Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Creating the food chain Time to Stock the Pond

Update:

So I got to come home this weekend to see my pond for the first time. Just wanted to share because Im so excited. Some of the before pics are on the previous page. The pond filled to its current level just five days after the dry pics.

This is from the backwater looking to the dam, and I could not fit all the pond into the pic


This is from the dam looking back to where the first picture was taken. Once again its not all in the pic.


Some of hundreds of crawdads that have washed up dead, I dont know why. Should this worry me? The pasture that is now the pond had them in it naturally so maybe it just flooded them out.


But you cant hold mother nature back here are some brand new crawdad holes at the waters edge.


This is the most northern end of the pond. This pic was not even taken on my property. Thankfully the other two owners that were affected were happy to have more water on their land. The second fence is the start of my land. The posts are 12ft apart and I dont know if you can see them but there are 12 in water so the tail of the pond is over 144ft wide and a good 4ft deep.


This last pic is just thrown in haha


Some other intresting observations:

There have been 5-10 horses on this 80 acre plot of land year round for the last 20 years. All the horse manure on the groud where the pond now is all floated up and out on the side of the pond. Let me tell you there is now one big pile of manure on the side of the pond, but it is out of the water.
There is a slight odor about the pond espically in the more shallow parts but I think this is normal. Also some will evaporate soon. The water by the dam already seems to be rather clear, probably 10in clarity. I think this will get better as time goes by, also I hope it will take a more green tint soon. But we have buit cattle ponds only a mile away and they have never been anything but muddy, ponds with redish water. So I am happy that the water is the way it is.

I also found a small fish (under 3in) dead, it had been dead awhile but I took it to be a HBG, so that tells me some fish were washed in from somewhere. I dont know why he was dead. So maybe any other fish that washed in are dead now also. I tried to take a pic of the fish but it didnt come out. Ill go back with a dieffernt camera and if I can find the fish will try to take another picture.
Possibly the old manure and new water could have became toxic somehow and killed the fish. In the shallow grassy areas there is a slight oily looking film on just a little of the water. I know of other ponds in my area that have fish populations and the same film/grass around the pond so Im not worried. Good or bad the film is being pushed to the tail end of the pond by the southern winds. So I think this is a good thing.

There are already many ducks, birds, and deer, that have found the pond. The small beetles that swim in circles have also made it home. Also numerous small underwater inscets are easily seen, which I take to be potential CNBG food.
If I think of or see anything else Ill be sure to post. I plan to go back after some football games and take my swimming pool test strips to get a rough Ph estimate.

What a great project Jake. I don't know how I missed this thread. Looks like you are gonna have a great pond! It's amazing how quickly wildlife can find a pond. Keep posting, this is a great thread!

Congrats on the full pool!

Hey guys just gonna offer an update, and share a few observations.

I was walking around the pond when I saw a single fish dead in the water. It was a RES. It was 4in and weighed 21 grams dead. It had a small hole in its side (maybe cause of death) but otherwise looked very healthy. It even had a small "helmet" head forming. I stocked some RES in Jan but they were 1-3in. I highly doubt that a RES would have washed in from someone elses pond. So in ~2 months in cold water whats the odds he grew 1 inch or more and put on 16 grams weight? Then the next question is what killed him? obesity!!?

Next I went up into the backwater of the pond and noticed some minnow swimming around, hoping they were small CNBG I netted some and they were gambusia. I dont mind them, but didnt stock them.

Finally I know it is still cold, but my pond is very clear. It has 3-4ft visibility is some spots from the shore. Should this worry me? Its not even a year old, and never had a summer so maybe it will green up soon. It does have a slight bit of some kind of algae growing all around, some of the algae looks diff than others, maybe have more than one type.

any thoughts or comments appreciated,
Jake

The hole in the RES might have been caused by a Heron.

Have you seen any Herons around?

They are all around although I have never seen one at this pond, that is probably what got it.

I wouldn't worry about the gambusia, probably a good thing... Just curious where they would have come from? Mixed in with your other fish that you stocked perhaps?

