Thread: New pond stocking?

Thanks guys,sorry I haven't chimed back in for a few days,our recent snow storm took out our electric for 5 days.I stated my goal is a trophy bluegill pond ( non hybrid ) in the original thread.I was considering catfish in place of bass for overpopulation control of the gills,plus the fact,I enjoy a tasty platter of catfish about as much a panfish.I will take all info into consideration,knowing I will need something to keep the gills in control.

Hey Yaker, glad you're back to the modern world - I don't imagine five days without power was a lot of fun. Definitely if your primary goal is big bluegill, think twice or four times about the channel cats. They definitely won't control bluegill numbers - never once have I seen them do so. And, as previously alluded to, they will cause major problems a couple years down the road in terms of getting food to the bluegill. Stocking a very high number of largemouth per acre is as important as anything else you do for a trophy-bluegill pond - the bass numbers will make or break it. I surveyed an eight-acre pond last fall that turned up two 10" bluegill in the survey, and this is a pond that had had no management in twenty-plus years...and we sampled more largemouth than we did bluegill, which is why the bluegill were as big as they were.