Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Fathead minnow fry?

Water temps are controlling factor assuming good fish condition. When water temps reach 68F +- they start - stop or greatly reduce at 81 F+- and start back when water cools below 81 but above 68 but later spawn is a lesser one. Note the study stopped in July and did not cover the cool down period.

I wonder how much success GSH born in August and Sept have in colder climates where winters can be harsh. I would think small GSH would struggle to survive a winter.

Entirely likely. That is a big factor for most species up north. They starve to death - not as much food/shorter growing season plus they use up more reserves due to the cold. Shorty can let us know next spring.

I should be predator heavy going into winter, even if we have a mild winter I doubt many of the late summer hatch GSH survive. The same will likely be true of the early hatched GSH, the survival percentage for most YOY fish is pretty low. At the moment I still have a ton of 1-2" GSH/FHM everywhere.

I have seen late hatch BG fry survive winters here at my dad's old pond, I won't be suprised to see a few small GSH at ice out but won't expect to see many.

Shorty,

I always wonder what the reasoning is behind such a small pond? I'm not trying to be rude or anything, just genuinely curious.

Why not? To have a pond or not have a pond is the question.

The pond I stocked is an old existing cattle watering hole that I had the silt dug out of. Making it bigger would have required moving the dam down the hill and I did not think moving the existing dam was worth the extra costs and the water shed that feeds it wouldn't be large enough to keep a larger pond full. You can grow some nice fish in a small BOW, just look at what Cecil has done. IMO a small pond is much easier to manage than a large one, my dad's old pond was 9.9 acres and was a lot of work. I do like feeding and watching the fish plus all of the others stuff that comes with a pond. I do have two other potential pond sites on my place but that will be a few years down the road.

gwa, here's my take on the small ponds. I've got one biggie, and 3 small(1/3 acre or less) ponds.

Here's some of my non-professional personal opinions:

1) Small ponds are so much easier to manage time and money wise.
2) Results can be seen much easier.
3) Chemical and fish cost is far more manageable. One gallon each of SHORE-KLEAR and Cutrine Plus will manage all 3 small ponds for a year.
4) Big water can make many preferable options undoable. Whitecap for 15 acres? I can't pull the trigger on that, but a backpack sprayer can handle my small ponds relatively cheaply.
5) Start up cost is greatly reduced, because Caterpillar time is $$$.
6) Small ponds are Koi ponds for big boys(IMHO). They're tranquil, beautiful to look at, and very kid friendly.

These are just a few reasons I get the small pond attraction. When I started all this, I just wanted enough shoreline to keep the fences up, but have changed my opinion since then. I almost wish I had more small ponds instead of the one big one.

As we speak, I'm almost at the point of letting the big lake self manage, and devote all my time to the smaller ones.

Big water is great and lot's of fun, but damn they can be expensive and time consuming. Especially here in TX where we now seem to have a 10 month weed growing season.

Just my opinion.

Al, as many big water fishermen know, you have to spend a lot of time finding fish.....we KNOW where they are in our small ponds...

George you're absolutely correct, and big water fish are very inconsiderate. They'll move after searching for and finding them.

Hey the extended growing season was good for first year of our newest pond allowing the BG to reprdouce a lot

I caught my first GSH on hook & line yesterday. Could this be an early hatch GSH from last spring?



I still have a lot of GSH in the 1-1/2" range swiming around the edge of the weed line. I assume these are last summers late hatch from August.

Steve whats the size - 4-6"? If so I think it could be an early summer spawn age 1 GSH. Looks SMBlicious.

This one was right around 6". I am also seeing a few 3-4" GSH but mostly schools of 1-1/2" GSH. I am pretty sure that these are last summers late hatch GSH, they were right around 1" going into winter at ice up.

Last year at ice out I found one dead 5-6" GSH which I assume was one of the original 3 dozen GSH I had stocked in June of 2011.

I think the 6" GSH was probably one of the hatchlings from original stockers of June 2011.

Bill, any idea when GSH sexually mature? Here are a few pictures from my June 4th 2011 stocking, I had two morts. Could they have pulled off a spawn late summer 2011?





I am surprised how much the water clarity has changed since the GSH were stocked. It's almost too clear now.

That 6" GSH was likely one of the original stocked broodfish. In WI and MN a 6" GSH is near 5 yrs old. GSH in upper to middle Mississippi Rv are 4 yrs old at 6". Golden shiners will spawn during the temperature range of 68-80F so you could have easily had hatches in summer of 2011 which are likely 4"-5" long this year as two year olds. GSH in southern states can spawn at 7 months old but most spawn at 12-14 months old.

Thanks Bill! I am just puzzled, the one I caught yesterday wasn't much bigger than the dead one I found at ice out last year, it was at least 5" or longer. We did have an early spring last year which gave us a longer than usual growing season in 2012.

On another odd note, I also caught one 6" YP, likely a male, and another YP that was 10-1/2" and very gravid. Those two were both the largest and smallst YP I have seen out of my pond so far.

Fish from the same year class will grow at different rates. Each spawn as slower growing runts and fast growing individuals with lots of ones in-between. Your perch a good evidence of the variance in growth rates even if they were from two different year classes.

Thanks Bill!

Any thought on whether these are GSH or FHM?

GSH?


FHM? (2 pictures, same fish)

I think you are correct. Top fish is a GSH and bottom 2 pics are of a FHM.

Thanks Bill!

I concur.

Late - but me too !

Did those fish come out of muddy water?

No on the muddy water, I did have them in a bucket overnight while my camera battery charged so I could take pictures. I caught them while raking a small patch FA and picked them up off the muddy wet bank the night before. I did mud it up a tad while raking. Why do you ask? What do you see in the picture?

The muddy picture above is from my June 2011 FHM and GSH stocking before my alum treatment. The water clarity at ice out this spring was 8-9ft. I have since added a small amount of pond dye to reduce the water clarity down to 3-4ft.