Yes im fine with gambusia, they are very hardy, they could have been living in a small mud hole of a pond and washed in wtih the last rain, the bigger question is what else came in with them?

I highly doubt they were mixed in with the other fish I stocked.

How big is this mud hole pond? Any idea what is in there, that'll give you a good idea what may now be in your other pond.

Im not sure if it would even flow into my pond, I have never checked it that hard. I will look into it. The watershed for my pond is rather large and to tell you the truth I dont have a clue where all my water comes from. Most is run-off from wheat pasture.

Its time for an update, for me as much as anyone so I can have an e-journal of my pond if you will.

Today I went to the pond to deposit my new bass from Overton! They were in great shape and went in fine. I purchased them at 2inch and 100 Fla and 100 F'1 in the 5 acres that is currently at full pool. As I released them several feet out I noticed schools of minnows and I captured some and they were to small to identify, but probably FHM. I knew there were some fry but now after today I am confident there are literally millions fry the right size for my new bass to eat. So this prompted me to come back later with my cast net. I caught 4 massive CNBG and 2 pot belly RES on MY FIST CAST, excited does not say enough. I did not have my camera but you can bet next time I will take pics and weigh them to see how they are doing. Hopefully tomorrow.

On my next few casts I discovered some adult FHM which I did not know got anywhere close to that big one was 5 inches. I also caught a good size golden shiner and some small bullhead fry. the bullhead fry were two inches also, maybe my bass will outgrow the bullhead and then eat them. The bullheads did not go back, I have never seen them that small it was something else.

The discovery of the bullheads made me take a closer look at this mud hole of a pond I speak of in previous posts. I cast in it several times and came up with some real nice golden shiners about 6 inch or better, some either small BG or CNBG, one green sun fish, several large FHM one small RES, a crayfish, a bullhead fry, and many gams.


So this raises some questions, this pond had CNBG, golden shiners, and FHM, all fish that I stocked. So did mine run upstream to this small pond or were they already in it for years and waiting for the chance to go downstream with the recent rains to my bigger pond? maybe both?

next if my neighbor will let me should I seine the small pond when they are no longer connected and get the usefull fish and take them to my pond or by now would they just be a drop in the bucket?

All in all I learned alot about my pond and fish today. I hope to get pics of these CNBG and RES because I feel they are in great condition for never being fed or managed to be that big.

Also what % of orgional stockers are same size as the ones I caught? Time will tell, but my plans are coming together and im about to jump through myself.

Congrats, it sounds like your pond is coming along nicely. With all that FHM fry swimming around, your bass should grow quite fast!

The first thing that comes to mind on the comments you made about the fish you caught is that FHM do not grow to 5". If you catch anymore that size, try to get a photo and post it on here.

As far as the fish in the mud hole going up from your pond or vice versa, I think both are possible. The bullheads probably were present in the mud hole for years and decided to swim down stream and call your bigger pond home along with the GSF. I wouldn't stress out about the bullheads. The bass will grow fast and start feeding on them.

As far as seining the smaller pond, I think it is probably going to just be a drop in the bucket...

Ok a little over a month after stocking my 2in bass from Overton I caught some today in a cast net!
here is one. I did not have a ruler or scale but I do know the bottle in the picture is 8.5 inch. Hopefully it was at least 5 inches. In a little over a month from 2 inches, maybe this is good growth? I also caught 2 this size, and 2 much smaller. Are the bigger fish females? or flas? or both? Just trying to figure out why some were about half size...

Also caught some great CNBG and the pictures just dont do them justice! They are doing good, I came back with a scale and some are at 100% relative weight with no artificial feed yet. Here are a few.
One of the biggest females.


Is this a male or female?


Here is one that had nice color.


Hopefully many more pics to come. I cant wait till these CNBG push 10inches. I hope to get a feeding program for them! The yoy spawn are doing good too.

I also went to my trophy BG pond that does have fish food, and caught one at just under 7 inch and 117grams.

