What would be the best fish to stock in small farm pond to enjoy for the grand kids to catch, but worth cleaning for dinner. Am not a bream fan due to volume of small bones, no one in my family but me will eat them. Pond is about 1/4 acre. Thinking about crappie or catfish, any other thought on the subject? Located in West TN. thanks for input. Tim

-- Tim (goathillfarm50@aol.com), March 23, 2002

Answers

Think about catfish? Maybe, but according to my reading of the Bible, it's out. Bream are cheaper, easier to raise and are hardier esp during cold snaps.

-- al (yr2012@hotmail.com), March 23, 2002.

trout,trout,trout. yummmy

-- cody (urbusted@alltel.net), March 23, 2002.

Thanks Al, but in my bible Christ told Peter in a dream that if He blessed it, it was good to eat, that took care of the arguments over the dietary law. God bless and have a great day.

-- Tim (goathillfarm50@aol.com), March 23, 2002.

Catfish and bass. Thats what we have and enjoy both.

-- Eve Lyn (evelynv@valuelinx.net), March 23, 2002.

Bass! Lots of folks stock a black bass.

-- BC (desertdweller44@yahoo.com), March 23, 2002.

Our fish and game dept offers a pond stock for $50 of crappie, bream and perch, but require the pond be eradicated of catfish and turtle first. Maybe your F&G offers a similar program.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), March 23, 2002.

Crappie may overpopulate to the point where they stunt each other and don't get very big. My own kids fish a local lake where they get medium sized crappie, and even so, if they catch 6 fish each they can eat them all. Mind you, my own kids LOVE them, but it is a lot of work for me to cook up 6 medium crappie for each child and then get the bones out for them. It's a labor of love, you might say. Well worth it, but definately work.

-- Terri (hooperterri@prodigy.net), March 23, 2002.

I have about a 1/4-acre pond stocked with Channel Cats, Bluegill and Largemouth Bass.

I also have a 75-gallon aquarium stocked with Bluegill and 4- to 6-inch Channel Cats. When the catfish get too big for the aquarium I just move 'em to the pond.

Never have any problems with either the pond or the aquarium.

-- Hank in Oklahoma (hbaker@ipa.net), March 23, 2002.

You might try a combination of both or several different species. They are all fun to catch and you don't necessarily have to eat them just cause it was caught(unless it is hooked deep in the gills and is going to die). When kids are fishing they don't care what kind of fish it is just as long as it takes there floater under the water. I love taking kids fishing and watching the excitement when they catch a fish.

-- r.h. in okla. (rhays@sstelco.com), March 23, 2002.

just wrere is this pond ill come visit in a coupla years. Bob se,ks.

-- Bobco (bobco@kans.com), March 23, 2002.

Whatcha wanna try to do is balance the Bluegills with the Bass and other predatory fish. If you don't, the gills will take the pond over in a few years and that'll lead to stunting. Another thing is to fish the pond. That'll help to keep the population more balanced.

Also would recommend having some structure in the pond for the eventual hatchlings to take cover in because they'll become food for the bigger fish without the cover. Plant the shoreline with plants that won't be too invasive but will provide cover for frogs, bugs etc. That'll become a natural source of food for the fish.

Unless your pond stays pretty cold, trout wouldn't work because they require highly oxygenated water and that means cold water.

-- john (natlivent@pcpros.net), March 23, 2002.

I agree with having both predator and prey species and fishing for both. However, with bluegills at least, you do have to be careful. Bluegills have an interesting life cycle. There are two types of males. During the breeding season, "normal" males choose a spot and dig out a nest, which they defend against other males and try to entice a female to lay her eggs. The stronger (usually bigger) males have the center of the breeding area and the weaker males get the outer regions of the real estate. Females choose the males, drop their eggs, which are fertilized by the defending male. But, there are "sneaker" males that are very small. These "sneakers" dart in beside the happy couple and squirt out milt. The "sneakers" are obviously bluegills, but are much smaller and rounder than "normals" and are about 50% testes as body weight. If too many "normals" are fished out, the males in the next generations can be mostly "sneakers," which can be interpreted as stunted fish. Bass and reduced fishing pressure for a year or two should reverse this situation. This little bit of "Discovery Channel" is well understood by specialists but not widely known otherwise. Hope it helps someone.

