Stocking a pond

[Stan B]

My question: have any of you stocked your own ponds?

When I was a kid my parents had a land-locked pond, spring fed. We'd go catch fish in other bodies of water and release them into the pond. Don't know if that's possible, proper or legal, but we had a lot of fish in it by the time they sold the place some 10 or so years later.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I was just suggestiong that it's like going to an alternative health practitioner and it's always positive because they always have the products and services to cure (or better yet control) whatever ails you.

We used to catch and release trout into our ponds, but it's probably illegal.

 

[3gunr]

I also have a 4 acre pond , When i bought the proPERTY 19 YRS AGO THE POND WAS LOADED WITH BASS ,BLUEGILL AND SOME CRAPPIE. wE ALWAYS FISHED FOR FUN AND RARELY KEPT ANY FISH. THE CRAPPIE EVENTUALLY ATE ALL THE BLUEGILL AND THE BASS STARVED TO DEATH. I WAS NOT VERY GOOD AT POND MAINTANANCE. ABOUT 4 YRS AGO I DECIDED TO RESTOCK , BUT WAS TOLD TO FIRST GET AS MANY CRAPPIE OUT AS POSSIBLE. WE TOOK ABOUT 500 LARGE CRAPPIE OUT. THE FISH PLACE RECOMENDED 1000 BLUEGILL AND 100O RED EARED SUNFISH AND 200 BASS. THAT WAS GOING TO BE EXPENSIVE SO WE DID HALF OF THAT AS WELL AS 40 LBS OF MINNOWS. IT SEEMS TO BE WORKING SO FAR.

 

[drssg]

I don't think that's a silly question. The truth is I don't know. I know I have fish. I have big fish and I have a variety. Catfish, bass, perch...they're all in there. Maybe the answer is to fish it for a while and see. I just know it takes time so I want to get started as early as possible if I do need them. The other thing is that they are relatively inexpensive if I'm just stocking. I can stock 1/2 or 1/3 of the recommendation to save money. I don't see how that could hurt but then again, I don't know anything about ponds...or fish either really.

Thanks for the input.

When I discovered that Mother Nature had stocked my pond, I already had some fish on order, so I went ahead and also stocked from the local fishery. IIRC, I used about 1/2 or 2/3 of their suggested quantity.

I'm no expert, but if you're comfortable with that approach, I also don't see how it would hurt anything.

 

[Jlblake]

I also have a 4 acre pond , When i bought the proPERTY 19 YRS AGO THE POND WAS LOADED WITH BASS ,BLUEGILL AND SOME CRAPPIE. wE ALWAYS FISHED FOR FUN AND RARELY KEPT ANY FISH. THE CRAPPIE EVENTUALLY ATE ALL THE BLUEGILL AND THE BASS STARVED TO DEATH. I WAS NOT VERY GOOD AT POND MAINTANANCE. ABOUT 4 YRS AGO I DECIDED TO RESTOCK , BUT WAS TOLD TO FIRST GET AS MANY CRAPPIE OUT AS POSSIBLE. WE TOOK ABOUT 500 LARGE CRAPPIE OUT. THE FISH PLACE RECOMENDED 1000 BLUEGILL AND 100O RED EARED SUNFISH AND 200 BASS. THAT WAS GOING TO BE EXPENSIVE SO WE DID HALF OF THAT AS WELL AS 40 LBS OF MINNOWS. IT SEEMS TO BE WORKING SO FAR.

Thank you. This is what I'm worried about. I think I'm going to stock but at a slower rate than they want me to do. They were focused on trophy bass and I am not interested in that. I know I have to keep fish and take them out though.

 

[AllByteNoBark]

Lots of knowledge and info at Pond Boss Forum | Forums powered by UBB.threads™

Hope it is okay to post that link. They have answered a lot of questions for me.

 

[oosik]

WoW!! Where to start.
- where are you located
- does the pond ice over in the winter
- how deep
- a picture of the entire pond and surrounding area
- spring fed, creek fed, no feed
- what is the natural food for the fish in your pond ( Ferry shrimp, isopods( type), crayfish, frogs, etc )

OK - now that we have that info from you.....

