My neighbor, Lee, filled a new 1/5 to 1/6 acre pond, 8' max depth, artesian spring fed with run off around July 2021.
Over the late summer of 2021, we put in about 12 dozen fatheads from a local bait shop, and from August to September '21, we put in (50) mature bluegill and redear sunfish from my neighborhood pond. In January of 2022, we saw fathead fry in the pond.
In Spring 2022, April time frame, we put in 20 lbs of fatheads. In May, we put in an additional (35) mature bluegill or redear.
The original plan was to stock SMB, YP, HSB, and some CC this Fall '22.
The pond is way, way loaded with fatheads of most all sizes. If you watch a patch of water, and don't think you see anything, you'll eventually see newly born fathead fry. It's crazy, and it's scared me a bit without real predators in the pond yet.
So, my question is, how much does an adult bluegill or readear eat fatheads of all sizes? I'm just trying to calm myself by thinking these (85) bluegill are helping thin the fathead population. I will often see the bluegill just suspending in a cloud of fathead frye just seeming to inhale.
Last Wednesday, we were able to stock (11) SMB in the 2" range. We started to pursue options for a summer stocking to get some predators in the pond. Probably going to get some YP, HSB, and CC in the next week to 10 days. Just moving up the schedule.