-- Martin (boraas@miliserv.net), March 24, 2002.

Personally, I prefer tuna, swordfish and halibut, with a side order of lobster and clams, but with your size limitations, catfish would be my first choice! GL!

-- Brad (homefixer@SacoRiver.net), March 24, 2002.

We have bass and catfish. This past summer, my son (7yo) caught a whopper! The look on his face was priceless. In the picture I took, he's holding up by the tail out in front of him. He has this awful grimace on his face because it's so heavy.

One thing above mentioned son has developed a taste for are crawdads. Can we just catch them in the creek and move them into the pond? We do get some good sized ones in the creek. Usually, what we find are the shells after the racoons have eaten them.

-- Mona in OK (modoc@ipa.net), March 25, 2002.

well im 12 years of age and do a lot of pond fishing and i was reading all this and wanted to help you out. for grandchildren you to put crappie in that pond just the other day me an my grand p caught 12 and they are more meat than bones. for more info email me.

-- Bart levi (bassmaster11_7@yahoo.com), March 26, 2002.

Tim: Depends a little on the size of your pond and your location. For most farm ponds under l0 acres in the temperate zone, crappie are out. They tend to overpopulate and stunt. The most common combinations are largemouth bass, bluegill and channel catfish. If you can start with a clean pond you will be better off--a head start by bass or bluegill will lessen your enjoyment of the pond.

I would stock with channel cat and hybrid bluegill (green sunfix x bluegill) and a few small bass. If there are no bass in your pond you can buy 4 to 6 inch catfish, 2 inch hybrid bluegill and bass fry. The bass grow so fast that they will pass up the bluegill and catfish before you know it. Do not put in larger bass because the favorite food of large bass is small catfish.

The hybrid bluegill grow fast and will reach a pound or close in a couple of years if fed. The catfish will do that in a year. About ten percent of the hybrid bluegill are fertile, and the reproduction will fuel the bass. Channel cats will try to spawn, but they will not reproduce as the bluegill and bass will eat all the young.

When you fish the pond, do not release any bluegill unless it is clearly a hybrid. Either kill and throw back for the scavengers or keep for eating any other bluegill, and of course the larger hybrids are excellent table fare.

Once in operation and after the bass are of some size, do not try to restock small catfish--if they are not at least the 8 to 10 inch size you are just feeding the bass.

If you have a fish feeder on the bank, or if you toss a couple of cups of feed to the fish each day they will come to feed like chickens, and of course grow faster.

Your state Ag. extension office will have some good pond management guides. Also, do not go out and buy from the slick, high-priced fish hatcheries. Call around and find a hatchery that sells at reasonable prices. I pay 25 cents for hybrid bluegill, 40 cents for 8 to 10 inch cats; if I can use the 4 to 6 inch catfish they are only about twenty cents as I recall. Bass are much higher, so I catch those and transplant. They spawn the first year and there are more than are needed.

One last item: If your pond is weedy or mossy, consider buying some grass carp. They are harmless grass eaters, and about 6 to the acre will keep all the moss and duckweed cleaned up. They grow very large, very rapidly. Downside is that they cost about $5 each when as big as your hand, and if your pond has a big overflow will go out with the flood water. If the overflow water runs deeper than the top of the grass, don't bother buying carp as they will leave (unless of course you can screen the overflow)

Mac

-- Jimmy S (Macrocarpus@gbronline.com), March 26, 2002.

PS to Mona:

Monal, the favorite food of channel catfish is crawdad. One year I cleaned out a pond and left it unstocked, By the end of summer it was crawling with big crawdaddies. In went the channel cats, in a month, no crayfish. Mac

-- Jimmy S (Macrocarpus@gbronline.com), March 26, 2002.