Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose What to stock in a 4/10 of an acre pond

I would like to have channel catfish, redear bream, coppernose and/or hybrid blue gill, fathead minnows, and after the minnows and bream are established I would like to add at least a couple bass. Can i have both coppernose and hybrid blue gill? or should i pick one of the other? I am looking for suggestions on how many of each species?

Are you going to throw any other fish in this pond? Like bass or crappie

I would like to throw some bass in once I get the food chain started and I also thought about putting crappie but was informed that I shouldn't.

If i was in your shoes i would stock as many fathead minnows as you can. you cant have enough. Also stock the redear and teh coppernose. The coppernose will be the main forage base. as far as the hybrid they are mainly there for a sport fish to catch they reproduce at a very low rate and will be big enough to compete for food with bass, as they too will eat your minnows and small coppernose bluegill. be patient stock minnows and redear and wait then coppernose. after a year and half stock your channel cat and small bass. what do you want out of your pond?

Just a nice place to get away and catch some fish. I want to have large bream both to eat and just to catch. As far as the bass goes I'm not really looking for record size bass just a population that is good enough to go out and catch a couple.

You could throw some hybrids in there they are fun to catch also, they just wont help the bass that much. Stock 20lbs of minnows and 100 redear this fall and 300-400 coppernose early spring and 75 to 100 hybrid and 10-20 small 6-8 inch bass and around 50 channel in the following fall. This is what i would do if it was my pond.just my opinion

Might not hurt also to throw in a few golden shiners if you have them in your area. Would be a great idea to also feed the channel and bluegill pellets to help with the food base for the bass.

Thanks I plan on feeding pellets

I think 50 CC is a lot for a pond of 1/2 acre.

@ sprkplug what would you suggest for a pond of this size?

Here's my take on it.... CC are great table fare, and they're fun to catch. They're also cheap, and easy to get. I would be tempted to start with 12-15. Remember that CC will readily take to pelleted feed, and they will grow pretty quickly that way. In addition they can become very hook shy, especially if CPR is the order of the day. Once they get around 16" I would start harvesting, and see how many I tended to keep, or use.....remembering that C&R can lead to wary fish.

You can always stock more if you see yourself utilizing them more frequently.

Ha! I accidentally dumped 100 CC in my 1/4 acre pond in fall. It's gonna take many beers to get them down to my 15 to 20 goal. I'm holding off fishing for them till they are atleast big enough to cook whole. What was I thinking?

Do you have any other fish in your pond?

Collette,
My pond is in Mississippi and they recommend 50 CC per acre in a pond that also has BG and LMB. You could have more CC if it was ONLY a CC pond. I put 50 in my 1 acre pond and find that they are difficult t catch and think they have had a negative affect on the BG population one they got to a pound or too. I wish I hadn't stocked CC.

Where did you get your CC from?