lake managment Want to stock small pond with large mouth

[Darth-Baiter]

17 hours ago, Big Hands said:

Are you absolutely sure there are not bass in there already? ;~)

I was going to ask this.  

[ATA]

On 5/14/2023 at 6:16 PM, AlabamaSpothunter said:

A quick google search found this place in CA with Bass for sale, I was just looking to see if anybody even was allowed to sell them.   With CA nothing would shock me lol.

Available Fish For Stocking | Willow Creek Fisheries (wcfisheries.com)

 

If you want to stock Bass in an existing pond with other predator fish, you're gonna need way more than 6 fish, and they aren't going to be able to sex them.  

 

You really need to understand what's already in the pond, because the biomass per acre is everything when it comes to growing trophy fish of any kind.   If it's got a bunch of cats and big bream, they'll hammer most of the fingerling Bass you stock in it.   You basically only want X (amount of Bass) + Y (forage) = 100lbs of biomass per acre of pond....this becomes much trickier when starting with a pond that has an existing fish population.   Many times people start fresh and do a fish kill, I'm not recommending that, but it's an option if you wanted a dedicated little Bass factory and the pond currently has a bunch of stuff you don't want in it. 

I fill up the form and contacted them already, Sounds promising. Thank you.

On 5/14/2023 at 7:20 PM, Big Hands said:

Are you absolutely sure there are not bass in there already? ;~)

Yes no bass, But next weekend I might go and spend few days on it and try to catch fishes in it and check by myself since she doesn't know so much about it.

[airshot]

Often bass eggs are brought into ponds on bird legs as they wade in shallows, then drop them in the next pond.  Many highway ponds are stocked this way.  Unfortunately your never sure what kind of fish you might get !!  Toss any bullhead, carp etc out as they can take over quickly !!  And the bass wont eat them.

[txchaser]

Here's his web site.

https://www.pondboss.com/Home

 

[Blue Raider Bob]

On 5/13/2023 at 1:13 PM, ATA said:

She would like that idea but let's keep it slow. 

Wait,

   She has a pond on her property and you want to take it slow? Dude, you need to speed up!

[king fisher]

Wow.  What a picture.  I'm in love already.  

[Koz]

On 5/16/2023 at 10:09 PM, airshot said:

Often bass eggs are brought into ponds on bird legs as they wade in shallows, then drop them in the next pond.  

That's actually been debunked.

 

However, there are documented cases of viable bass eggs being transferred through duck poop. There was a thread on this last year.

[airshot]

3 hours ago, Koz said:

That's actually been debunked.

 

However, there are documented cases of viable bass eggs being transferred through duck poop. There was a thread on this last year.

We had two large ponds dug by the state just down the road for dirt for an overpass.  We ask if rhey were going to stock it, the state said no way, according to the state biology guy said they will have fish in them within 5 years from birds carrying the eggs in there legs.  Sure enough 5 years later there is a bunch of small bluegills and small bass !!  

[Captain Phil]

Every lake, pond, canal and ditch in Florida contains bass and bluegills.  Most of them are connected either underground or on the surface. As long as it is more than 1/4 mile from the coast and can hold water year round, the fish are there.  When I lived down south, I had a canal behind my home.  When I moved there, most of the bass were 1-3 pounds.  My son and I fished Okeechobee practically every weekend.  We kept our bass and put them in the backyard canal.  We put a number of 7-9 pound fish in that canal.  Little kids in the neighborhood fishing on the bank would occasionally hang one of those big bass. It scared them so bad we could hear them scream as they ran down the street. ?

[ATA]

Ok I went and get a closer look at the lake, I saw bluegills there and I saw so many small fry there. I am after to get the name. the pond getting water 12 hours a day in summer to keep the pond level at full all year round. 

A short clip to see them.

 

[WRB]

I did find a place to purchase bass in California T-MO, don’t know if they have a SoCal location?

Tom

[ATA]

2 hours ago, WRB said:

I did find a place to purchase bass in California T-MO, don’t know if they have a SoCal location?

