Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Raising Forage and Bait Where to start when stocking a forage pond?

A new forage pond for LMB forage. My 3.5 acre LMB pond has been heavily stocked with RES and CNBG along with TFS and Tilapia. My upcoming forage pond will need to be stocked. I am looking for recommendations here for stocking. If you wanted to grow large LMB (double digit) in your big pond and you had the proper Genetics to grow big catchable lmb (supplied by Overtons Fishery) and you have an open slate, what approach would you take when stocking a forage pond. Would you grow out larger CNBG or RES or GSH, or any others come to mind? Tilapia will not make it in the ponds yr round here so I will not be using them in the forage pond. I will be feeding. Will start out hand feeding but am open to adding a feeder. A new slate here guys, what direction would you take?

Thanks
Tracy

I'd start by figuring out how many pounds of forage fish I will need for the LMB in the big pond, and what size those fish need to be when stocked into the large pond. If the LMB are 5#, stocking 3" CNBG won't help much.

I would also be thinking about how I will get those fish out of the forage pond in sufficient quantities to make stocking them into the larger pond worth the time and expense of having the forage pond.

Hey, Tracy. I've got a forage pond, as well. First year I'm likely to grow CNBG in it, if I have the water.

But the second year I might go with tilapia and freshwater prawns. Yes, the tilapia won't last the winter, but you can grow far more pounds of them than you can CNBG. If combined with prawns, which don't compete with tilapia and in fact help each other when raised together, you can really benefit your bass.

Prawns take about 90 days to reach maturity, and by that time you will have already seined out some TP into the main pond. Prawns live on the bottom, so a mid-level seine would likely leave most of them alone. At the end of the season, maybe September - October, you could put all the TP and prawns into the main pond. The prawns are naive but big and get eaten quickly, fattening the bass. The TP will feed the bass some, but even more in November/December when they become sluggish & eventually die of cold. Easy pickins for LMB!

Thanks Frank, As u know, when starting a new pond there are several choices one can make. Some are limited due to our hot summer days and water supply, but other choices might do well in the same environment. I am sure growing large cnbg would most likely be the best choice in my forage pond, so they might assist in growing DD lmb. But my mind keeps thinking of how to play with my upcoming plans. I am still not sure what the grow out pond size will wind up being 1/4 or 1/3 or ?? acre. My life has been of extremes in most of my ventures I have also thought of an E Texas SMB pond with RES and maybe GSH. When seining and transferring to large pond, keep some of the forage in the small pond along with the SMB. Can one grow couch potato SMB, using a heavy stocking of forage??

Tracy

And thanks for reminding me of the prawns

Yep thanks essup, I agree with the 3" cnbg not doing a lot to heavy up the bigger lmb in my future. In the big pond, I went with a heavy stocking of cnbg, res, tfs and the tilapia have taken over the feeders lol. Lots of spawning went on prior to introducing Overton's CBLMB fingerlings in the 3.5 acre pond. and since I have never run a seine of any size, I am thinking HELP!! when that time comes. I see where it might be a big job if sizing and counting before introduction into the big from the small pond. Any ideas about other choices Like RES grown out by feeding? They do grow larger than the cnbg.

Tracy

Tracy

Will your forage pond be set up to drain directly to your main pond, or will you have to seine and move fish?

Your bass should be 10-12" or so this fall, and next spring I would expect a spread of sizes 12"-15" or so....

I suggest you stock few adult CNBG and few adult RES in the brood pond, also few tilapia for algae control and added forage. By mid-summer you could have many 1000s of young to flush into the main pond. However, if you have to seine and move em, this plan may not work well for summer harvest...too hot.

Later on as your bass grow larger, they will need larger forage. At that time you can grow tilapia in the brood pond and get the most lbs per unit of effort than any other forage type.

Thanks Todd, you and Walt have been a lot of help and encouragement.
Good people for sure.
The forage pond has been on my mind for some time. But the least expensive place is where I should not have to add well water unless a severe drought is in the making. The best run off watershed is about 30 yds from the main pond but would be on the low side of the pond. So that means I will have to seine. The builder and I looked at it pretty hard. It could be done but would be a major project to do the flow lines. So if seining is the harvest, and limited to lets say late Sept. The forage of CNBG and RES and Tilapia would be of good size of 8 to 10" maybe? Could it be possible to seine some of the smaller ones say in early June, reducing some of the fingerlings in the forage pond and helping the older ones grow to more weight and size? Am I looking at this all wrong? And tell me of your Rainbows. If the Tilapia die off in Nov, what would be a stocking of size and numbers to replace these fish with rainbows? Along with EST. cost per acre ? What about ponds with over stocked forage, is it possible to let the lmb thin out the forage, making the lmb easier to bite artificial because they might be hungry? lots and lots of questions here. lol

Tracy

I really, really like Todds suggestion.

Trout in the winter?