Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Would like input on stocking my pond

Here's what I have and where I am at with my thinking...

I have a 42 year old 3 acre pond in my front yard. Two years ago we drained and dredged it and cut all the brush and trees away from the banks so it's nice and clear all the way around. I did put several brush piles of old cedars around at different depths, tied down to blocks while the pond was dry. I also have a very large wooden dock that I had shored up while it was out of the water so there is some wooden structure. There are a number of large rocks in the channel coming into the pond and there's a good bit of gravel all around the shallows.

I want to restock it this Spring. What I am planning on doing is putting in fathead minnows, bluegill 1-3", largemouth bass 2-3", and channel cats 6-8". I'm not exactly sure about the numbers. I also could put black crappie in at some point but that's not a priority.

The hatchery really wants me to wait until Fall to stock the bass. I don't want to wait even if that's the best approach for stocking. One big reason for this is that I fear that I may not be able to have the opportunity to get more fish after this Spring.

If I were to put all four of these types of fish in the Spring and I insist on putting bass in as well, how should I do this? Will I need to change the numbers of bass per acre? Should I go with a different ration of sizes between the fish types than what I planned above? Will I need to stock more minnows? What kind of damage or chance of absolute failure am I facing? If I were to do this yet still find the opportunity to get more fish and/or minnows in the Fall, is there a way to adjust for what I did in the Spring?

What are some thoughts on this? thanks!

If you put them all in at sizes you listed, the bass will have wiped out the FHM just in time to start on new hatch BG that manage a spawn. I know it would be a big mistake to stock crappie at all in a pond this size. They've got to be controlled by more than just angling, they can take over quick. Not saying it can't be done, but it's really hard to undo once you make that move.
If Fall doesn't work for Bass, I would recommend waiting a year to let your forage grow. If all stocked together I think they will all suffer to some extent. The forage base has got to be sufficient to support proper growth from day 1.

SherWood, are you certain that you got rid of all the 'old' fish?


Also, what makes you think you won't be able to get fish after this Spring '22? Just due to your schedule, or other factors?

For the FHM to do much good at all they need time to reproduce. Stock them as early as you can preferrably with little to no predator pressure.

SherWood, what are the numbers of the fish you are wanting to stock in the pond? You ask if the numbers should change, but don't give us a starting point.

Definitely, the lake was bone dry by the time we started scooping it out a year later in the heat of the summer.

I was thinking 200 bass fry, 200 channel cats, 600-1000 bluegill? I am not sure how many minnows but the hatchery had a recommendation based on the pond size and the type and number predators I was putting in. Because I wanted to put the bass in right away, was why I was wondering if changing the ratios could be helpful to counter balance putting the bass in early?

Other thoughts would be to put less bass in and/or a lot more minnows?

How would it be if I skipped the bass and just went with catfish, minnows and bluegill without ever putting bass in it? Would the bluegill reproduce and grow in a way that would allow me to harvest plenty or would they stunt and overpopulate or suffer some other undesirable outcome?

I am also wondering if I was able to get fish in the Fall or the next Spring, if I could do something to help ease the issue I could have by putting some bass in early? Something like putting in more minnows at that time?

I do realize that the best course of action is to wait on the bass and under normal circumstances I would. My intention for my pond is to use it for a food supply. The reason I worry about next Fall is that I have an ominous feeling that we could find our nation under considerable stress from a variety of potential hypothetical scenarios such that my ability to get fish may be diminished or lost. I want to plan ahead for that just in case. Right now I'm trying to dot my eyes and cross my T's so I can use my property to be a little more helpful to our most important needs as a family.

Thank you all for your responses so far.

SherWood, there is a TEAM of folks here that can ensure you have fish available. I understand your concerns. Everyone that has posted here so far can see that you don't have to go without-if it becomes that emergent.
I can't help but think if food is your primary concern, maybe this should be a catfish production pond?

SherWood, if you are primarily designing your stocking plans against a goal of providing food for your family, I think that changes some of our conventional wisdom.

For example, over populating of fish may never be an issue for you, and perhaps the 'pressure' on the forage base may be somewhat reduced. Getting the predator fish into 'eating-size' range is now a goal, and as such, what do you think is optimal eating size for LMB and for CC?

Finally, feeding should be a part of the plan, as long as it's available in the future considering the future economic scenarios you are anticipating.

Further to Snipe's comment, if you did want to focus or 'help' the Channel Cats, you may want to create spawning structures for them which are not always present in many ponds. You need cavities or sections of piping for the CC to spawn.


ANOTHER CONSIDERATION: You may be able to set up some net pens where you could grow out certain fish before exposing them to the greater pond.

I want to set up my pond as a supplemental food source. I am trying to convert my property in order to help us supplement our needs. I raise chickens and ducks and grow a lot of food already and I am expanding on that. Frogs and fish would be a huge bonus.

The reason I am not going to count too far ahead is that I have a bad feeling we could be facing some sort of crisis with the way things seem to be trending in our nation and in the world. I could go into a list of hypothetical scenarios but I don't want to be disrespectful to this community by taking a conversation elsewhere other than the focus of ponds, fish etc..

Will the 2-3" bass immediately be a predator threat to those minnows or will it take a little more growth from the bass?

