How to introduce fish to pond

[lblair]

My property had a pond on it just alittle bigger than that. During a wet spring a bit more bigger than that. It had some bullheads and plenty of frogs and other pond insects. You have a creek near by you said, well birds will help you bring different types of minnows to the pond. If it were me with a NEW pond i would let nature take her course for the first year or two. Lets some cover grow in the water for fish to breed,hide and feed. Then go fishing like allways/w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif ,but instead letting my catch go of bluegills,bass,perch and bullheads. Put them right in the pond. Several of each. Most will make it and reproduce. Just dont over due it. Thats how i introduced bass and sun fish into my pond. The others were allready there. The property was familey owned before me and they never stocked it. With near by water some fish just seem to make it on there own/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif Mother nature will do all the work for the first two years and get it ready for the fish. Just my opinion if i had a new pond Larry

 

[fishman]

SteveM,

Definitely talk to your local state fisheries office to get recommendations. . . The guys who are actually selling you the fish have a vested interest in how many fish and what kinds you get.

If your pond is warmwater (i.e. not coldwater, requiring trout), you should probably stick with channel catfish, and perhaps some hybrid bluegill. It really is too small to sustain a quality bass fishery, but you could try.

Feeding can be quite cost effective in that situation. I recommend Purina game fish chow, which has multiple sizes to benefit all sizes of fish.

If you live any where in the south-central U.S., I can probably give you some help. Just send me a private message.

Same goes to all you other TBN'ers out there!/w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

 

[oombala]

dnr can help. indiana has a free booklet, also in ohio a company called jones fish hatchery jonesfish.com
they have a free catalog , nice website,toll free number. very smart folks. they helped me alot. my pond is avg depth 10 feet, 15-16 max, 660' around. about 8/10 acres

 

[theboman]

Well it ain't rocket science the way we used to do it. We went fishing and brought back what we caught in fish, providing they were the legal limit if applicable. We filled 2-3 old strip mine ponds with catfish, bluegill and largemouth bass, one pond was really big and a few crappie got put in the pond. One had way too many bluegill so we culled those over a summer.

 

[fishman]

Hey theboman, sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn't./w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif

It may not be rocket science, but it's amazing how many ways folks can find to ruin a lake./w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif