Here's what I have and where I am at with my thinking...
I have a 42 year old 3 acre pond in my front yard. Two years ago we drained and dredged it and cut all the brush and trees away from the banks so it's nice and clear all the way around. I did put several brush piles of old cedars around at different depths, tied down to blocks while the pond was dry. I also have a very large wooden dock that I had shored up while it was out of the water so there is some wooden structure. There are a number of large rocks in the channel coming into the pond and there's a good bit of gravel all around the shallows.
I want to restock it this Spring. What I am planning on doing is putting in fathead minnows, bluegill 1-3", largemouth bass 2-3", and channel cats 6-8". I'm not exactly sure about the numbers. I also could put black crappie in at some point but that's not a priority.
The hatchery really wants me to wait until Fall to stock the bass. I don't want to wait even if that's the best approach for stocking. One big reason for this is that I fear that I may not be able to have the opportunity to get more fish after this Spring.
If I were to put all four of these types of fish in the Spring and I insist on putting bass in as well, how should I do this? Will I need to change the numbers of bass per acre? Should I go with a different ration of sizes between the fish types than what I planned above? Will I need to stock more minnows? What kind of damage or chance of absolute failure am I facing? If I were to do this yet still find the opportunity to get more fish and/or minnows in the Fall, is there a way to adjust for what I did in the Spring?
What are some thoughts on this? thanks!
Last edited by SherWood; 03/08/22 11:46 PM.
