Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Yellow Perch/Smallmouth or Largemouth Bass???

Happy New Year everybody:

Who has tried a Yellow Perch/Smallmouth Bass only pond? Or who has tried a Yellow Perch/Largemouth Bass only pond?

What is your experience? Does it work?

And if it works, what kind of stocking ratio - Yellow Perch/Smallmouth or Largemouth Bass – did you use?

Please share your experiences.

Thank you,
Regards,
FRIZ

Are any other forage fish or invertebrates included or allowed in the stocking combination of the past experiences? Are you talking about using just YP and bass?

Yes.

Yes and No.

I would start any new pond with a certain amount of Fathead Minnows/Golden Shiner/Redear Sunfish.
But except this, I am inquiring about a Yellow Perch/Smallmouth or Largemouth Bass only pond.(No Bluegill Sunfish)If at all possible.

Please share your experiences.
Thank you,
Regards,
FRIZ

I think there are at least three of us here with SMB/YP/RES ponds: me, Brettski,and an undisclosed draft pick I can't remember. Bski and I stocked this way with Cody's info and assistance. IMO my pond and also Bski's are too young to state that this stocking concept has been proven BY US. But Cody has done enough of this that I would follow his advice (obviously).

The interesting wild card that Cody offered as a pressure relief valve was the option of introducing walleye(s) to help control the balance.

TJ?

There is a 1/3 ac pond near me with SMB, RES, YP, and GSH. Pond is older - pre 1984. Pond is aerated - electric. YP and GSH were added about four years ago. A-M Pellets are fed but not more than 2-3 times per week. All species are thriving and none are overpopulated. SMB numbers were reduced when YP were added to benefit survival of YOY YP and GSH. After reducing SMB the RES appear to be more common. So far very few fish are annually harvested from the pond.

In last couple of years pond has been turbid. Owner tried Alum treatment which helped for awhile. One amur present, 1-2 removed. Pond used to have problems with Chara thus the amur. Now owner has decided Chara was better than turbid water. He is trying to get out the last amur so he can plant hybrid water lilies.

Several ponds near me with SMB-YP. All are managed differently. A couple have no other fish but SMB-YP, some have been contaminated with other species. Some get A-M pellets some don't. Better growth and size structure are where fish are fed A-M pellets. Very little fish harvest is from any of the ponds. I know of no ponds with no weeds near me that have good results with LMB-YP.

I knew this topic was headed toward hybrid water lilies.





ewest - Cody says Hybrid water lilies will be the "in" thing for 2010.

Thank you Bill Cody.
Regads,
Friz

I think Brettski's pond is far enough along to deem it successful.

Of course, if Brettski would learn how to fish, we'd have a much better understanding.

Yep we almost never get any fishing reports from B'ski - to busy building things. Come spring B'ski you need to chill and go fishing and then take a nap in the hammock.

Believe me guys, there ain't nuthin' that I would enjoy more...but...duty calls. The only time I might get a break is like this weekend; when the high temps are 12-14 degrees. Hey...I know...I can just walk out on the ice.

Hey Theo - what does Home Alone have to do with this ?

1) Oversized version of
2) Brettski: Frozen, wet bandit.

Pick one.

YP, RES, SMB, HSB and CSBG...so I dont think I count, quite.

Keeping the BG under control is going to be my major challenge - but with 2:1 slopes therefore not much aquatic vegetation I'm hoping natural predation plus lots of harvest will keep their numbers manageable.

If not, introduce same sex LMB and hope for the best!

I hate to break this to you TJ but steep slopes never slowed down the macrophytes or bluegills in my ponds. You'll be adding those same sex bass sooner than you think.

Perhaps you can provide said same sex green carp for me? Male or female are better at predation? I am doing a lot of business in IN so could easily write off the trip - or maybe Rex can swing by?

I'd be happy to have you visit. I even have a guest room you can stay in. Only problem is I no longer raise green carp. Only smallies.

I am interested to see what others think about the same question, which sex is better for single sex BG control?

