Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Adding Fish to a Creek

Ok just wanted to know any pros and cons to adding fish to a creek. We have a creek that is full of LMB, GSF, Long Ears, and a few bullheads (at least that is what we have caught so far).

We have considered adding some Channel Cats and or Crappie to the creek and wanted some thoughts on this.

Please let me know if there are reasons I should or should not add them, or if I should consider other fish as well.

Thanks

My first question would be "what are the legalities of stocking a creek if it traverses my property?"

That is a good question, anyone on here know if this is legal in Oklahoma or not?

I don't know of any state where it is legal to stock public waters such as lakes and flowing streams without permission and permits.

Say it were ok to stock the fish. What do you think of the idea to add Crappie and Channel Cat to the mix of the fix.

Not to say these fish are not already in the creek or at least pass through when you get a heavy rain.

I am ready to fish the creek this spring after a good rain just to see what all kinds of fish move through it.

Personally, I think it's a waste of money and time. The fish won't stay where they are planted, and both fish are not creek fish.

So do I. To me, this has always sounded like adding fish to a lake.

I agree, it's a waste of time. Generally, what is in the creek is what will do well in it. Work on making the habitat better to hold the wild fish near where you want them. That is what I have done on the creek that runs through our hunting land. You could possibly consider feeding, as that may attract some of the sunfish and bullheads and increase their growth rates.

I believe Rex is right, I am not aware of a single state that doesn't require permits for stocking "open" waters. There are a few that allow certain highly common species to be stocked without permits, but that is not the norm. The only fish I bother stocking into our creek are trout. We have about a 60% return to the creel ratio. I am sure a number go up and down stream and some fall prey to predators and poachers.

The waste of time and money is something I could deal with, but just wanted to know if any kind of fish would damage the creek if put in there.

I figure they would stay most of the summer and fall until the heavy rains in the spring would allow them to leave.

When I say this is a creek, it realy only has about 3 pools of water that can be fished so the fish that are there are trapped unless there is a nice rain to get it flowing.

I know that we fished it for about 3 months this past year and the water level was never high enough for the fish to even move to the next pool let alone up or down stream.

As far as feeding fish in a creek has anyone done this. I think this may work during the last few months as well since rain is lite and the fish would feed until it got to cold and they stopped.

We may try this for a while just to see if we can get the sunfish and any catfis or even the LMB if they want to hit the feed.

This may help us determine how many sunfish are in there as well as what types.

Any other info recomendations.

Thanks