Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Creating the food chain .5 Acre - LMB and BG possible?

I’m in the process of draining my pond that is on some land I just purchased. I’d love to be able to catch bass from 3-5 regularly and maybe bigger. Also I’d love to catch BG that are “eating size”. I’m not 100% sure how acreage is measured in a pond. It’s 12 foot at the deepest and about half acre surface area.

All the articles I read only recommend this combo for 1 acre or larger. Is there any path to success for a pond my size?

What would your stocking recommendations be? Also should I add any cover?

Sorry for the basic questions. A noob to this stuff.
Thanks!

Welcome to the forum, betapaul. You're in a good place to get some good answers to the endless questions and observations you'll be running across as a new pond owner.

I think it's safe to say that you might be able to raise a "few" large LMB, but .5 acres is going to regulate just how many due to carrying capacity of the pond. You probably should take a lot of depth readings and come up with both acre feet of water as well as gallons in your pond.

Adding brush/cover is never a bad idea when the goal is quality LMB, but you may decide to lean toward big BG, because you can raise a whole lot more of them, and they can get quite large. In which case, you'll not want a lot, if any cover, and you'll need a lot of smaller predators to keep the BG numbers in check, because they will become very abundant... very quickly.

I'm sure you'll get a lot of feedback from pond meisters much more knowledgeable than me, but knowing just how much water you are holding will be the first step to deciding what direction to pursue.

Again...welcome aboard. Post some pics of your pond! We like pics!!!

Others here can provide some suggestions.
There is a vast amount of information available in past posts to achieve your goals. Your best plan for growing the best and bigger BG-LMB in 0.5 ac is to feed them a high quality fish pellet that contains a minimum of 40% protein. This compensates for not having the 1 acre or larger pond. Those basic recommendations are based on using only a natural food source. You could also grow a few large hybrid striped bass who would get bigger quicker than the LMB. Do some reading here of past discussions on growing and managing fish using fish pellets as the main food.
Do your homework well before pulling the trigger.

Feeding Pellets
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=92623#Post92623

Growing LMB
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=255372#Post255372

Growing BG
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=189988#Post189988

We used run several livestock watering ponds in southern Indiana ranging between 0.05 and 0.75 acres. Most had LMB-BG combination. The smaller ponds we basically did not harvest bass from. Once over 0.10 acres we could take a couple 2-3 lb bass per year and we avoided taking the largest bluegill. The larger end of pond spectrum we could take more of everything, but had to back off until the following year when larger fish stopped showing up in creel. No hard and fast rules. We had effectively exclusive access to ponds.

Our ponds ranged 6 to 10 feet at deepest with most of a basin less than 4 feet. Structure was limited to cattail in shallows which was seldom more than 25% of the perimeter.

I have a 0.5 acre pond with LMB, BG and HSB and I routinely catch 2-3 lbs healthy LMB. The HSB are harder to catch but I caught one a few weeks ago and it was also very healthy. In addition to the BG I have a ton of frogs and crawfish that supplement as forage. I hand feed Purina Game Fish Chow as often as I can. Maybe 3-4 days a week. I also have a 9+ lbs LMB that I caught right after I bought the property. She grew to that in a 0.5 acre pond that was not being managed by anyone. Not even sure how/when she got there. All that to say yes, it’s possible.

Growing more than 6 or 10 LMB at 2-3 lbs and harvestable larger bluegill on natural foods in 0.3 to 0.5ac takes very good hands on management, but it can be done especially with selective harvest and using feed trained LMB. With good management, pellet feeding, and aeration I think for a novice it would be possible to grow 30 to 40 2-3 lb bass (90-120 lbs) with BG in a 0.5 ac.

Cecil Baird, a trophy fish production grower and past forum member, using pellet fed LMB, grew them to 2 to 6 lbs high density in 0.75 ac. Total bass weight was over 800 lb/ac and estimated to be 1200 lb/ac. There are pictures of some of those bass somewhere in the forum history; although I can't find it.

Discussion of growing bass in smaller ponds
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=11266

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=96912

What do you want to know about my pellet trained bass? I had up to 400 bass up to 6 lbs. in a .62 acre pond with no issues. Keep in mind I was overflowing my trout pond water into this 0.6 ac bass pond 24/7. "I had up to 500 lbs. of trout in that 0.10 acre trout pond that received 45 gpm of water 24/7. This overflow water ran into the 0.6 ac bass pond. Cody note - this bass pond was essentially a flow through system similar to a hatchery raceway which allows higher carrying capacities.
Cecils LMB growing details From this thread - see page 2
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=375958&page=1

Flow through with moderated temperatures. Exactly what I strive for with food-fish LMB's. OP might be out to work with natural food web operated.

Additional info for what C.Baird in northern Indiana accomplished for growing LMB at high density in his 0.6 ac pond that had inflow water from the trout pond.
LMB growth rate starting with 4"-5" pellet trained northern strain bass.

"" These are approximate average ages and bass sizes. Keep in mind there are always a few smaller size bass and a few larger size bass. Males are smaller and grow slower than female largemouth bass.

Spring Year 01 (March-April) Age ~ 9 to 10 months old pellet trained. Size 4 to 5 inches placed in cage.
Fall Year 01 (October) Age 16 months. Size 8 to 10 inches. Released from cage
Fall Year 02. (October) Age 2 years 4 months Size 14 to 15 inches 1.5 to 2.5 lbs.
Fall Year 03. (October) Age 3 years 4 months Size 16 to 18 inches 2.5 to 3.0 lbs.
Fall Year 04. (October) Age 4 years 4 months Size 17 to 19 inches 3 to 5 lbs. plus

Cecil says the bass grew quite rapidly until they reached about 2.5 to 3 lbs. and then slowed down in growth. The rapidly growing fish exhibited small heads and fins. As the fish slowed down in growth they showed more normal proportions. The younger fish were quite stocky with lots of internal fatty tissue. One 19 inch fish weighed just over 6 lbs. I'm convinced many of the oldest fish went off the pellets. There was bluegill, yellow perch and largemouth reproduction in the pond for them to also feed on.""

When the goal is to have a higher percentage of larger bass available then the smaller and slower growing bass should be cropped as they are encountered.

This thread was placed in the Common Pond Q&A Archives under: LMB Info Stocking, Growth, Management