Thread: Pond management

When mine first filled up, I stocked fathead minnows. I put 4 pounds per acre. They reproduce about 6-7 times a year. I had a pond full of minnows after the first year. That started my food base. The second year, I stocked channel cats and blue gills. They adapted very well. I began feeding them every evening shortly after stocking. The catfish were as long as my index finger when I stocked them. They weighed 1 1/2 to 2 pounds their first year. After the cats and bream had a year in the lake, I stocked LM bass. The lake was so full of minnows at this point that you could almost walk across the water on them. The bass were the size of my little finger when stocked. The next year, they were already a pound. They sure thinned out the minnows though. I then stocked black crappie. Made sure I had a good food base and predator base to control the crappie.