Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose odd inquiry for those of y'all on large properties

hey all,

Ive got kindve an odd inquiry for those of u guys with a a lot of property & ponds. Before everyone annihilates me, let me say I am not trying to degrade or poach anyone else's ponds as I know we are all managing for success. I know some of you all have a lot of water, and I'm currently looking to source a couple 3lb+ largemouth for my 2acre existing pond. Will drive anywhere >2 hours of Dallas to catch and pay whatever price$$$ per pound you deem fair. If someone has a pond you don't actively tend to, or just a lot of water acreage, etc. let me know and let's see if we can do business. Not trying to be a pos, I know most of us have 1 pond and the last thing we are thinking is shipping out quality bass. But for those who have more water than they can care for lets talk if your interested!

I like that idea to be honest, some people's ponds have to be thinned, might be a great way to do it without the effort needed. Im in Canada...pretty far from you but if you ever want pumpkinseeds I'm your guy lol.

Cheers.

Jonathan,

Curious, why +3 lb bass, do you just want females?

Perhaps if you posted a picture or two of your project you might garner some support.

Also do you have the equipment, etc. to move LMB safely and correctly?

Best of luck.

I'm around 5hrs north of Dallas... Not sure if I can be of help to you or not.

I wonder if you wouldn't be ahead of the game if you got some Florida genetics stocked in your pond rather than already grown Northern?

Howdy, hey all here's a photo of our tank. As far as the threshold with the 3lb plus largemouth. As seen in the photo I attached we have a decent class of 1lb northern fish who are all healthy and on the right track. We do however have a low bass county as we have had surveyed and confirmed many times along with very poor catch rates across the board. The goal is to add a couple fish a size class above the guys to (A): boost our catch rates a fish or two per outing, and (B): manage and work through some of the plentiful bass in the yearling class that all are anywhere from 4-6in many of which are stunted. For background this pond is fairly new, the main size class of bass was brought it 2 years ago and has spawned some younger classes. The current top class of bass (1lbish) are on a good track growth wise considered they are northerns, etc.

All that to say, We are in a healthy position to add a couple fish in an upper weight class given our space in the predator carrying capacity room.

and yes, ive got some big coolers with plenty of aeration that ive used many times for transporting large fish that shouldn't be a problem.

thx guys hope this offers some context

howdy! as in stocking some fingerling Floridas?

I’m no professional but reading through this thread, something seems off.
Dallas area, warmer climate, LMB stocked 2 years ago and only 1 lb in weight
I don’t care what strain they are, they should already be approaching 3 lb.

I agree on the something strange question.

Low bass counts and stunting of the bass do NOT go together.

Sounds like a forage problem to me. (Even if you do have supplemental feeding.)

Did you start the fingerling bass on fathead minnows? Based on the lack of heavy cover (in my view), the minnows are almost certainly 100% gone.

Do you have bluegill or copper-nose bluegill as your main forage base? What are your numbers on THOSE in the survey? Do you sometimes fish for the BG? You should have some large ones by now and lots of size classes. They should also look pretty healthy in a new pond with aeration. They should also boil the water when your feeder goes off?

I am just throwing out some more thoughts for you.

If you can provide some more info, there are some true experts on the forum that can give you some excellent advice. (Surface acres of pond, max. depth, and avg. depth would be simple to provide and add useful info.)

Good luck on your fishery improvements!

Sometimes people don't realize just how many bluegill a single bass needs to eat to grow, and they stock too many bass, or too few bluegill or CNBG in the beginning. If the goal was to grow big bass, I'd have recommended stocking 50 bass and 3,000 CNBG or Bluegill per surface acre. It will be interesting to see what was actually stocked.

To the OP: The problem with stocking 3+# LMB, is that they don't know the pond and don't know where the best place is to hang out and be successful catching fish to eat. You may see that they lose weight after being stocked. I'd first spend my $$ getting the pond electroshocked to see how the forage to predator numbers are. If the forage base isn't large enough, then you are wasting money putting in larger LMB - they won't grow. If the pond is fished frequently, and bass caught and released, they may already be getting hook shy. Electroshocking will also show you the fish that aren't interested in biting on a lure.

It will also stun the BG/CNBG to show you how they are doing.

What was the original stocking numbers and sizes of fish that were stocked? How big is the tank/pond (surface acre wise)? What is in there for cover for the LMB to sit and ambush their prey?

From a post late last fall Jonathon provided this information:


The stocking that has taken place:


So if the pond is 1.25 acre, the original stocking was 2400 BG/Acre and 80 LMB/Acre. If two acres, 1500 BG/Acre and 50 LMB/Acre for the original stocking. With a follow-up stocking of 85 1 to 2 lb LMB last year.

A few questions for the experts out there.

In Jon's pond, what is a reasonable number of LMB if he wants them to average 3 lbs?

Where a typical local unfed pond may support a standing weight of an LMB/BG combination at 150 lbs per acre .... what quantity and type of feed would you recommend to supplement the energy required to support that goal?

In your best judgement, what is a reasonable top end weight that Jon should anticipate under that scenario?

What would be the goaled population structure?

What is good method to best assure the goaled population structure and sustain it over time?

Is it even possible? If not, please explain why.

Good advice above.

2 quick questions. It looks like you have a feeder on the bank, so what are you feeding, and how much? Is that pond close to your housing, or is it remote from your home? If so, winged critters can be a problem also.

Adding LMB won't help unless you want hungry skinny fish. Added BG will only help for a short period of time unless adequate cover is added to the pond to protect the BG fry/fingerlings. Stacked cedars are a good choice for cover.

Feed trained LMB, F1 or otherwise, can start at $22 to $30 each and require a huge amount of fish food to fill them out. I've done this for the last few years, and have hand fed them daily, so...

Also, the river run is active, and stripers, LMB, and white bass are catchable right now. The Brazos is fairly close to you, and that might help you if you do want more LMB. I'm heading down there tomorrow for most of next week. I'm taking my fly rods, but bright road runners work almost all the time with conventional rods.

I've been following along watching this one and I'm confused. Is the pond 1.25 or 2 acres?

Is it possible to provide the electro survey results and/or any recommendations that were made?

I'm definitely not a pro here. Every time I've heard about people adding additional LMB to a pond it's been more for genetic refresh. Adding more into an existing pond they can do on their own through spawning. If the LMB have been in there for 2yrs they should be capable of spawning on their own. It seems like a very short window for the need on a genetic refresh.

If it takes 10lbs of forage for a LMB to gain 1lb, and you have 100 LMB that's 1,000lbs of forage. Once they have pulled off a spawn it would be mind boggling to calculate how many made it through and how much forage is needed to maintain them.

Here are a couple of pics from my place last year. I caught one of our original stockers on 09.23.24. Had a nice thick back, tail was thick but the stomach looked a little thin to me.



I could see forage in the water of what I thought was the appropriate size, and for the life of me I couldn't figure out why the LMB were looking a little on the thin side. Rather than fight it I did the only thing I could think of that would help despite what I thought I was seeing with my own eyes. Adding forage of the appropriate size to the LMB I was trying to push through. We ended up adding 150lbs of Golden Shiners and 400 2-3" BG correct what I thought was a problem.

Here's a second pic approx 1 month later. It was the last fish I caught for year, of similar size but note the belly....No longer seeing the recessed or drawn in condition from the pic above.



If you feed them....they will grow. If you add more LMB and you already have a shortage of forage...they won't. Hope this helps in your quest for a few larger fish.

Would be better off to stock tilapia as a relief to the BG while fixing the BG recruitment issue.

What did the ES survey show - specifically. Do you have structure in the pond ?