Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Corrective stocking How bad have I messed up?

Hi all, new guy here.

I have a very well established 40 yr old 1 ac pond, 9 ft deep when full. It had a lot(easy to catch) of LMB , none over 17"(thought I needed more forage) and not too many sunfish. Also had a few old, large cc & bc from way back when.

Here's what I did. I let a guy from Arkansas talk me into stocking the following: 700 10-15" cc, 500 HBG, 500 CNB, 500 RES, with the sunfish being between 3-6 inches..

I am feeding on a daily basis, via an automatic feeder at a rate of about 10 lbs per day.

This has always been a fertile pond. I am not currently areating, but I am planning to next spring. (2010)

Can this pond sustain this many fish, or have I really screwed the pooch?

Thanks in advance

Howdy, PFV, and welcome to the forum.

IMHO 700 CC is plenty for 10 acres of water. It would not be way too many IF you had a 1 acre CC-only pond. In a fed pond with other fish species, you may will have too large a mass of catfish sooner than you think.

Get real good at catching and eating catfish. Find friends and relatives who enjoy the same.

I see that as the biggest problem with the added fish. I suspect the HBG were largely wasted money, but they shouldn't cause a problem.

If you are interested in larger bass, removing some of the existing skinny, crowded bass will be a must. Doing so before stocking additional forage would probably have been advised, but since your stockers went up to 6" in length, hopefully many of the CNBG & RES will survive and spawn.

In summary:
1. Remove CC as soon as they reach eating size (1-1.5 lbs & up)
2. By all means, aerate.
3. We've seen bigger mistakes here. Most of us have made them.

Thank you Theo. I should have done more research before letting them put so many fish in my pond. My bad. Lesson learned.

Trust me when I say we LOVES us some catfish, and these lil fellows will be swimmin in Crisco Lake as soon they get big enough.

I thought about putting in a fish trap or two when they get to eating size, and help speed the population reduction along.

Welcome, PFV! Whereabouts in Texas are you?

I just want to clarify--is your pond 1 acre or 10 acres? That could change the advice Theo gave above.

What are your goals for the pond?

A balanced pond will USUALLY hold about 100 pounds of predators. Yeah, you got some lousy advice on the cats. Start catching and eating.

I would PERSONALLY try to eliminate the HBG's. They will only spawn somewhat and produce only green sunfish, a highly prized specimen for some of us and a dreaded curse to some of the weenies here.

North Texas.

Goals for the pond...grow some big ole channel cats and have a healthier bass population. Not looking for trophy fish, just bigger than I have now.

Why the heck would this guy do this knowing that now I will NEVER buy anything else from him?

I am tempted to list the name of the fishery here to possibly save someone else this headache

I'm like davasta I need to know size of the pond. If 10 acres the advice is not that bad. Why b/c most fish dealers are tyring to get the sell why they can and do think longterm sales just immediate.

I learned a great new phrase!

Welcome PFV. You have found the solution to any of your pond issues. These guys are absolutely awesome. Your particular situation may require a good dose of patence while you correct the CC issue, but these guys will work you through it, and you will be successful if you'll heed their advise.

Good luck. And I'm likin me some "Crisco Lake" action. Kool.

I think the fish trap idea is good. You're gonna be doing a lot of fish trying to keep up with 700 CC. Work on catching as many CC as you can. You also need to remove probably about as many bass as you can catch as well. As has already been said, a 1 acre pond can only support 100 pounds of predators. Those include, bass, catfish and larger HBG... That adds up REALLY quick!

That is just moronic the number of CC that the hatchery owner sold you. As previously noted, you wouldn't stock even a fraction that many unless you were running a catfish farm and wanted to have the fish stacked on top of each other so people could catch them easier. And even in that circumstance it would NEVER be done without an aerator running twenty-four-seven.

Estimating on the low side: if there were 100 LMB already in the pond and they averaged one pound, and the CC you added averaged a half-pound (they averaged more than that if there were many that went 15"), and the HBG and CNB and RES averaged three ounces which they would unless all of them were 3", you've got 750 pounds of fish in that one-acre pond right now, and that's not counting the few large BC and CC you say already existed in the pond before the new stocking. The standard wisdom is that a properly-fertilized and fed pond can support as much as 500 pounds per acre; you're already 50% above that. Unless large numbers of the HBG and CNB and RES got eaten, you could easily be in danger of a fish kill right now, before the new fish grow even a millimeter.

I would aerate IMMEDIATELY. And invite the local Boy Scout troop, or perhaps every troop in a five-county radius, for a catfish-fishing rodeo, and give prizes for the kids that catch the most catfish. Set trotlines. Set jugs and limblines. But get them out of there or you will certainly have a fish kill. Not to mention you'll have to mortage your house to pay for the fish chow they'll eat.

quote "Set trotlines. Set jugs and limblines. But get them out of there or you will certainly have a fish kill. Not to mention you'll have to mortage your house to pay for the fish chow they'll eat."

+1

The fish farm guy wasn't moronic, he made out like a bandit!

If it were me, I'd name the fish farm who did this to me... Any fish farmer who sells that many fish to a person with a pond that size deserves to be called out on it!

I agree 100%, CJ. I almost said he should call him out, but that's my natural tendency anyway so I thought I would wait and see what others said. But the more I thought about it, the more I thought, this guy is ruining people's ponds just to make money. He deserves to be called out.

Welcome to the forum - sorry it's under these circumstances [better than a fish kill, tho!] - but you definitely have found a forum full of expert guidance that won't allow it to happen twice! Glad to have you here.

BTW - I am in absolute agreement with Walt and Travis' sentiments. The advice this fisheries/hatchery rep provided you was poor and selfserving - allowing this guy to do it again to any of our TX pondmeisters would be sinful. Just my $.02.

Get your turkey livers ready and swim the trot lines!

PFV, where in North Texas are you? No shortage of resources except in the Panhandle.

I am near Dallas.

And I am just about in agreement about naming the jerk.

Let me just say this, guys. If you see an ad that says "free fish" in your local paper,and when you call them, they take all of your information, pond size, depth, etc, etc., and then they tell you that the "AQUA DOCTOR" will call you back in a couple of days and tell you how many fish you need, hang up the phone.

Man, I feel like an idiot.

And here's the real problem. I am working a very busy schedule for the next month. No time to work on this problem.

I don't live on the property where the pond is. So I'll just have to hope they make it until after August 4th. Then I will have a couple of weeks off to try and work on this problem.

PFV,
Don't, your adventure probably won't make the top 100. You have, however, become a part of a 5000 member club that will share your pain and see that you overcome your misadventures.

Rad, by "don't" I assume you mean don't name them. I prolly won't, but all kidding aside, if there is an AQUA DOCTOR involved, STEER CLEAR OF THEM!!!

No reason to...

I think you're fish will be fine until you can get to managing in August.

PVF,
By don't, I meant "don't" feel like an idiot, been there done that. Your misadventure probably wouldn't qualify in this forum anyway.

PFV, mystery solved. The Free Fish Guy has been scamming pond owners for years. He has also done time for it.

He's not a professional. He's a criminal. You're not his only victim.

He almost got me years ago when I first got started. Luckily, I made some calls and his recommendations varied quite a bit from everybody else. I called and canceled the order and he was chapped. He threatened to dump the fish at my gate. However, he refused my invitation to set a time and date for the dumping.

I would call the newspaper where he placed the ad and the local DA. I doubt that it will do any good though.