Hello all. I have determined that my 2 acre pond needs to be sampled before deciding whether to restock. There were a number of otters visiting the pond this last winter and spring, and my catch rate has dramatically decreased from previous years. The pond used to have nice populations of catchable bluegill, crappie, and lmb. Additionally, I stocked 300 YP and 20 HSB last fall.
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While this is a project that I care about, and truly want to develop a quality fishery for my children as they grow up (daughter is 3, and son is 1), I don't feel like it is worth that amount for a 2 acre recreational pond. My reply to the management service was that I hate to spend $2,400 on sampling to realize that I need to spend $2,400 to restock.
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Thoughts?!
OK ... I have some thoughts
. I guess the first thing I would say is that for most recreational ponds ... creel surveys are generally sufficient. Electro-surveys have their place and their cost is justified in the cost of the equipment, expertise, and commitment of time. That said, I don't think the cost is worth it ... given your goals ... I will suggest some ... at least in my humble opinion ... better ways to spend your money.
1. Make sure all of your losses are due to natural predators. You didn't mention whether you lived there are not and people can reduce the number of fish too ... pretty quickly I might add ... and even if they are releasing fish ... they can have an effect on catch per unit effort.
2. If natural predators are the cause it may be an ongoing problem and if you are going to stock fish ... I would be careful about what is stocked. The LMB, crappie, and BG are going to reproduce on their own but growth may be rather subdued in a mature pond.
The critical piece is apex predators they are the keystone to the pond ecosystem. If there are sufficient number of them in the right size, things won't get out of whack with the crappie and BG. Were it me ... I would consider an annual spring stocking of 10" HSB. One option may be to stock 15 per acre-year (30 annually at a cost of $300). Each fall, harvest them at weights of of 1.25 to 2.5 lbs (depending on whether you feed them). I would want to stock in the spring to avoid the winter otter predation and harvest in the fall for the same reason. When your catch rates recover on the other species, you can curtail stocking the HSB if you like.
