Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Established Pond Stocking Question

A family member of mine has an established 1 acre pond they have owned for 15 years or so. The pond has gone through ups and downs over the years, but 3 years ago we had a rough winter which killed off a majority of the larger fish population.

Since then, it seems like the pond is infested by a stunted Bluegill population that are 3"to5".

I was wondering what would be a reasonable way to steer the pond in the right direction.

From what I have researched I was thinking about stocking some 10" to 12" LMB in the pond to help thin down the Bluegill population.

The catch is the pond owner wants to stock yellow perch & some 6" to 9" Walleye in the pond. The pond should be deep enough for the walleye to be okay (14' to 16' at deepest)

I worry that if we do both, the LMB will thrive & the Walleye won't last. I also worry that if we just stock the Walleye & Perch the established Bluegill population will continue to overpopulate the pond.

I was hoping to get some insight or input if anyone read through my chaotic rambling at all.

Thanks

My very unprofessional thoughts is to start over. Pump down the pond and rotenone it. That is, if the pond owner wants the main focus to be YP and WE. YP don't do the greatest with flourishing LMB as they will be easy prey for them. It could all be done, but I don't think as easily as starting over. To correct the BG stunting, you will need to stock LMB big enough to eat the stunted BG. This, I believe will be counter productive to trying to establish YP and WE. To me, LMB and BG are in their own group of working very well together and YP, RES, WE, HSB, and SMB are all in their own group of working very well together. Leaving SMB out of the equation allows you to keep tight control of your predators as the HSB and WE will not be reproducing.

If goals are mainly large LMB, correct the BG stunting. Once corrected, and on a good culling regimen that keeps both populations in check, consider adding other species, but know they will need to be large enough to not get eaten, you'll need good structure to help promote recruitment, and know LMB sure do like themselves some YP, so it may be hard to keep a decent population of them out of the LMB bellies.

Main point is this, have the family member define what the main goal for the pond is. I personally don't believe a dent will be made in the BG with anything other than LMB, but if the pond goal shifts to YP and WE, then I believe the easiest route is starting new. Just know, I am very new to all of this, there will likely be much better advice to come after me (but it will focus around pond goals, so that is important to define to give best advice).

I agree with Drew.

It seems counter-intuitive (and painful), but you will almost certainly spend less in time and money re-stocking the pond if you start from an empty pond compared to stunted BG eating the newly-hatched fry of anything you add to the pond.

(That is just my NON-expert opinion from reading lots of similar threads on Pond Boss.)

Thanks for the replies!

I think it would be a good idea to start fresh, but I think it would be very difficult to convince the pond owner to drain the pond & start over.

I don't think the owner is completely set on a Walleye focused pond, I think he mainly wants the pond be a better fishery.

If the next best way outside of draining the pond is to add bigger LMB & hope for the best, I think that will be a easier pill for him to swallow rather than starting over.

I will see how much I can convince him for the time being. Thanks again for the input.

Once the BG stunting problem is fixed, the pond owner might be able to add as large of YP as he can find as long as they are larger than the bass could eat at the time. With enough structure to encourage some fry survival, there might be some YP recruitment, but it could also end up not working out and you slowly see the YP disappear. I was going to mention trying to add only female LMB, but i would guess there are already some males in there that survived the kill, then that would make the all female effort pointless in the long run, although it could delay overpopulation initially if you had a predominately female population, which could make culling efforts easier.

I'm a beginner myself, but had very good results with rotenone, rather than draining. Keep your water, get rid of BG. My issue were Carp. Just a thought. Fresh start, without losing water.

Starting over is the best way but it’s his water hole and not mine.

Bass are the answer because there is a symbiotic relationship between bass and bluegills. Only bluegills can spawn enough to feed bass and only bass can control the huge bluegill spawns.

The fish stocked need to be big enough to escape predation. If not, they will be a quick snack for existing fish.

I agree with DD1, his pond - his rodeo!

However, when he prices 10-12" LMB he may be more open to other options.

Try and source some Saugeye. It will be pretty much impossible, but stocking 6-10 in the pond will have a tremendous effect on the small panfish overpopulation.