stocking ponds for trophy bass?

[fathernson]

I am trying to do my research on stocking small ponds to optimize bass size. Only looking at about a 2-3 acre pond so I won't be putting much in. It seems to already have a healthy bluegill population and there are bass in there already. I have heard about adding fathead minnows to suppliment the bass's diet and have also heard about tilapia which I am really liking the sounds of for a few reasons. Anyhow if anyone knows anything about stocking shoot me a PM, links to sights with info are appreciated as well.

[lurefisher]

stocking ponds for trophy bass?

I can take ya to Danbury to my buds ,knows a lot about it . He has the talipia from what I rem is the talipia don't eat the fri or bait so they make babes for the basses food ?

[Xpress89]

Danbury fish farm. We have used them twice for our pond. Dont get tilapia... The overpopulate I have heard.

[lurefisher]

stocking ponds for trophy bass?

Wel Danbury fish farms the zoir bros , I've known Bz and buy pleanty of buggs from them for years seems wiered but there the ones who stocked the talipia in my buds pit , and they hatch food for the bass to eat and the bass don't eat the larger talipia so you don't run out of food like with Peach ? Is what I thought I rem ?

[Xpress89]

Its best to start fresh with no fish in the pond.

[Xpress89]

Thats just what i heard bout the tilapia...

[Baby Tran Cat]

My father and I managed a pond like that. And we do use tilapia. Most die in the winter if you get a freeze so dont worry about them taking over. There is no better forage fish for fattening them up than them.

LIke any management it is about numbers. To really do it right you will need to do an annual count where someone comes out and shocks them up to weigh, measure, and count. We tend to remove over 200 a year from a ten acre pond. We have also developed a slot system. If a fish does not weigh a certain amount per inch it is destroyed or moved to another pond. Tis allows only the quality genes to be distributed and reduces the competition for food.

I would say numbers is most important. I would start by having a population count. You really need what you have before you begin to develop them.

[reeltime]

are there any alligator gar and how big is the turtle population?Growing up i had about three ponds and keeping the turtle population under control was a constant battle.What Baby tran cat said is spot on.Is there any invasive foliage in the water?Keeping the lake pond with a constant level of water in it is a plus.The bass when they first start out will feed on minnows and then grow into eating larger fish.Make sure you have some bottom feeders in there as well to clean up the mess.

[lurefisher]

stocking ponds for trophy bass?

So ok the talipia are good ?

[Baby Tran Cat]

So ok the talipia are good ?

Yes. Think about your population this way. Bass will grow ONLY if the environment allows it. So take the formula of 50 pounds of bass per surface area acre. That's it. By this measure the bass will grow to the formula...so if you have 20 bass they will be just a tad over 2 pounds each. They cannot outgrow the formula. By reducing the number of bass your pound per fish grows into the formula to reasonable limits. We are now harvesting 10 pound bass regularly and have shocked up three 12 pounders. We remove all bass under 12 inches regardless. All fish under the formula weight are also removed thus providing more space.

You will have to calculate your own formula based on the conditions of your water. Forage fish and grass are obviously the healthiest thing you can provide. You then need to go on a massive fish kill. By the way, we dont waste the fish. 100% of all the fish we removed are donated to a charity which cleans them and cooks them at shelters so dont think of it as wasteful.

You will get to know the size of them after a while, what stays and what goes. Here is a pick of a nice fish I pulled that weighed over 8 pounds BUT was way too skinny for it's length of over 24"...therefore it was relocated to the creek.



So what this becomes is the question of what you want...numbers or heavy weight per fish. Either way you will have a blast, kids get to have fun on it learning to fish, and you get to learn an awful lot about bass, their behavior, and their life cycles. Go have fun with it!

[lurefisher]

stocking ponds for trophy bass?

Thanks for the info

[fathernson]

all great info. No gar lots of turtles. a good amount of downed trees. the bank is lined with vegetation it gets about 15 foot deep. Is spring fed so the water is pretty constant. My plan as of now is to introduce a third species, all that has been stocked is tiger bass and bluegill. Thinking of adding shad or tilapia and adding F1 strand bass. From what I hear the tiger bass are aggresive but stay small the F1s get big but can also handle the cold

[reeltime]

Time to get your fill of turtle soup!

[fathernson]

Time to get your fill of turtle soup!

No thank you! time for a few local ponds to get a few newcomers!

[reeltime]

They have four leggs and will find there way back again and again.