Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Seeing recently stocked fish??

Last Friday we stocked 25LMB, 200BG, 50RES, 10#FHM. We did have some losses but after speaking with Rainman on here, it doesn't sound terrible for July. I saw minnows ALL over the shallows the night of stocking, fish bouncing onto the shore then flopping back into the water. I check them often. Now I see NOTHING. At night or in the morning. No fish in the shallows. Am I missing something?? Are all my fish deeper due to the SW Arkansas summer heat? I have looked for dead, floating fish....but I see none. Now the ones I lost the day of stocking were gone the next day. Should I be seeing minnows or BG swimming around? Just curious. I know many ponds and lakes I have fished you see fish running around at night. Guess I'm just a little worried since its my first fish stocking. What observations have you guys seen with newly stocked ponds? I would just think I would see something. Walking last night around the banks with an LED light I saw a few BG flop around...but when I saw few...I mean like 3. Maybe the experts will put my mind at ease...or maybe something got them? lol.

Thank guys!

I'm no expert but I had the same concerns when I stocked my pond. Your fish are likely there. Stop and consider the number of fish you put in and then the number of gallons of water that are out there and imagine if there were one fish in one gallon of water. Your fish have a lot of area to roam till they get to reproducing and create lots more fish.

If it were me, I would start carrying a coffee cup full of fish food pellets each time I visited the pond. Maybe don't even throw that much out, but a handful of pellets. Just watch and wait. You may not see any activity for weeks. But eventually you will see a pellet move like something hit it. Then again, and again. Don't dump in lots of feed. Just a little till the fish get interested. Then up the amount once they start utilizing it.

Patience, but eventually you will have FHM swarming the pellets with BG to follow later.

I figured so much...lol. You just see ALLL the fish come out of the bags...then see the in the really shallow water for a day or so then POOF...they are gone.

I really need to get my optimal ordered. I bought some Purina catfish feed at the coop just to try to get them started...very little interest...I've ground it in the blender...hydrated it as per some instructions on here...3-1. It may be the catfish feed. I looked at the ingredients and fish meal was like the 6-7th down the list. Most is grains.

Will these fish ever take to that feed?? I told my wife we should put it on facebook and sell it for like half price. lol. What I get for being impatient.


Thanks snrub for putting my mind at ease.

Its great getting on here and talking about this stuff!!

Here is a pic of the pond I put them in.

PG, don't get discouraged about the initial lack of interest in feed. I used Optimal from the start and found that it took several weeks for them to really get going on it. Thought I was doing something wrong, or maybe the feed wasn't any good. Now they're like piranhas!

Thanks for that. I have gotten a bit discouraged...It hasn't been long, but really figured I would see more than I am. But like you say...I bet they will come!

Anthropic...what part of LA are you from? We pick up utility poles in Pineville nearly everyday.

Shreveport area, though my pond is just west of Marshall, TX. Don't like the 1 hour drive, but at least I am allowed to stock tilapia!

PS My mother was born in Pineville and I still have relatives living there.

The fish were, at the hatchery, raised on pellets. Being newly stocked, they have dispersed throughout the pond. I think we make a mistake trying to get the newly stocked fish to come to where we want to feed them. Try walking around the pond and tossing out small amounts of pellets. Then, over time, get closer to the preferred feeding area.

I find that my footsteps on the bank, and my 4 wheeler, mean the dinner bell is ringing.