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Originally Posted by Omaha
 My first post here, but I wanted to add to what MA Machine posted about the minnows. I've read that it is strongly discouraged to get minnows from baitshops to add to your pond because you're not really sure what species they are. Also, I believe it's suggested for most ponds (4 acres is a pretty good size though) to only stock bluegill, LMB, and channel cats. Anything else you should do some extensive research. |
So I've been doing a lot of research since my first post here and have a little more to add. First off, setting your forage base around fathead minnows and golden shiners. Forty pounds (10# per acre) of the minnows and 200 or so golden shiners. This will give you a really solid forage base for those bass you'll stock later. Everything I've read supports a 7:3 ratio between bluegill and redear sunfish, so 700 bluegill and 300 redear sunfish for your size of pond. Once they've spawned once or more, you can stock your largemouth bass. 350 largemouths. The channel catfish you can stock as you want, stock what you think you'll harvest. Don't let them reproduce. Just replace as you harvest. I believe most pondmeisters like to stock about the same number of channels cats as they do bass, knowing the cats will not reproduce. Hope this helps and I'd certainly welcome anyone to echo these numbers or question them. These are the ratios I was intending for my small pond.