Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Murky Pond in Michigan

I'm new to the forum but am learning. I just moved to a property that has a 1.4 acre pond, 17 feet deep. A cedar swamp surrounds the entire pond. Using a fish finder, and trying to catch fish, I’ve determined there is no fish in this pond. The water is murky, and only gets a few Lilly pads around the edge in the summer. The depth drops off quickly. If you’re 6 feet away from shore, you’re 6 feet deep. I’ve ordered an aerator, and will be installing it in the next few weeks. Then I would like to stock to pond with some blue gills for the kids, and some large bass for me. I’m wondering if I should do anything else before adding fish to this pond? Any advice would be helpful!

I am sure some experts will respond shortly, but establishing a forage base before adding predictors really helps with obtaining nice fish. The best species to add and the timing is best left for these experts to answer.

Do you know any of the history of this pond, such as age? It's curious to me that there are no fish in it now...Could you possibly talk to the neighbors, or someone with knowledge of the pond and get some info?

You want to make sure that the pond will support fish, before stocking them. Perhaps submit a water sample to be tested?



(I'm not one of the experts RAH was referring to..just voicing my thoughts!)

The land has been in my family since the 1940s. My cousin said she used to catch bullheads in the pond. Her family rarely fished it. Because the pond is in such a low area, and completely surrounded by trees, I feel it doesn't have enough oxygen to support fish through the Michigan winters. The run-off of the pond, goes through the swamp and into a 15 acre lake. There's plenty of bluegill, bass, and crappie in that lake.

After getting aerator installed the water will be more clear and will not look murky.
For pond appearance enhancement, you can use Pond dyes, that will also shade water to prevent algae growth.

Agree with Sprkplug about getting the water tested to determine why it is always murky with limited plant growth.

Welcome aboard 'DreyerPond'! I hail from the suburbs of Grand Rapids and also am a pond newbie. Read everything you can here and you will learn a lot. I'm glad I did! You may have an advantage over most who come to this forum in that your pond may truly not have any fish in it!

Most come here wishing they could have started differently with different fish as once fish are in it is hard to get them out, or hard to get them to make babies at a slower or faster rate...

Of course you first have to try to determine if there is a problem with the water quality, ph, any chemical run off, etc. But I would think if the big lake flows into the small lake that the water quality should be OK outside of an unusual condition in the pond or its immediate adjacent land.

Most would suggest once you know the soil and water conditions of your pond that you aerate, and then stock forage only. Forage choice depends on long term goals of what will be in the pond, but you can't go wrong with FHM (fathead minnows) and give them several spawns to reproduce and multiply. There are good threads about other types of minnows that might be good alternate sources of forage (killifish, creek chubs, etc) Others have recommended freshwater grass shrimp, native crayfish caught in the nearby streams or lakes, or papershell crayfish, etc.

For now I would start simple and work on water quality and forage base. Then learn what you can about the pros and cons of the various types of bluegill, sunfish, and in some cases yellow perch. Then the last step is planning the bigger predators.

The assumption for most new owners (like myself) is that you will do a hybrid bluegill and largemouth bass pond, but after a lot of reading of other pond owners struggling to balance their bluegill/sunfish and LMB numbers without stunting, some have found novel ways to control both the panfish and the predator. Some have found creative outside the box solutions including considering chain pickerel as the apex predator rather than LMB, and others have considered using striped bass or hybrid striped bass as a nonreproducing but effective apex predator. Others have several small ponds for growing forage, and some do a perch only or a rainbow trout only pond for differing reasons...

I've had so much fun just sitting back and watching my pond evolve in VERY slow motion. After we had the pond 'redug' and filled, it was just a beautiful sand clay bottom and crystal clear water. Soon there were water bugs, toads, frogs and soon lots of tadpoles. it was tempting to fill it up with fish the first season but I wanted to learn more about how much the water level fluctuated and see what aquatic plants and how much algae I would have to deal with. I too put an aerator in right away but found that I didn't need to use it much do to the nature of my pond and the clarity of the water, also my pond is not as deep so there is less stratifying of the water temps.

This spring I put in a few grass shrimp and I'm holding off on minnows to let the grass shrimp hopefully get a headstart. Then it is off to minnows, maybe try to catch some crayfish and chubs in a nearby creek, let them have a head start etc.

Last weekend the kids had fun catching various stages of bullfrog young, and even caught a very neat, nearly see through salamander. We have lots of snails and saw some leeches for the first time this spring as well. All this bodes well for the panfish when they get stocked...

I may soon put in some tilapia for algae control but last year only had about a 10% coverage issue with algae, we'll see how this season goes. It is cool and water is still a bit on the cool side to use tilapia.

Welcome to the joy of pond ownership!

Even tho your pond is completely private, the state of Michigan requires you to apply for and receive a pond stocking permit before any fish can be stocked (legally). "Any pond in michigan that has a permanent inflow or outflow of water has to receive a pond stocking permit before stocking fish." (from the Michigan DNR when I was inquiring about stocking fish in Michigan).

Yes, the state guy that I talked to said I have to have a copy of that permit before I can stock fish, but that the property owner, not the company that stocks the fish has to apply for it. That's probably why a lot of companies are no longer stocking fish in Mi. Too much paperwork to do, and they are requiring us to be their police force.

Esshup that's a good point right there! Never even thought of that. Plus DP setting up a pond for air is a good thing. Just remember if your concerned about not enough D.O. in that water in the winter and it's 17 feet deep. When you decide to finally do air make sure you set up a air station in shallow water also for the winter. About 3 feet deep to help keep the ice open and D.O. flowing. But like esshup
said I would get the permit first and get your water checked just in case. Hard to believe there isn't any fish in it. There has to be a reason for that??

RC

Update: I've installed the aerator. I also spent a few hours fishing the 15 acre lake near my pond. The water clarity is identical as my pond. I caught a ton of bass and bluegills. I also bought a pond test kit from Amazon. The PH was a little low, but it tested negative for all the "bad" stuff. According to the kit, there's no reason the fish shouldn't be able to live.

Thank you for all the feedback, comments and suggestions.