Good start for documenting the pond progress. To add to Sunil's comment I would create a line of those spider structures AT LEAST all the way back towards the string of rocks descending toward deeper water. An even longer line of them would be even better for providing cover/habitat for the small fish community. Think 20% of the shoreline length. You need to focus to long term prop-up the forage fish for the planned combination of larger fish. IMO for your planned fishery, you need a lot more shallow habitat that parallels the shoreline. Think of it as an artificial weed bed. If at some point, which I doubt, you see too many forage fish, then you can always pull out some of the artificial weed bed. Remove and add as necessary based on existing density of minnows.
Your plan of hybrid crappie has merit buy I very much doubt that you will ever find any of hybrid BCP in OHIO especially close to where you live. Those fish in OH are always rare or non-existent as teeth on a chicken.
Adding your fish as late as March 24 in OH will get you a YP spawn. Others will spawn later in spring.
I would take your 40-60 3"-4" YP an blend into that total some 4"-6" YP; any percentage. Impt note - YP in central midwest esp OH are going to be exceeding rare in spring of 2022 due to numerous farms had very bad YP spawning success in spring of 2021. Big shortage of stocker YP for spring 2022. Many of the larger fish farms in OH have gone to western states this fall for 2022 perch. Those that do not have their YP now will likely not have much in regards to YP for 2022.
HSB could be added in fall of 2022 if you can find them which may be difficult. HSB are most commonly available in spring early summer then they get sold out and farms do not repurchase until the next spring. Based on your small fish densities I would consider cutting back on the 25 HSB and initially stock 15 at 6"-8" size. Then the next year if needed and forage is abundant stock 10 more. 15 12"-14" HSB will eat a lot of fish because they are constantly hungry and growing fast. Ladder stocking concept. The smaller the stocker size of HSB the more they struggle to survive the transplant. Another option is buy the 25 3"-4"ers in spring put them in a cage, feed them and stock what ever survive in fall of 2022. From my experience expect large losses of transplant HSB from fish farms. This spring I add what appeared to be 30 3"-4" HSB to a cage and 2 survived!. HSB are touchy and quite sensitive as stocker fish. My many experiences. YOU will verify this by putting some what look healthy into a cage. Healthy HSB will thrive in a cage IF they are handled properly BEFORE you get HSB and IF you properly temper them prior the caging them or pond stocking them. Larger size HSB stockers have proven many times to be much more hardy for survival after stocking. Numerous times those smallest ones are stocked and never seen again.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 01/06/22 11:44 AM.
