Right, I know nothing about fish and my lake is almost full and definatly will be when the two foot of snow on the back thirty finally melts. It's 8 acres total, about 4 acres down to 2' deep (to bring in the waterfowl) and the rest down to 12' deep. 2010 I put in 4,000 shinners, 2011 I put in 1,000 fat heads, 2012 another 2,000 fat heads and last year I put in another 1,000 shinners and about 40 full grown Blue Gills. We also have ten of thousands of frogs that turn up every summer. Question is, is this lake now stock sufficiently for me to throw in say 40 - 50 adult largemouth bass or should I throw in some more Blue Gill and wait until next year, or throw in both the bass and the blue gills?
"I think that I am very reasonable therefore ......." ICRCC
You may need to wait at least a 1-2 years on the bass.
It takes 10# of forage fish for 1# of bass. You're seeing sport fisheries that are hitting 20:1 bluegill to bass ratios to see 2#/yr weight gain over three years. To some degree, though, it depends on how the existing fish are doing. If your adults are all surviving, gaining weight, and you're seeing 2nd gen, you might be able to add a few. It's a big pond for just 40 blue gill, though, even if you only wanted to count the 4 acres of deep water. With fairly fertile grounds, you can sustainably handle 20-25 bass per acre. You commonly see a weight ratio of 5:1 bluegill to bass (50# blueys, 10# bass) for both harvest and balanced pond sustainability.
Your fatheads will disappear or all but disappear by autumn if you stock adult bass in spring, so you need the solid stock of bluegill ahead of time. Not too crazy with bluegill, or you can end up with subadult bass in direct competition, but a pretty solid stock. I think if you're looking at 1:1 or 2:1 or even 5:1 ratios blueys to largemouth, you may run into a serious lack of bluegill unless you have a massive population of minnows to feed small bass and a really massive population of frogs they can get to.
Golden shiners are arising as a question mark in bass fisheries, too. They're egg eaters as well as insect eaters, which can affect the size of bass generations. Your adults get fat, your subadult stocking fish get fat, but your minnows and second+ gen bred fish can end up small because you end up with a gap in the population, a population swell in bluegill of the same year, and then the bluegill outcompete the young bass. In that much space I don't think that's an immediate concern. You can look up the Nebraska extension office or Nebraska parks and game and print their "if I have, then this is happening, so I..." brochure. If you're after 1/2# to 3/4# blueys for the faster production and bass are just kind of a bonus and to keep them in check, that's different, too.
If you have a really and truly thriving frog population, sometimes that can make up a big difference in the bluegill-bass diets, especially if you have a lot of 2-4" frogs in areas the bass are going to be going after them and plenty of tadpole holes the blueys can access safely.
You might also consider trying a couple hundred red ear/cherry spot bream/suncracker. They are kind of another blue gill, but they go after different food sources than blueys so they're not in competition for feed and they don't compete for nest sites, either. They don't spawn as much or quite as fast, but if they can handle your cold, its another string to add to the food web for the bass. Another major benefit is that they eat invasive mussels and they can handle freshwater marsh conditions, so if you end up with stagnant areas at some point, you've still got food sources making use of them.
Usually I hear channel cats in the bluegill-bass pyramid. No go for you or already happy with your stock/plan there?
there you go....the frog/ toad population through the roof. there was thousands before we built the lake, this year you walk around the lake and its like the ground is moving. ill wait a year, no rush. I might stock more blue gills this spring. thanks.
"I think that I am very reasonable therefore ......." ICRCC
quick follow-up.....best way to airate (did I spell that right?) in winter. should I go for electric or put in a windmill?
"I think that I am very reasonable therefore ......." ICRCC
Does the windmill pump water or air to aerate? While it's pretty hard to get enough wind to pump water, a wind powered air pump isn't working very hard at all.
Still it's going to work best in an exposed (to good wind) location. Maybe set up a recording wind meter(anemometer) for a while, a year is best.
hey perfesser..
they pump air....need very little to turn, and will break through ice sooner or later no matter how thick.....but they're expensive compared to the electric versions....and I have an extremely good wind location.....
"I think that I am very reasonable therefore ......." ICRCC
I guess you figure the cost of running power out to your location plus the cost per year for electric(if you go grid) or a solar setup.
Compare that to the up front windmill cost and you'll know your payback time. Less maintenance counts a lot for me, I'll pay extra for fire and forget.
I saw a Geoff Lawton video where they used a solar water pump, 2 panels, one battery. Pumped water into a barrel full of gravel and let it flow through to oxygenate. The pond looked about 100 x 50 feet.
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Permaculture Fishponds