of the forage....I should have mentioned that in my post but forgot to say it (that's why he's a pro and I'm just a wannabe )

That point reminded me, however, of a great discussion we had some time back in which another couple of Pros, Bob Lusk and Todd Overton, explained to us why you should always avoid the early LMB fingerlings from the fish supplier (March/April) in favor of the later ones in June. The early ones are most likely stunted LMB left over from the previous year and will never grow out like the June fingerlings. I'll never forget that discussion, and as a result will never buy early spring LMB fingerlings again.

Dave,

I don't know about your cows, but mine are on pasture before the grass starts in spring because in over 40 years of ranching I have never seen grass fail to grow in spring. Likewise, I have never seen a pond (of course, there is always a first time) that did not have some form of vegetation growing in it in the absence of measures to prevent any growth. The trick, I believe is to stock GC lightly before you have a problem, not heavy after you have a problem...but to each his own.

ML, I have several ponds with no vegetation; none. Don't know why but I'm not looking for a solution without a problem. Putting GC in would be like stocking cows on a tennis court. We will soon be seining my forage pond for BG to stock a neighbors new pond. It's about 3 to 6 months old with no vegetation. The GC would starve waiting for vegetation to grow. I think amur can be added to control a problem but can't see how they could be used to prevent it.

Admittedly, I know very little about amur. Maybe they eat other things and wait for vegetation.

BTW, come on up to the hot, dry country. You can see a lot of places where grass fails to grow. It is real easy to overgraze here and it takes years for the grasses to get reestablished. That prompted my reference to cows. In a good year we can run about one cow on 25 to 30 acres. And that's on a good year where thoughtful range management practices have been followed. I no longer lease my land for grazing. I found out the hard way that I'm the only person who cares what happens to my land. The land I bought last year had been used and overused for the last 5 years. Winter wheat had been heavily fertilized. Now, it won't grow anything but ragweed. I expect it will take me about 3 or 4 years of work to get it in shape. Sorry to go off on a tangent away from ponding but I see a lot of parallels in range and pond management.

My view is between 5-10/acre in most cases, high to me is 15-30/acre that some DNR guys still recommend. I like closer to 10/acre on ponds less than an acre, b/c losing one or tow will make a big diff, also if not feeding seelittle negative to having that many.

Another point is in a new pond you can stock the little 3-5 inch ones for $2.50 compared to $8.50 for 10-12 inch ones once you have bass. SO this is why we suggest it it have potential to save some quite a bit of money.

Dave,

Okay you got me...1 cow to 30 acres is just slightly different from my region.

That's about an order of magnitude different.

ML ,DD and GG :

As Bill often reminds us , it all depends. We have 2 ponds within 500 yards of each other. Same type of soil and landscape both 25 yrs. + and same mgt. plan. One has had weed problems FA, pondweed, cattails, waterleaf, water primrose ,and others. The other has none of that and a GC would have starved. No weed problems in its 50 yr. history. Go figure? ewest

I am soooo bummed out!!!!!!!!!!!!

Talked to my neighbor this morning and there is not enough water in the pond to start stocking yet because of the lack of rain. Was really looking forward to it. I may have to wait until spring.

If it were possible to stock now, could I do the bluegill at the same time as the minnows?

I want to thank everyone for their help.

Welcome to the forum. You are in NE Ky. What a beautiful place you have. What is your elevation ? It apears to be in the mountains or on the edge.

Ewest, yes it is a beautiful area especially this time of the year. Its in the foothills, elevation is 1000'. It is truly one of the best keep secerts,but that changing. Four seasons just like its supposed to be. I prefer more snow but the real boss would't go for that.

No guessing here be sure of the source and where the fish came from.

The source is Jones Hatchery and I haven't heard anything bad about them other than their stocking plans may be a little iffy.

At one time Ky. had some good online pond mgt. material. see below. ewest.

Not only pond management, but they also have other very good how to sites such as this one.

http://www.kdfwr.state.ky.us/howto.asp?lid=631&NavPath=C100C152C177

I guess I need a new game plan as the hatchery does not deliver after the first week of Nov. or so. I will be there for about three weeks in Nov. to start the timber stand improvement and hunting season. Maybe if it decides to rain will I'm there (probably) I can pick the up myself.

Thanks again
Darin

Darin:

We have used Jones Fish for all of our fish stocking (I was pretty sure it was them based on the "recommended stocking" info you posted). I have had good experiences with them wrt delivering what was ordered , when they said they would be here, and in good, viable condition. I don't think they will argue with you if you want to stock something completely different from what they list; it's just recommendations (and while not the formula I stocked with, IMO it would certainly be better than having no idea at all what to put in).

I personally would not be in a hurry to stock the BG this Fall since in a brand new pond there won't be a whole lot for them to eat right away, nor will they grow very much during the Winter. If you get enough water, do the FH and let your small invertebrate ecology develop while the pond finishes filling. Those BG (healthy from having more to eat all Winter) will jump when stocked early next year and the water warms and the plankton, insects, etc. expand in numbers.

Darin gree with Theo will grow over winter so no hurry. yes minnows and "bream" at sametime. We rec. across the state and they buy the fish locally. Lots of good hatcheries out there it just seems unfortantnelty the hatcheries sometimes have high numbers since this is there livelyhood. Should be no problem with you telling JOnes what fish to bring you and they brought good fish to a client of mine as well.