Also, what about the bluegill? If the minnows get wiped out, will the bluegill provide forage for the bass without decimating the bluegill population in the process?

This might be good to refer you to Lusk's Stocking template thread..

https://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=544990#Post544990

When I had this pond up and running several years ago, it was a snack bar plus a great recreation point for us. I would usually keep some bass in the 12" range and rarely eat catfish since they never appeared to reproduce. I did notice after draining that there were sunken tires and a few tiles that I imagine were for the catfish to spawn however, I never caught a small catfish in that pond. I figured if they were spawning, the fry were being eaten.

It's kind of an odd dynamic I am dealing with, wanting to keep my feet on either side of the fence. I want to be able to assure myself I have the fish I want in that pond but also cover the possibility that everything works out smooth for us in the U.S. such that we at least have several more years of semi-prosperity where in the meanwhile I can once again enjoy my pond in a recreational way. If it's clear to me that I can only do one or the other, than that's how it's got to be I suppose.

Again, thank you for your feedback. I have never stocked my own pond before but I did really enjoy this one and the fish it was producing after we purchased the property. It had catfish, bluegill, bass, a small population of crappie and a small population of green sunfish in comparison to the bluegill. The bluegill were large and numerous and provided the lions share of what we would harvest.

SherWood, what is your max depth projected on the new pond? aeration? Run-off or pumped?

It depends on what fish you want to be bigger. If you want larger bass, I'd ditch the cats, stock 3"-4" LMB in July (or 5"-7" LMB now) when this years crop was available (now since it's early Spring the LMB should be 5"-7" since they were held over from last year and fed all winter), and stock the larger BG if at all possible to get a jump on having them reproduce in the pond. If you stock 1"-2.5" BG this Spring, them *might* spawn in Sept/Oct, but if you stocked 2.5"-4" BG or larger they will spawn this year. I'd also add 25%-30% RES to the panfish numbers. They will control snails, which are part of black spot disease, plus yellow and white grub life cycle. Keep snails out or at the very least minimized then you won't have those issues. If stocking Fathead Minnows, make durn sure that they are not wild caught fish, and that if they are, they are clean - no GSF, no bullheads, etc. in with them.

FHM will only feed LMB up to about 9" in length, then the bass will start looking for bigger food to ear.

If it was my pond, I'd stock 1,000 BG and 250-300 RES per surface acre along with 50-75 LMB per acre. Put all the minnows in you can afford, all the bigger fish will eat them, and the ones that they can't will be the brood stock - then the fish in there will eat the minnow offspring.

The more food you put in there for the bass, the faster they will grow. We have seen 3"-4" bass stocked in late April be 10"-12" by late September.

If you just went with Catfish and skipped the bass, I'd be worried that the BG in the pond would overpopulate and stunt in 4-6 years. You'd still have the larger stockers, but the offspring would suffer from lack of food.

If you wanted to stock the minnows, BG/RES this year and put the LMB in this Fall or next Spring, that would be an option that would leave the forage base grow.

Like others have said, I would start a supplemental feeding program shortly after the fish were stocked. That way they will grow a LOT faster. If you stop feeding them later they will still forage for food, but their growth rate will be a lot slower.

I'd also try to keep the ducks out of the pond too.

Max depth is about 15' but there's a lot of 3-8' depth in the majority of the water. We don't have aeration but I am considering getting a solar powered set up. There is no spring feeding it but we have a large watershed that keeps the pond close to full volume except for an occasional strong hot/dry period of long duration. Over the 18 years or so I've lived here, the pond may have dropped up to 2 or 3 vertical feet at most maybe three times.

Make sure you are sitting down when you look at solar aeration prices....... If at all possible I'd go with a grid based system if electricity is available.

You don't have to have electricity at the pond, you can trench 1" black poly line in and terminate at the shoreline in a valve box, then split to self-sink tubing for the pond.

Yup, I know and have been thinking about that, lol. It's going to take some work to figure out a way in which I can allow them some space to roam, have an artificial water source but keep them out of the pond. Or as this flock finally succumbs fully to the critters, I could forgo replacing them and go strictly with chickens. We love our ducks though. They have been very personable pets and they lay well.

I like this idea and if I go with it or something close, I'll make sure to stock up on some feed to at least get me through the summer hopefully. Maybe I'll forgo the catfish or only put in a limited number for fun and not as a sustainable eatery other than one here and there.

Don't stock up on too much, it has a shelf life of around a year and the hotter it gets in storage the shorter the shelf life. You can go to Optimal Fish Food and sign up for a subscription where they ship out "X" of food to you every month. Their food price has shipping included in the price.

Thanks everyone!

I am going to come up with a rough plan of size, types and numbers and then return here and post it.

Which hatchery are you talking to?

I can tell you with certainty that any of them in that hour north-ish of Columbia neighborhood will tell you exactly what you
want to hear if it's going to make them some money.

Do yourself a favor and listen to the free (no profit motive involved) advice that you're getting right here.

There's one in the Lake of the Ozarks region. When I talked with them last Fall and again this year, they were good about not trying to sell to me against their recommendations. They wanted me to hold off stocking last Fall and wait for Spring and they just told me to hold off on the bass until next Fall.