Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Creating the food chain Can I stock minnows in my new pond from my creek?

I have a newly built 3/4 acrea pond with a deep end and a shallow end. Eventually i want to try and stock with bass and perch. I have a local shop that sells FHM to stock it, but I also have a creek that runs through my property. Any night before we go fishing we put a basket in it with some bread crumbs and in the morning I have a ton of minnows. Can I throw these in the pond as well? I am going to try ans stay away from sunfish and blue gill as my father in law stocked his pond with them and they have completely taken over. What do you think would be the type of minnow in the creek?

Greenlantern, can you provide us with a picture of said minnows? There's a chance they are creek chubs which are abundant in most creeks throughout the US. They require moving water to spawn in so they will not likely reproduce in a pond. If you're going with LMB, you basically will need to stock BG. They're the tried and true source of forage. Just practice selective harvest so they don't overpopulate and stunt like in your father in law's pond.

I will take some pics when I get out there next. I really hate to hear blue gill need to be put in the pond. The other fish I was going to put in are rock bass. They are popular here in westen NY, fun to catch and grow big enough for eating. Same for them as well?? I really like the bass and perch family for fishing and eating. Everyone I know who tries the blue gill regrets it later...

No other fish reproduces consistently enough to sustain a forage base adequate enough for a relevant LMB population. Stick around and experts will help you make sure they don't overpopulate.

If you are into SMB that may be an option and you may not need the BG for them.

Just a thought, and the experts will chime in soon.

Tell us more about the pond. Depth, cover, aeration?, etc.

The pond is about 3/4 acre in size. It has a shallow end and a deep end. The deep end goes down to 20+feet. My friend made the pond for me. he cut a diversion ditch from the fields above. The water flows readily, if it rains forget it. It is filling quickly. i have dropped a 40' pine tree in there, and plan to put a lot more habitat in there soon. pallets etc...I have posted 2 videos of the pond below. One is the pond the day after it rained. The next is 10days later. Thanks for all the advice..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsiKFBf4TmE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zg1yjVMkNw

GL it looks like you've carved out a real nice pond, if you want some forage fish, Golden Shiners would be a good addition especially if you could stock 5 or 10 lbs. of adults this fall or in the spring and they would be ready to spawn in the late spring.
As Omaha said if you could provide some photo's of the stream minnows someone should be able to ID them, but you need to know for sure what you would be getting cause a stream can also carry many common lake species depending on the source, that's how Pumpkinseeds made their way into my pond.

I would strongly recommend you stock SMB over LMB for your pond for what you want to do... Do a search on this website for ideas on how you can make your pond more SMB friendly. There are ways to help them spawn, etc. SMB will do well in your northern climate, they won't require BG as a forage fish like LMB pretty do and you can stock some rock bass with them without issue.

ok, hopefully this works. i took these pics today, can someone tell me what these are and whether I should put them in my pond. There are tons of them in my creek.

http://picasaweb.google.com/greenlantern412/1stPondHabitat#

Looks like creek chub to this untrained eye.

This one too.

I concur, look like creek chubs to me. Bass love to eat them, but since they don't spawn in ponds they don't make very good forage for bass in ponds...

hey greelantern. i recently started on this website myself. i asked the same question about a month ago because i have a couple of creeks near by with a good source of creek minows. pretty much everyone agreed that it i would be exposing my new pond to any unknown disease the creek may have and i may get one or two little fish that i dont want in my pond. if you sain a bunch of minnows and there may be a baby fish that you cant see in the net. so, ive decided not to sain the creek just to be safe. in fact next friday im going to the fish farm and getting 5 lbs of fh minnows from a local farm. im going to let them really get going before i put lmb in. i will say, owning a new pond is a lot cooler than i thought it would be and i really enjoy the dudes on this site.

I agree, this is awesome. I was working on it yesterday, putting pallet homes in for my minnows.I put in 2 lbs yesterday, about 500 of them. Next week I am going down with a post hole digger and setting in 6 4x4's for a small dock Im putting in next summer. The pond is about 3/4 full si I still have time to get the poles in. Today, my sons and I are building pvc trees!

Speaking of odd fish, I netted one up and wish I would have had the camera or an empty tank to put it in.

I was trying to catch some minnows from a creek to use as bait and dipped this fish up. It was probably close to 2" and looked like what I would think of as a small WE or SE but I know they would not live in this water we were at.

I am sure it was some type of little native baitfish and I am trying to locate it on the web.

So point I am trying to make here follows what River Rat said above, if you were to seine minnows for instance you want to check them closely as this fish would have just slipped in.

Sounds like you caught a darter or log perch MRHELLO...

I went down the same road or creek if you want about bluegill. With some help and pond boss education, I am stocking SMB instead of LMB thus I am avoiding the BG. I do not live on property so management would be harder and I want to avoid the overpopulation and stunting. If you are open to change, there are several great threads on SMB. I will be stocking WE and YP with Fatheads and Blunt-nose as forage to accompany the SMB.

Bill Cody just wrote a great 5 part series on SMB eggs to fish for Pond Boss. Worth the read.

Either way, welcome and good luck

Fish are the cheapest part of the pond experience. Proper stocking rates and sizes are one of the most important parts. Why not do it right and get the right stuff instead of messing around with what could cause problems?

thats all I needed to hear. I did not spend 1000's on my property and dream pond to battle with problems over a few hundred bucks...I just put 1000 golden shiners in, from local gander Mountain, and they have a health dept. sticker attached to them...It makes me feel good! In a few weeks I am taking the wife and kids to a local fish hatchery to see the different fish. I am pretty sure im going with perch and SMB. Great info here..

That's a good mix for the pond, I'm sure you will have many happy hours fishing in it.