The way the price of diesel is climbing, those would be some expensive carp!!!

Wonderful - thanks for the hospitality Cecil. Of course you know the same deal here for you if you ever wander down this way.

I guess I'll be fishing the spawning beds this Spring for LMB and either pick all the skinny or fat kids.

Make sure you squeeze em first!

If it was me I'd first pick the fatties and then probe 'em with a tube to be sure. I posted something on that here once.

Are you picking the females because of ease of identification Cecil or because you feel they control BG better, or both?

I'd lean towards the females, they get bigger, therefore they should need more food, plus they should have a larger gape as well.

TJ:

If you get too tired to make it to Cecil's, there's an extra room here as well.

Thanks guys - I appreciate the offers! Having a pond with 12" RES and CSBG, 20" SMB, 15" YP, 28" HSB and a bonus 6-7 lb LMB is not a bad prospect.

sexing LMB:

Attempts have
been made to sex adult largemouth bass by looking at the shape of the scaleless area around the
urogenital opening. The scaleless area tends to be more or less circular in males and more elliptical in
females. This method frequently leads to misidentification of sex. Sexing of brood fish can be done in
LARGEMOUTH BASS WHITE PAPER (MARCH 29, 2000) PAGE 5
the spring prior to spawning when the female has a distended abdomen, and a red swollen protruding
vent. The males may be emitting milt. The most accurate way to sex largemouth bass is to insert a
small tube into the vent and look for eggs or milt.

I think I'll go with the latter approach.

Better safe than sorry... Once you goof up, there is no return!

If I was raising green carp (which I'm not anymore) I would pick the females because they reach larger trophy size (or at least this is the general consensus.) However if one is using them to control smaller fish perhaps the males would be a better choice?

Been there done that! Accidentally dropped one male perch in female only yellow perch pond before the last drain down. I ended up with several hundred 6 to 7 inch perch later in the year. Stupid me I was checking to see if the mesh size was right on a cage to keep him in, and he jumped out of my hand!

Fortunately there was silver lining, as I had to drain the pond down anyway (due to dyke damage by five star moles, which wasn't as bad as I thought.) I recovered many of them, put them in a cage with feed trained perch of similar size. Most of them are now veracious pellet feeders.

The search function works well. Here are 3 prior threads on sexing LMB and or BG including pics.

I agree with CB1 on the female LMB. This is especially true if they are Fla's or F-1s or F-X's.

http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=103605&fpart=1


http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthread...true#Post156959

http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthread...true#Post171624

This is great Eric, thank you.

Service with a .

Hi,

I live in southern Indiana. I have a 1.65 acre pond. It has steep slopes the depth down the middle from one end of the pond to the other is 24 feet. It is half full. No fish. I love fishing. I want to be able to get a good system together. I would love yellow perch, smallmouth, redear, catfish, and because of the depth put and take rainbow. I don’t even know if this is all possible or feasible. I will regularly take out the channel cats. Basically I don’t want fish I can go catch on every other pond in a 2 mile area. I want to know where to start how to stock etc. I know it’s a tall order but I have read a lot on this forum and others. Hopefully someone can get me going on when to add forage fish etc and if this combination would even work. Thank you in advance.

Put small forage (FHM, Gambusia, perhaps GSH) this year. Stock the rest next year.

What stocking amounts, also will the combination work? Thank you. Nervous about doing it right is an understatement. Lol

Hello Smalllunker. You might be better off making your own thread to discuss the questions you have asked. This thread is from 11 years ago. You have some interesting goals in mind and I'm curious to see how it all pans out. Sounds exciting.

If you want SMB that spawn, it's best to build spawning structure now before the pond fills. Can't hurt to dump in some FHM now, but get them from a reputable supplier to avoid stocking problem fish contaminating the FHMs. I have a 1-acre pond with SMB and YP with FHM, GSH, lake chubsucker, and papershell crayfish in it. Only added 20 total SMB (10 in 2 consecutive years), but they spawned. Some big SMB in the pond now. I stocked light and was patient about getting the forage base established before adding the SMB.