Originally Posted by Jambi
You could wait until next year and give your bluegill, golden shiners a full cycle to spawn too.

In theory that works, but theory and actual "boots on the ground" experience is different, at least with one pond we stocked. There were at least a pair of green sunfish in the pond (it seems). When the customer wanted to stock the predators, we did a quick net survey. We found 0 surviving recruitment except for 1,000's of Green Sunfish. Without predators to control their numbers, that population exploded and became the top predator in the pond, suppressing all the other fish in the pond.

To the OP, it's your call regarding the pond. We have seen fingerling bass get to 13" from May-late September when stocked in a one pond at the rate of 50 LMB to 2,500 BG/500 RES.

If it was my pond and I had the budget, I'd stock more panfish and stock the LMB at the rate of 50/surface acre. If you stock more LMB, I would be looking at starting to cull the slow growing ones using a relative weight chart to determine which ones to cull starting next Spring.

To reach your goals of large LMB, you will need the fastest growing ones of the bunch. No reason to keep feeding the slow growing ones.


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3/4 to 1 1/4 ac pond LMB, SMB, PS, BG, RES, CC, YP, Bardello BG, (RBT & Blue Tilapia - seasonal).