Chris, welcome to PB and a couple of thoughts.
This stuff is all about balance between predator and prey. Well, need to also pay attention to water quality. Alkilinity and Ph are the main things that that influence aquatic life.m
Fatheads are generally only good for kick starting a new pond. They don’t last long and bass will starve on them. Bass and bluegills need groceries that is about 30 to 40% their size. It’s a matter of groceries obtained vs energy expended. Bluegills are the basis of the food chain for bass and cats. They are prolific and have what is called a rolling spawn. That means they don’t stop until the weather gets too cold. At Sanger, that would be about the start of bow season.
I once heard that the best cattleman is a grass farmer. So, the best pond manager needs to pay a lot of attention to the bluegill base.
Of all the fish eggs laid, hatched, etc only a small number reach spawning size. Why? They get eaten. If they didn’t, they would foul the water, use up the O2, and everything would die.
To get the approximate size of the pond, compare it to a football field. An acre is approximately the size of the playing surface. An acre is 43,560 sq. ft. Football field is 57,564.
By the way, my place is just South of Bowie. And Lusk, the owner of this site, just sold his place at Sanger and moved to the Brazos River just South of Granbury.
Lots of people don’t like the dreaded green sunfish because they don’t spawn enough to feed predators. But, I like them and have a small pond full of them. Why do I like them? Because they will outfight a pansy bluegill every time. I actually have a 1/4 acre pond full of them and ride a 4 wheeler a mile to toss fish food. Also, their limited spawn limits the chance for over spawning and creating an O2 shortage.
