Originally Posted By: JamieE
Yolk, Holy cow only stock 25 fish total or per acre? I assume you were talking total...Thats a bit surprising to me for a 3 1/2 ac pond. I get what your saying about keeping the numbers down so they can thrive, but will we even know theyre there with that low of numbers?

I think it just depends on your goals. Balanced fishery with good population of 2lb range smallies? Definitely too low. Chance of a few fish pushing 5 or 6 lbs in a reasonable time frame? Probably not off the mark. As I mentioned, you've done a spectacular job of being patient, developing a great forage base, now you have to decide how you want to utilize it. If you're really interested in growing exceptional smallies, keeping the initial stocking numbers low will be really important. Eventually you'll have a pond with a lot of smaller smallies anyway, unless you do a lot of culling, so your initial stocking, and the explosive growth that accompanies the introduction of predators to most well prepared new ponds, is your best chance to develop some really spectacular fish.
Put another way, if you do 25 fish/acre, in a year or two you'll likely have 50-60 [or more, depending on survivorship] 2lb smallies which will need to consume a couple hundred pounds of forage to gain that next pound to become 3 pounders--all the while competing with their own offspring. Yes, some will take pellets, which will take some of the load off, but I think they'll prefer the natural forage, and may well grow better on it.