Tree Spud
5 year old buck +
My understanding is that you should only have one large predator fish like a northern pike or musky per acre. How long have they been in and any observations yet?
Fish Stocking
- Thread starter Tree Spud
- Start date
My understanding is that you should only have one large predator fish like a northern pike or musky per acre. How long have they been in and any observations yet?
That is what my fish supply suggested also. We just stocked two, 2 years ago, when we noticed a bumper crop of 2 inch largemouths. The pike are $22 a piece
. I actually haven't seen one since we put them in. My son has caught a few 5-6 inch bass this spring, but I don't think they are overpopulated yet. Our old pond was about a 1/2 acre and we had at least 4 pike in there. They did well.They did not get real big 20-26 range, but were all healthy fish. That pond had a stunted bluegill population for a long time. I'm sure the pike ate some, but largemouths do a better job keeping the bluegills down.
Tree Spud
5 year old buck +
From what i have read, should have pond depth of at least 12'. Ours is 14' deep and we have had good success even last winter when well below zero temps persisted.
Catscratch
5 year old buck +
Did you make that video? If so, what camera did you use?
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Tree Spud
5 year old buck +
Yes I did. I'll have to check on the exact brand when I get up north this weekend.
Are you guys stocking with hybrid fish? We have a 4 acre pond that is about 15-18 ft deep. It is 3 years old, and we have not stocked anything yet. There is an elevator down the road that has "fish days" 3 times per year. I believe all of their panfish (perch, bluegill, crappie) are hybrid and do not breed. Is this correct? If so, is it worth stocking with hybrid?
ksgobbler
5 year old buck +
Depends. I put in hybrids so I would have little reproductions. Fathead minnows are the forage base and I supplement with pellet feed. If you want a standard bass and bluegill pond, you need regular bluegill to have a forage base for the bass. If you wait long enough mother nature tends to stock it for you it seems.
roymunson
5 year old buck +
I was told roughly 5% of the hybrid blue gills I stocked will reproduce, so it's negligible... But last year was the first year I tried to really get this pond in order. Actually headed out with the boys tonight with bobbers and crawlers to see if we can work something out.
Catscratch
5 year old buck +
I would be very cautious about stocking non-hybrid white crappie in a pond. Go to Crappie.com and do some reading. Black crappie seem to be ok but they warn white crappie in small ponds as a big no-no.
My dad stocks hybrid perch/bluegill in his pond with good success. They are a blast to catch.
Tree Spud
5 year old buck +
My goal was to create a sustainable fishery. Start with 1000's of fathead minnows, then pan fish such as bluegill, perch, & crappie. Can't tell if the crappie have made it though. As the bluegill will overpopulate a pond and you will see stunted growth, added large mouth bass to keep the bluegill in check.
If you are worried about bass taking over, you can add a top level predator like northern pike. You can put about 1 large predator fish in per acre so in a pond your size you could certainly add 3-4. I put some walleye in but have not been able to verify their success yet.
Thank you for the advice!
So I looked at the order form and it appears the only hybrid fish is the bluegill (which makes sense based on Tree spuds last post). I feel better now about stocking them after seeing the form and reading these posts. I am going to stick with the perch, crappie, and blue gill to begin with. I know the neighbor across the street has a 1/2 acre pond and his has been overtaken with bass.
So I looked at the order form and it appears the only hybrid fish is the bluegill (which makes sense based on Tree spuds last post). I feel better now about stocking them after seeing the form and reading these posts. I am going to stick with the perch, crappie, and blue gill to begin with. I know the neighbor across the street has a 1/2 acre pond and his has been overtaken with bass.
The key with any pond is regularly removing some of the fish. If you stock bass and dont remove some, they will become stunted and eat all the fry. If you stock crappie and dont remove some, they will do the same thing. Bass tend to be pretty easy to catch in a pond. I dont recall seeing a pond that was left alone and the fish population remained balanced.
Tree Spud
5 year old buck +
Cat ... sorry for the delay. The camera was a MarCum Technologies Recon 5+... see link below.
Marcum Technologies
Tree Spud
5 year old buck +
One of my buddies lost a bet with his 8 year old nephew. Nephew said he wanted to go ice fishing. Last weekend ice was running out on the larger lakes so I had them come over to our pond which still had good ice. They caught 50 fish in an hour and 18 bluegills that went home for their fish fry. Would've fished longer but his nephew stepped in the hole ... time to go home and dry off. Picture below says it all ....
