Pond bait fish

Building a new pond and am going to stock it with fat head minnows when it fills up. The pond is about an acre in size and is roughly 15 ft deep. Was curious as to how many bait fish I needed to put in it and how long I should wait until putting in crappie, bass, etc..









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If the pond is not currently contaminated with any other fish I would go with the following for each acre of water.


-12lbs of fathead minnows stock ASAP
-250 bluegill fingerlings stock ASAP
-25 to 50 redear sunfish fingerlings stock ASAP
-40 fingerling largemouth bass stock July 2018
-125 8 to 10-inch channel catfish if there are plans to feed or 50 8 to 10-inch channel catfish if no plans to feed, stock anytime.

Construction considerations: A drawdown tube which allows the complete draining of the pond is a very valuable option. Having the ability to reduce water levels below the normal overflow tube gives the pond owner much greater control and more options with management within the pond.

I would recommend against stocking the pond with crappie. There's a tricky balance between small impoundments and crappie populations. Most times the result is undesirable. If you do decide to try crappie, I would wait at least 4 or 5 years and be sure that the largemouth bass population is in great shape. Black crappie only no white crappie! Most importantly, if you stock crappie be sure to have the above mentioned drawdown tube so if/when the crappie take over the pond you can drain it dry and start over again!!