Nice fish! My uneducated guess is the bottom pic is of a male and the one right above that is a female. Experts???

That is good growth on the LMB. At that age the big ones could be male or female , Fla , northern or F-1. So could the small ones. The small ones are that way because of several possible factors including , genetics , food , or age.

Bottom BG is a male CNBG. Middle one - very hard to tell , my WAG , a female , but it could be an immature male.

Some great looking fish!

Hey guys, time for a little update, and a few questions.

I was surfing the net when I decided to check out google earth, and glad I did because the Sat. photos of my area have been updated. My pond that I eyeballed at 5-6 acre is really 8-9.

the pond is now 19 months old, the CNBG have been in 15 months, and bass 9 months. I have yet to get home to be able to sample them and check condition numbers and see if I can find yoy for all kinds.

the pond is stoked over 32:1 BG:Bass similiar to the way Greg Grimes advises (heavy bg:bass), but that was considering 5 acre. Could this be good or bad now that i discover its much bigger? I fear that there may not have been enough BG and the bass had to hunt harder to find dinner? or could it be the opposite that it could mean an even higher stocking ratio now? any thought on this? (my bass seemed to be doing ok in the month after stocking but there were lost of minnows for them to go after, see above posts and pics)

I plan to add 10lbs/acre tilipia for forage and FA control, should i get them ASAP (mid april) or wait till may b/c they probably wont spawn till then anyway?

I know these could be better answered if i could go fishing, or have an electroshock survey but i fear neither is in the near future.

Also will my carrying capacity reach its limit slower now that i could have stocked more fish, or after 15 months have the BG made up for lost time?

Last question, I dont need to harvest any bass this year right? the yoy should all stay eating size for my org. stockers?

Any thoughts, advice, or questions appreciated. My goal is to see some 1+lb bass by Oct and some 9 inch CNBG.

Once again this is a Trophy LMB goal pond.

Bump, for some opinions on previous post, thanks!

I am far from an expert in this, but I am pretty confident that you have enough BG in the pond even now that you found out it is bigger than you originally thought. The BG should pull off one heck of a spawn this spring and will quickly fill the void. If you intended goal is to grow some huge bass, the fewer bass you have in the pond the better. I don't think you will have to harvest bass until the year after you see your first reproduction happen in your pond. At that time you want to start removing the first generation of bass born in you pond. You don't want to remove the original stocker fish. Just the ones born in your pond and remove lots of them if your goal is big bass...

Jakeb, Conratulations on the surprise of having a larger pond than you expected. That's a great bonus.

I was fired up to hear your Satellite photos had been updated on Google earth, but I was not as lucky and my pond still isn't showing up.

I'm also anxious to add Tilapia also for FA control and not so much for Bass forage just because my CNBG have done great and pulled off some excellent spawns. I have asked Todd Overton via e-mail today about when the soonest I should stock Tilapia in my area would be, and I'm sure I'll hear from him soon.

Good luck with your trophy bass pond and be sure to post some pictures when you can.

FRPeeps, please let me know what you learn from Todd. If i remember correct, As long as the water stays above 60 you can put them in, but they wont do much till the water hits 70+

and picturs are first on my list of thngs to get done tomorrow.

Bass Caught in cast net yesterday, now 9 months old. Should do well when tilapia are soon added. Easy 10 inch, not overweight by any means, but i think it is healthy. Only one I caught do to the very little fishing i got to do, so there has got to be a bigger one in there somewhere.


also learned that I have had a RES, and BG spawn either this year or last fall. Golden shiner numbers seem to be strong, and caught a few adult CNBG that looked good! overall im excited to move into summer and see what all the fish look like the next few months and into fall. Heck im ready for tilapia die off and dont even have any yet =).

jakeb, PM sent.

