Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Another BG question

I finished construction of my 1 ac pond last summer, and am ready to start stocking. Thus far, I have on average 6-8 ft of water. "If" the pond fills to full pool, there will be 14' holes with an average depth of 8-10'. I'll be putting in 5 lbs of FHM initially with BG's. I'm debating whether to put in hybrids or not. My main goal for this pond is to grow large bass, but I have small kids so panfishing does come into play. I will be feeding with pellets.

I realize that if I stock HBG, then I'll have to restock down the road & I can theoretically control stunting. Is the main reason for using hybrids vs. regular BG, population control(and therefore size control)?? I'm an impatient person and don't want to wait 3+ years for the bluegills to reach the size of my hand. Do hybrids grow larger, or just faster?? If you stock HBG, then what will the bass eat when the HBG get big besides pellets? Would it be wise to stock HBG with RES for bass forage?

Justin

HBG or RES will not reproduce enough to keep up with feeding the bass. BG will reproduce the best for you if your goal is have bass.

How large are you wanting these bass to get?

Justin, if large bass are the primary goal then neither hybrids, or Redear will provide the forage the Bass will need. In a 1 acre pond, this is probably going to be an either/or scenario, if you are talking Largemouth Bass. Big Bass, or big panfish.

Hybrids grow faster initially, but native BG will outgrow them with proper management. Your situation sounds like a case of not being able to have your cake and eat it too, at least in my opinion.

If you want large Bass in a 1 acre pond, then manage for them. If you want large panfish, manage for them instead of the Bass. Supplemental feeding will benefit your Bluegills, which will benefit your Bass also.

Have you considered Hybrid Striped Bass?

Also, impatience and ponds don't always work well together. Great results take time and effort on the part of the pondowner.

Justin, for a pond your size I would strongly consider hybrid striped bass(HSB). Or consider smallmouth(SMB) bass over largemouth(LMB) bass. Managing a LMB/BG pond in a 1 acre pond is very challenging. Particularly when the goal is "large" bass. For northern Ill. I would guess large would be anything over 5 pounds. Keep in mind a 1 acre pond, might be able to support 100 pounds of bass. That is just 20 bass or so... Those 20 bass will get really smart really quick and be quite challenging to impossible to catch on artificials.

If you have never caught an HSB, they make LMB look like kids play in comparison fight wise. They are easily raised on pellets which means you can support higher numbers in your pond. If you do go the LMB route, I would strongly suggest you try to source pellet trained LMB. Intensively manage the pond via feeding and aeration to support as much biomass as you can. I would really recommend this for any stocking option you go with.

Be patient, ask questions, research the sight for yourself and then make the right decisions for the fish you stock. What you stock now will affect the quality of your fishery for many years to come...

One last thing I will say, you can always switch to a LMB backbone pond if you dislike the HSB or SMB stocking option. However, once LMB are stocked, you cannot switch to a SMB pond.