Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Hybrid striped bass and walleye, when to add

The angler catch data will over the years allow you to see if numbers of small fishes are staying constant, decreasing or increasing. Numbers and sizes of your forage community are a very important component for a quality fishery. Most high quality sport fish ponds for the long term fail due to a poor or failing forage fish community.

I suspect with 40 HSB per ac the numbers of small fishes caught per hour will gradually decrease as HSB grow beyond 1 lb. Hopefully the decrease of forage is not rapid for your situation. Feeding the HSB has pros and cons for your stated goals. Decreased catch rate of small fishes indicates one or a combination of several things: too many predators, inadequate forage spawning, poor survival of hatchlings, need for more and larger refuge areas, or there is a need to stock more forage fish. If you put more harvest pressure on the larger HSB and restock with fewer smaller HSB this could(?) help forage fish numbers rebound? As the HSB growth per year "hits the wall" and relative weight of HSB drops below 85%-80%, this indicates they are becoming food limited. Food limited HSB could be a positive condition for your 'favorite angler' goals. HSB biomass is reduced, pond water quality is not degrading rapidly, plant growth is less and more controllable, nutrient accumulation rate is lower, catchability is still relatively high and angler is happy. As I noted earlier managing a pond for a quality fishery is a "numbers game".