Tom

@WRB I found bass in SoCal, They are going to deliver, They speaks highly of their LMB which is Florida breed and they said they will be up to 21 lb, The issue was the size which they only have 6" but they said they will be 12" after eight months to one year, I think the delivery will be tomorrow, And according to size of the pond(0.3acre) they told us to get 50 baby bass. Here is the website and link to the bass we going to stock. Let me know if you guys think it is not a good decision.

https://www.wcfisheries.com/florida-largemouth-bass

[WRB]

2024 the bass may not be old enough to spawn, 2025 they will spawn.

Depending on survival rate 50 may be too many with unknown male to female bass ratio. Let’s say 50% survive, 25 1 year old or 12” bass require lots of food.

Tom

[ATA]

1- Ok so we had issue with delivery and far distance and due to far distance they said better we get 2" which we cancel the purchase and we are going to pick up 12 inches by my truck from 50miles away. So I can deliver them less than an hour by myself.

I am going to do that next week. Will keep you updated.

 

2- I want to tag catfishes and bass in the pond and follow their movements in the pond as study. Any suggestions on which road I need to go? I am thinking to catch them one by one and tag them and with some kind of GPS tag watch them.

 

[ATA]

We stock the pond with 14 bass very good size, around 15", Now 21 hours later and one died and two are swimming on the surface. I did the delivery by my truck and less than 2 hours they were released to the pond. Any idea why  we have a dead one or the other two why swimming on the surface? I am going to upload pictures using my phone soon.

[ATA]

They were ver healthy and active by the releasing time, I don't know what happening, Please help. 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

16 minutes ago, ATA said:

They were ver healthy and active by the releasing time, I don't know what happening, Please help. 

If they're already released, all you can do now is let mother nature take ahold.  

 

edited....I see the size and number.   At those sizes, enough should survive to establish a population.   Too small and whatever was in that pond would likely eat them before next spawn.

 

 

 

Awesome, and congrats!  

[ATA]

Ok update, From the four, One dead and one critical condition, The other two doing better (one of them totally gone deep).

 

 

 

This the three clip i upload in YouTube about last three that we are worried about them.

[WRB]

The water temps must be within 5 degrees when releasing from the storage bags into the pond water. My guess the issue is thermal shock.

You may need to add a aeration fountain to the pond, keep an eye on the dissolved oxygen levels! 30 lbs of new DO consumers (LMB) need to breath.

Tom

[ATA]

2 minutes ago, WRB said:

The water temps must be within 5 degrees when releasing from the storage bags into the pond water. My guess the issue is thermal shock.

You may need to add a aeration fountain to the pond, keep an eye on the dissolved oxygen levels! 30 lbs of new DO consumers (LMB) need to breath.

Tom

@WRB Thank you TOM, If it is ok ill call you tomorrow, I have some question. I think you are right, The water in bags were cold and i only let them 5min before release to get familiar with pond temp, In other hand this two days were 100 here. But there is a whale the released water by midnight to the lake and make water cooler, Also the waterfall is working. Ill send you some clip tomorrow, maybe I need to inject oxygen to the lake for couple days (manually like aquarium)? or just wait and see how many will survive? 

[Hammer 4]

Totally agree with Tom, I use to breed Oscars, when I brought a new fish home I always let the bag sit in the water for about 29 mins so the water in the bag came up to temp of the aquarium water, otherwise the fish may go into shock, which Tom alluded to. Hope ypu fish make out o.k. 

[ATA]

Update, Today we had another two dead from original four critical condition. Another one still swimming shallow but once he saw mw, He went deep very fast. So far I think we going to have 11 LMB in the lake. I am thinking to get another 15 and this time ill let bags be there for 30min and then release them. The pond is 0.3acre and I think I need more in it specially now after loosing 3 big ones. 

[WRB]

Give it until passed next May after they spawn, I wouldn’t hurry.

Tom

PS, it was 105 in Santa Clarita on Friday drive home?

[MassBass]

You should also cut a slit in the bags and let the water mix before you release them. If there is a big difference in water parameters like ph, ammonia, etc, that can shock and kill the fish to. Keep in mind if LMB get established you won't have anymore big groups of minnows to look at. I would be curious what catfish is there.

[ATA]

It was very bad experience, We lost 10 fish out of 14. Planing to make new pond and stock it in November or December with 100  bass 12" plus with minnow and catfish. This one ill supervise building it from scratch and ill do all standards including fish habitats, and filter and etc...