A truly productive pond with spiny-ray fish( bass, crappie, perch, etc ) will not need stocking unless there is a major catastrophe. Winter kill, summer kill, influx of some chemical toxicant, etc. Spiny-ray fish, given proper spawning areas( cattails is a good area ) will reproduce in a pond.

I have a ten acre pond. It's 80 feet deep. Five acres of open water - five acres of cattails with water depth from ten feet to three feet. I have both large & small mouth bass. Every spring there are large "pods" of yolk-sac bass fry all around the lake. They make good food for the other bass in the lake. The smart ones remain in the cattails until they are larger and, more or less, safe. I have many bass that look just like Polaris nuclear submarines. I enjoy standing on the cliffs and watching the groups swim past. Smallest in the lead - largest bringing up the rear. If you do purchase bass be certain they are released into a portion of your pond ( again, cattail area ) where they simply do not become food for the fish in your lake. Or get them 6" or bigger. At that size they can, pretty much, fend for themselves. Plant small( 2" to 3" ) bass into any unprotected area of your pond. Expect 5% survival. Plant them deep into a cattail area - expect up to 20% survival.

A view off my front porch( mid-summer, early winter). The five acres of cattails is way down at the far end. The area I live in is called the Channeled Scablands. The basaltic lava cliffs, on both sides of the lake, are up to 40 feet high. There is no gradual shoreline. It is 45 feet deep immediately off the cliff face.

View attachment 636148View attachment 636149

 

[MossRoad]

You don't want cattails in most small ponds as they'll tend to cause a few problems. They easily outcompete other plants and can lead to a monoculture. They can cause the shoreline to get shallow faster, since their roots are so large and prolific, holding rotting plant material and building up the bottom. They contribute to pond eutrophication. They attract muskrats like mad, and if you have a dam, you don't want muskrats. Stuff like that. Once cattails are established, they're also hard to get rid of and/or control.

As for the number of fish in a pond, a body of water can only support X many pounds of fish life.

So, for example, let's say your pond will support 1000 pounds of fish life. That can be:
- 1 one thousand pound fish
- 10 one hundred pound fish
- 100 ten pound fish
- 1000 one pound fish
- 10,000 one-tenth pound fish

If the pond already has fish in it, and you throw in a thousand small fish, there's a decent chance that they will never grow and most likely either get eaten by the existing fish, contribute to stunted growth in your existing fish, or die of starvation.

Without knowing what's in there first, it's a complete guess if you're going to see good results or just waste your money on a fish stocking.

 

[oosik]

Cattails. What Moss says in mainly true. However - if you do have cattails - you might just as well learn to live with it. The pond has cattails because the wind blown seed came from somewhere and always will. You can spend a whole lot of money controlling them and you will ALWAYS have cattails. Water depth will limit their spread. I have none out beyond 8 to 10 foot water depth.

Food. My lake is choked with fresh water Fairy shrimp. They resemble a Norwegian long boat - upside down. The bass grow big, fat on this plus all the frogs, crayfish & aquatic insects. There is a down side to having big bass. The Mallards, Coot & Ruddy ducks no longer raise their young on my lake. Once the young fledge they are back on the lake. But not as hatchlings.

Muskrat. I have one very active family of Muskrats. They have a quite large lodge down at the beginning of the cattails. They have constructed a small dam on the outlet. It has raised the water level about a foot and helps maintain a more constant water level year round. My situation is one of the few times when these critters are quite helpful.

Fish. My lake has over 60+ years had many differing types of fish. My father was a fisheries biologist and had access to many types. Rainbow trout - brook trout - silver salmon - red salmon - steel head and now large & small mouth bass. The trout, salmon & steel head need a river to spawn in. There is nothing like a river anywhere around here. So...every three or four years a new batch of trout/salmon fingerlings would be planted in the lake. Spinyray fish will spawn in a lake. That's why I have bass in the lake now. There is a private hatchery north of me but the cost of fingerling trout is truly excessive.

Pleasures. I occasionally will dry fly fish the bass. I don't eat the bass. My greatest joy is watching them as they swim by the cliffs. I will occasionally throw a five gallon bucket of ants/ant nest in the lake. Fun to watch them pick off all the ants.

 

[Jlblake]

Lots of knowledge and info at Pond Boss Forum | Forums powered by UBB.threads™

Hope it is okay to post that link. They have answered a lot of questions for me.

Thank you!