Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Creating the food chain 1/2 acre pond in ny food chain?

Hi, i currently have a trianglular pond that is around 1/2 acre and it is 1'-2' in one of the corners, 2'-4' in the second corner and 6'-10' in the final corner. Both of the shallower corners have rush planted in them and the deeper corner has gravel. Each corner segment is around 10'x10'. The entire rest of the pind is 15' deep. What kind of fish should I get and how many of each. I need something like 20 largemouth bass, 10 bluegil...etc.
I will use this pond for recreational fishing and most likely the apex predator will be LMB. Please suggest a food chain.

Thanks

If you are set on a Largemouth/Bluegill pond, stock Bluegills at the rate of 15-30 for every Largemouth you put in the pond. This is for fingerling fish. Figure 75-100 LMB per acre so adjust your LMB/BG numbers accordingly.

If it was my pond, and I could feed the fish, (and could stock the following species) I'd look into Hybrid Striped Bass, Hybrid Bluegills and Redear Sunfish.

Can you provide exacr numbers?

Ex: 25 lmb
500 BG
200 Gsh
150 RED EAR SUNFISH
12 crayfish
1 qt daphnia
100 fatheads
Maybe:
12 Yp
5 channel cats

Realize I pulled those numbers out of my a*s, but something along those lines would help me a lot.

Thanks

2 options; one is the lmb pond, another is a chain pickerel pond. Please list species for each as I did above. How is the physical pond layout though?

For chain pickerel are you willing to have CP and no LMB?

Yeah. Please leave suggestions

CP are no commercially available so they would have to be caught from a public body of water and transferred to a pond... Just an FYI.

What is it you are looking to get out of this pond? How much fishing pressure will it see? Are there currently any fish in it? Are you willing to feed the fish pellets and/or aerate the pond? Answering these questions will get you better advice...

I have a place where I can catch 15 to 20 inch pickerel. I will stock it with all of the baitfish, please leave a suggestion in the style I had above. Before all of the pickerel. I will stock baitfish in june and maybe the pickerel in october this year or may next year. There are no fish in it currently. I will fish in the pond every so often on the weekend. No I wont feed the fish because im only there on the weekend. Please reply with BOTH pickerel and bass suggestions. Thanks

I have no experience with pickerel in ponds. There are fish feeders that are battery powered and have a solar panel to keep the battery charged so they work when you aren't there.

Im not interested in using a fish feeder period. I just need suggestions of a foodbchain for both lmb and cp like the farmat above. Esshup, I iknow your knowledgeable about stocking so please make a lmb one and if you had to make a cp one please tell me a setup. Thanks

What is that? Can you leave a suggestion for the pickerel and bass pond?

All I want is suggestions for fish in the format above, no links or any other side questions. Sorry to sound rude but I just need 1 answer, not 1000.

Ponds are not perfect or absolute, and many times the answers to pond related questions are delivered in the same fashion. Everyone here is trying to help, but as is often said here at PB, the numbers you're asking about sometime "depend" on a multitude of variables, which is why you are receiving so many questions.

Trying to reduce everything to a mathematical formula would be nice, but it doesn't always work that way with ponds and fish, at least not before first establishing all of the particulars.

so the math is

1/2 acre pond.

low side 37.5 LMB / 562.5 - 1,125 BG

High Side 50 LMB / 750 - 1,500 BG

it all depends on your specific goals really ... so the answer to your question really depends on lots of things.

Bass and bluegill only? Fhm yp gsh cc crayfish daphnia? Wont they all help? Please include pickerel setup also. I can include many fish. I have quite a bit of money.

Having a lot of money is certainly a valuable asset where pond management is concerned. So is patience, however.

Have you given any thought to hiring a professional pond consultant? Many of these individuals or companies will travel great distances to check out your pond, and having eyes on the project is always beneficial. They will be able to answer all of your questions, and provide guidance in whichever direction you decide to go. Probably even source the fish for you, and place them into the BOW directly. It's all on your dime of course, but if money is no object it will be hard to beat that level of service for prompt results.

Can someone please answer the original question on what fish to include for a bass pond setup and a pickerel pond setup. Please use the format I have shown. That is ALL I need, please no other opinions or other things. All I need is options on THAT question. No others. Once again, sorry if I sound rude but please just answer what I asked. Everyone please chime in.

Once again, I dont just want bg and bass. I would like cc yp gsh fhm crayfish maybe daphnia. Also PLEASE USE THE FORMAT that is somewhere near the start of the form. Also please say a pickerel setup.

I would put some pickerel in there, maybe some perch, how bout some forage, maybe some minnows? I had some other thoughts too..

as mentioned its not that simple.

Are you wanting lots of little bass or a few bass that are larger.

same with BG......

For both setups, fish 1.5 lbs and up. The apex predators, not the yp or anything else. Just the cc cp and lmb

aetain:

I'm sorry that I couldn't answer your question in more detail sooner. I was with clients today answering their questions about their ponds. They actually pay me money to answer their questions (who would have thunk?). I like having money to pay my bills, so I had to do that rather than stay by the computer.

If you don't have habitat in the pond to support your fish population, then no matter how perfect your fish stocking strategy is, it won't work. Fish don't do well living in a bathtub. Your forage fish won't have the correct habitat to spawn, and you won't have the correct habitat for the YOY fish to grow. No, I'm not going to go into details on what habitat to put in the pond. There is a whole thread in the archives that will tell you that. I don't mean to be rude, but like was said earlier, there are pond consultants that will come to your place and lay out a complete pond strategy if that is what you want vs. learning about how to do it yourself. (and yes, I'm one of them)

I can't and won't give you stocking strategy for the CP pond. I haven't managed any ponds with CP in them and don't want to give you a wrong answer.

Here's the LMB/BG pond stocking strategy that I would tell a client of mine if they asked.
So, here’s the LMB pond:
1/2 acre pond.

low side 37.5 LMB / 562.5 - 1,125 BG

High Side 50 LMB / 750 - 1,500 BG
(Thanks BobbyRice)
10# GSH
10# FHM
If you have the habitat for the crayfish to survive LMB predation (I’d go with at least 1/4th of the shoreline from waters edge down to 10 deep in 8” -10” dia rip-rap at least 2, preferably 3 rocks thick, then I’d stock 500 3”-4” Papershell crayfish. If you don’t have the habitat for them, then don’t stock them.

I’d make 20% of the Bluegill numbers RES. You do the math for number of fish that is.

If you want YP, I’d recommend 40-50.

I wouldn’t recommend stocking CC. Same with the daphnia.

All fish are fingerling size, with the exception of GSH and FHM. Get what sizes are available.

Stock the GSH, FHM, & Papershells 6-8 months before stocking the other fish to let them multiply.

Thank you esshup, thays what im looking for. Nownif anyone can chime in for a CP pond, please go ahead. Thanks