Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose How Many Hybrid Stripes to Stock?

Since there is no real good detailed idea of what fish remain in the pond, the number of HSB to stock is a big guessing game. I definitely would not start with 50 per ac in an existing pond. The fish farm is in the business to sell fish and get a profit.

I think we can assume that the LMB have successfully spawned at least 3 times since 2017. Lack of the frequency of you catching numerous LMB was/is probably due to the previous owner creating hook smart bass or maybe allowing too many bass to be harvested since he was selling the property or maybe or likely some of both reasons.

If it was my pond I would spend some serious time (3-8 hrs) trying to specifically fish for small to medium size panfish using a #10 or #8 long shank hook(aka Carlisle) with small piece of worm under a slender bobber that is fished within 5ft to 20 ft of shore. Sit down vs strand while fishing so lots of fish will usually come close to shore. I can usually catch close to 20-40 fish per hour with this method. Measure length, identify, and write down EVERY fish caught. With this method in a "normal" balanced pond you will catch close to 20 panfish for every predator usually it will be a LMB any size; other predator species also count. More that 20:1 "often" means not enough predation and more bass are needed. Fewer than 20 panfish to every bass indicates a trend toward a bass heavy population. I have seen as low as 8 BG per each bass. With this method the size of each of the panfish caught can also tell a lot about the fishery. Measurement of each fish caught is a very important point. The more total fish that you catch using this method the more accurate it becomes to evaluate the fishery community. I prefer to see 200-400 fish caught before I form an good realistic opinion about the balance of fish.

Another simple option is remove 1 bass for every HSB that is added. Allow them to grow one year then re-evaluate the overall panfish predator ratio. the size and number of panfish can be skewed by the number and size of predators that are allowed to be present. You may also need to restock some LMB and make sure they are pellet trained if you do add LMB.