Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Corrective stocking Will these stocking rates help my pond?

Hello, I am new to this forum. Although, I have been lurking around as a non member for the past year. My wife and I bought 6 acres of land this past year, which there is a half acre pond. I talked to guy that owned it before I did. He told me that he never stocked the pond. He didn't want it to attract random people who would want to fish it. He was gonna stock the pond after he built his house and could watch over it. Well he ended up getting divorced and never built the house. So, the pond sat there for the last 20-25 years with nobody doing anything to it. So my wife and I bought this land, and we plan to build a house on the land this summer. I have/still am clearing a lot of brush away from the pond edge I tried fishing it a few times to see if anything would bite. I never got a single bite. I talked to one of the neighbors who told me they put a handful of bluegills in the pond a few years back, otherwise nothing was introduced other than what ever birds would bring on them as they visit the pond. There is an abundance of bullfrogs. I may be wrong in thinking this, but I would assume if there was a predator fish in the water there would not be so many bullfrogs. I also noticed it has leeches. So I'm hoping that once I add some bass, they will help keep that population down to the point that my family could swim in the pond without leeches attacking us.

Anyways, last fall I introduced some bait fish. I put in 5lbs of fathead minnows, 5lbs of golden shiners, 25 bluegills and 3 koi (My wife wanted them, and I gotta keep her happy, but we have not seen the koi since we put them in the water. Maybe a bird got them?) So this spring I was planning to go get 150 bluegill, 100 redear sunfish, and 25 bass. Would this help make for a balanced pond? I would rather prioritize bigger bluegills as the pond size would limit how many large bass I would be able to have. I ask for some opinions/advice because with this pond having been around for over 20 years. There is a chance some fish are already in the pond whether they hitched a ride on a bird or someone threw them in. I just have never seen any. Thanks for your advice!

Welcome to active posting on Pond Boss!!!

The chances of random fish having gotten into the pond over 2-3 decades is very high, whether via some kind of natural causes, or human intervention. As you said, the neighbors put some bluegill in, and you seem to have also in addition to the fatheads and shiners.

I think you've got to get a good understanding of what is currently in the pond, and you might not get to do that until late March/early April when you get to see fish, and maybe do some more actual fishing.

I would also get some fish feed as this will help assist you in actually seeing what Bluegill might actually be active in the pond.

Now, assuming your 25 bluegill all survived, and the neighbor's bluegill also, then I would want all those fish to spawn in the Spring and Summer '22. As such, I would add the 150 bluegill and 100 redear sunfish in the Spring '22, and leave out the LMB until Fall '22 at the earliest, and more likely Spring '23.

Let all the forage fish fill the pond up before putting the predators in. It takes patience.

Welcome, What town in NW Ohio are you near? More suggestions. Since you will be adding more BG and RESunfish do not buy a whole 40-50 lb bag of fish food. Buy a small repurposed bag of fish food where ever you buy your fish. Most all fish farms will sell smaller re-bagged food. You currently do not have enough fish to use-up a whole bag of fish food before it ages over a year and looses some of its vitality. Always try to feed fresh food less than a year old.

If the water is clear this spring and until you buy more fish you can feed the fish at first a little old stale crumbled bread. This will attract minnows and other fish. This will help you see what comes to feed. Lots of frogs suggests a lack of a reproducing predator population. Clear water suggests no bullheads, no koi, no common carp.

Since you already have some BG in the pond try hard to stock some pellet raised 6" bass this fall do not wait until spring of 2023 because best bass are ALWAYS available in fall. For your situation I would stock 30-40 6"+ largemouth unless you want a variety of predators. The fall stocked larger 6"+ LMB will very likely spawn in spring of 2023 to help eat small BGsunfish from the 2023 spawn. For more variety of predator I would substitute 12 of the 40 bass with hybrid striped bass. Bass will help eat pellets so next year a whole bag of fish food is all consumed within 8-15 months. Plus the bass will grow a lot faster and be fatter if regularly fed pellets. Important note - your neighbor very likely does not know the difference between green sunfish, hybrid bluegill, pumpkinseed sunfish and bluegill. You may already have a sunfish mix in the pond so adding more BG and RES will eventually result in some hybrid BG regardless of what type of "sunfish" is already in the pond.

