Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Redear sunfish versus bluegill

I had a 1/4 acre pond constructed in August-September of this year. It's half full right now. So, I ordered fish which arrived November 25 and were put in the pond. I order 200 1-3" BG and 2# of fathead minnows. I wasn't here on the 25th (visiting family in NC). So, my dad met the truck to pick up the fish at the local feed store and put them in the pond for me. They all seem to be doing well.

The only problem, which I didn't realize until this evening, is that I received RES instead of BG. I'm wondering what the difference will be in practical terms.

My desire is for the pond to be a fishing and swimming hole. I don't expect to catch any monsters, but to be able to enjoy some fishing with my children (and my dad) and to be able to eat a few fish occasionally. Swimming often during the summer, too (I'm not concerned about having BG nibble on any swimmers).

I plan on stocking LMB and 3 GC in the early summer. Should I see about adding some BG in the spring also? What differences might be realized between a RES/LMB pond versus a BG/LMB pond versus a BG/RES/LMB pond? I'm curious since this isn't what I had originally considered.

Thanks!!

mudburn

Howdy from just down 65, mudburn.\

You haven't lost anything by adding the RES-they're a great fish, and won't tend to overrun your pond should you decide NOT to stock LMB, for any reason. They do not reproduce as bountifully as bluegill, and do not tend to overproduce and stunt.

Having said this, if you persist in stocking LMB, you will likely need to add BG to provide enough forage for your LMB.

How far are you from N'ville? I have a pond with quite a few 1/4-1/2# BG, you'd be welcome to some if you want to get your breeding off the ground and running this spring......

Are you sure what was put in ? Some hatcheries mix RES and BG in %s to match guidelines (80% BG- 20% RES for example).

If all that was stocked was RES you can fix that by adding BG for stocking in about March. Get 3-5 inch BG. About 50 should be plenty.

Both BG and RES work well with LMB. However RES do not produce enough offspring to provide forage for the LMB. Talk to the hatchery to be sure what you have first.

I'm with Eric in thinking you probably got mostly bluegill with some redear. If they gave you that many redear, you might want to thin them out some before adding bluegill or otherwise neither sunfish is going to grow at all in a pond that small unless you're feeding with an automatic feeder. A pond that small is too small to manage effectively for bass, so bluegill/RES would be a good focus, but 200 total of both would still be a high number for a pond that size unless you feed the heck out of them. That ratio would work in a larger pond managed for trophy bass because you would want the sunfish numerous to provide more forage, but in a pond in which they should be the primary focus that's a high number.