Update: Went fishing yesterday and caught first rod and line bass from my pond. did not have ruler or scale plus at 105 outside I didnt want the bass of of the water for long enough to even take a pic. I marked a spot on my arm and threw it back in. I did notice that it had a nice little belly, more so than comparable sized fish from the smaller pond on the same property. I estimate the fish at 14-15 inches, I guess it is an original stocker but wanted to see it a little bigger. However the pot belly I felt was a good sign.

Also my tilapia lasted until late December last year and found dead ones from about 4 inches and up, none smaller. That worried me some, I thought I would see less of them but my bass may not have been big enough to eat anything bigger. Anyway I have not stocked them back this summer because the pond is so low. We have had about 4in of rain from October to now, which is scary and if we dont get any soon, it may be September until we expect to get some in our normal pattern. The pond is basically down to little more than the main hole that was dug. So I thought it best not to add anymore fish. The BG and golden shiner population is still great.

I have not seen any of the stocker CNBG in about a year or more, Im sure they are in there somewhere. But I have seen plenty RES in my cast net and some are quite sizeable over 1lb. The minnows are long gone but the G shiners are thriving. Pleanty of CNBG in the 3-5inch range, infact thats all I have seen in about a year. I do think they have all to eat they want.

Next year if it rains I will get tilapia or possibly shad.

I know I have had at least one spawn because I have seen some 3-5inch bass in my cast net. But now that the bass are 2 years old I think I need to take some offspring out, or even stockers that are not doing well? Say if I catch one 11inch I suppose if it is fat its an offspring and if its thin could be struggling stocker?

I know there are so many things to consider, and I dont have a very large sample size to work from, but either way its probably time to take smaller fish out? keep in mind I stocked about 30:1 as opposed to the 10:1 usually seen.

Perhaps its time to put a electro survey on the wish list for winter?

Any help or comments appreciated.

Hello everyone, sorry to bring up an old topic but im adding to this because this thread is basically my blog of my pond if you will. But feel free to comment if you wish!

Today we conducted first shock survey and results were encouraging.


First from my last post till now has been uneventful for the pond. It was very very low in 2011 and such a hot and dry year I didnt even fish it.

Now to the survey results! we caught around 30 bass from 10-20 iches. The largest was just under 6lbs and over 19 inches. When the report comes back I will have his exact measurements and RW. We caught one fish longer at 20 inch but was not as heavy. Remember bass were added June 11 2009 from overton at about 2inch. 100flas and 100f1. with a heavy 30+:1 stocking of CNBG to BASS. I was hoping to see a few bigger but I understand electro fishing is just a sample. Also two fish just escaped the electricity and could very well have been bigger than anything we caught! (gotta have a one that got away story

A few interesting notes, fish were mainly caught in 3 areas, the areas that also happen to have the best structure in the pond. Golden Shiner population of 3-4 inch fish is outrageous, probably higher than most people would like. Also very few CNBG and RES were sampled, but with such a great RW's seen there has to be plenty in the pond. This is also confirmed by cast net. Tilapia were also stocked this summer, and have grown well, only two were sampled today tho, one in the mouth of the large fish, and another in the 5-6inch range. Another cause for the poor sampling of bait fish was the fact that the pond was very low and much of it was not accessible to the electro boat. He also harvested about 6 fish and pulled otiliths (spell check?) and the report will let me know if some "borderline" fish were runts from last year, or exceptional fish from this year.

One more interesting observation I had was that the bass in the 16inch range all seemed to have very small mouths compared to their length and weight. I hope this is a sign of a fish that is growing very fast.

I have now also confirmed at least two spawns of bass, which would be correct I guess if the bass were added as yoy in June 2009

I will try to post a picture tomorrow of the large fish. I look forward to fishing the pond now that I know where the big fish hang! I will also post again when my full report comes back and I read what it has to say. Although he already said the fish were exceptional and the report will more focus on the need for more structure and aquatic vegetation. We also discussed the idea of a CNBG "feeder" pond that only purpose would be to grow CNBG over winter to add to the pond come spring.

I would like to thank everyone here on pondboss that has helped me with this project so far! I think it is coming along well. I am still in a relentless pursuit of that double digit bass!.