How do you determine how much fish food to throw in? Do I just throw so much in and if it all gets eaten throw more? Or if it dosent all get eaten, throw in less next time? I'll look for smaller bags of fish food this spring. I did not realize it could go bad, but in hindsight it does make sense.

Is there an advantage of putting in some hybrid striped bass along with the large mouth bass vs just using all largemouth bass? Also, I agree I doubt the neighbors knew the difference in the type of sunfish they put in. Specifically because it was their kids that did it. Would the normal bluegills not just out compete the hybrid bluegills because they can reproduce faster? Or at least that was my understanding. I'm new to all of this, and trying to figure it all out. Lots of different things to learn.

Another question. In a pond this size. Would it still be worth looking into getting an aeration system put in?

Regarding feed, try to select a few locations to throw the feed, and as much as you can, try to do it at the same times each day. Throw out a cupful and observe. If all the feed gets eaten, you can throw out another cup; repeat if necessary. There's nothing really fatal if you throw out too much as it will get eaten. Once your fish get acclimated to feed, they will come running when they see you, and when they hear/see the feed hit the water.

In my experience, as long as you keep the feed dry, it doesn't really go bad. You could always overwinter the feed in a plastic bin.

Hybrid Striped Bass are a great addition as they don't spawn, and they take to feed right away.

If you keep putting pure Bluegills in, you will increase the chances of pure bluegill spawns, but if there are some hybrid bluegill in there, or green sunfish, there will be some continued hybrid spawns. Not really a big deal, IMO.

Regarding aeration, it's usually always good to have it, but it's not always necessary in some ponds. If you get a lot of organic muck from fallen leaves, for example, aeration can help break down those materials as well as keeping the water as healthy as possible.

Sunil provides good advice and experience - heed the advice.

IMO New koi are often shy fish until they get used to their new pond and that humans are feeding them. It is not unusual to see them until they are 12"+. Your fall stocked koi could easily provide a spawn this spring. Without current bass in the pond lots of new koi could within a few years easily create an over population and very turbid water. With turbid murky water you won't often see those pricey koi, however with muddy water you won't have filamentous algae either. To minimize this problem I would stock at least some bass this spring so you have some Koi fry predation and better avoid a problem. Better proactive than reactive. Too many koi and a desire for clearer water means a total fish kill. Been there done that for several pond owners. Spawned koi at end of May until Fall could be 5"-6" long and it would require 12"+ bass to eat them. IMO Koi should have been stocked after bass.

The pellets do not actually go bad unless they are moldy. Aged pellets start to loose vitamin C first, then gradually other less stable helpful nutrients. High humidity and temps with pellets enclosed with a lid can cause moldy pellets. Be watchful. With a new pond most fish are smaller individuals thus a smaller pellet 1/8" is best until fish are adults, thus my suggestion for starting with a small bag of food. As fish grow the 1/4" pellet usually becomes a universal food. The 40% or more protein is the best most digestible and having less fish manure for growing high quality fish. Purina Sportfish food is supposed to contain 3 sizes of high protein pellets. At first feeding I would just toss out a small handful of pellets daily until you see fish actively eating the pellets.

There 3 fish farms in your region. Ft.Wayne IN, Kalida OH and Ridgeville Corners OH. All should have pellet trained bass this spring. Kalida will have the largest pellet trained bass because they raise them for the food market.

Aeration - Learn what it is all about and the options of benefits, rationale, expense and everything from DYI to a professional installation. If you are a DYI type of person it can be done for as low of cost of $350 for a used compressor, basic economical parts, and single homemade diffuser. New compressors start at around $400 and a self-weighted airline of $1.50/ft are the most pricey components and a full pro-installation can push the price to $4000 or more depending on pond size. Lots of options with aeration. IMO every pond receives big ecological and water quality benefits from bottom diffused aeration. Often if designed correctly it usually does not need to run 24/7. I have some perch pond owners who run their well designed aerator just 2 hr per day.