I am finally digging around 1/4 acre pond (maybe slightly bigger) at my house monday. It will be 5 to 8 feet deep rectangle. I have had really good luck with my one acre pond at the farm. I stocked RES and FHM first then added CNBG. I feed everyday and will with this one. With this pond being smaller, and first hand seeing how prolific spawners they are. I fear they will over populate in this smaller pond. My plan for now will be to stock 5 lbs of Fathead minnows and 150 RES in late feb/march. Feeding them Aquamax starter for a couple of months and getting the RES to take the feed without other fish like I did before. ( RES reached 7 inches in 7 months)
I was thinking of then adding 100 to 150 Hybrid Bluegill. Is this a terrible idea? I do not want to use CNBG in a pond this small. I would put some bass in the next fall maybe 30 to 40.
My goal is just to have a place for the kids and me to fish and another place to feed fish. I would kind of like to be able to compare the growth rates of CNBG in the other pond with Hybrids in this one just to see the difference in growth rates with same food. Once the fish get up to 4 to 5 inches move to Optimal JR.
Would love to have big bream!
