building a lake?

[Jbass2]

If you built a 20- 30 acre lake today, how long would it take for the fishing to be decent? I am thinking it would take two years till you could catch some numbers, with nothing being to huge. Anybody got some experience with this?
Thanks

[g2072]

I think it would depend on how aggressive your stocking program was. A long time ago I move to a place that had a old pond that was loaded with small bream and pond perch. That's all we could catch, no bass or catfish. The first year there I caught and transported about twenty five yearling bass. In two years those fish were over four pounds and looked like footballs. With enough baitfish it doesn't take long to get fish that can be fun to catch.

[Dan21XRS]

Also depends on which part of the country you live... Dan

[TampaJim]

Yep ... as noted, food and climate. And 20-30 acres is a pond.
Here in Florida, if you have plenty of forage, a few years.
Up in Maine, it would take a lot longer for sure, short seasons.

[Jbass2]

It is possibly in the deep south.

[BulletTJ]

The first year all you want to put in a pond or lake is bait fish. Let them grow for a season then stock the bass. If you have access to FL strain of bass that is what I would use, if your climate will allow you to do this. I stocked blue gills in mine in early Summer. Then next Spring I added the bass. My pond has some age on it but I have caught a fish close to 12 lbs out of it.

[Stoner]

I think it would depend on how aggressive your stocking program was. A long time ago I move to a place that had a old pond that was loaded with small bream and pond perch. That's all we could catch, no bass or catfish. The first year there I caught and transported about twenty five yearling bass. In two years those fish were over four pounds and looked like footballs. With enough baitfish it doesn't take long to get fish that can be fun to catch.

I have an over abundance of green ear sunfish that are very small in my pond. I have some bass (about 60) that mysteriously appeared in the pond last summer, I’m hoping they are feeding well on the sunfish and thinning them out. I want to add about 50-100 channel cats soon to help with the process.

[Dan21XRS]

The first year all you want to put in a pond or lake is bait fish. Let them grow for a season then stock the bass. If you have access to FL strain of bass that is what I would use, if your climate will allow you to do this. I stocked blue gills in mine in early Summer. Then next Spring I added the bass. My pond has some age on it but I have caught a fish close to 12 lbs out of it.

Address and keys to the lock on the gate... And I won't leave any trash behind... Promise... Dan

[mactlman]

I have an over abundance of green ear sunfish that are very small in my pond. I have some bass (about 60) that mysteriously appeared in the pond last summer, I’m hoping they are feeding well on the sunfish and thinning them out. I want to add about 50-100 channel cats soon to help with the process.

50-100 cats in a small pond???

[Charles Prestridge]

Stock only bass and bream.

In the 1980’s my father had two small ponds built. They were 1-2 acres in size.

We stocked 500 bream and 100 bream fingerlings per acre.

We stocked them at the same time in May.

By Demember of that year, we were catching 10-12” bass.

After a year, we were catching 1.75 pound bass and huge bream.

There is nothing more fun than the 1st 1-2 years of a new pond.

Good luck.

[g2072]

I'm not a expert by any means but for a general rule of thumb if all you can catch is small bream you need a few more predator fish. If all you catch is large mature bream you need more baitfish. In the pond we have now we didn't get the bream started good enough before we started putting bass in. It is hard to get enough baitfish in now. We've been working on it putting mature bream and fathead minnows in a few times a year. The fathead minnows don't last long.

[Charles Prestridge]

Everything I have read, you want to eliminate weeds/cattails/etc around pond border.

Therefore, you want cut-banks all around. Cut the bank straight down a few feet.

Eliminating a sloping bank will reduce weed growth.

In the south, it is almost impossible to have too few bream. Bream will spawn multiple times per year.

Removing too few bream, is typically the bigger issue.

Fertilization of ponds is usually done a few times per year.

[robertboyd]

Better check into the permitting before you get too far along. Had a friend who spent thousands on the plans only to have everything rejected by the feds.

[Stoner]

50-100 cats in a small pond???

The state recommended 85, it’s a little bigger than 1.5 acres
Also you can check out Arkansas pond stockers web site and they have a tool that will help you with stocking recommendations based on your pond size.

[kry29]

I wouldn't stock anything but bream and bass. Throw a few hundred pounds of talapia in there late spring every year to keep it clean and if you dont want grass put about 3 or 4 grasscarp only. Call a place called Camelot Bell and ask him.

[pitbully71]

Many states will stock private ponds for free. Iowa and Illinois both have stocking programs, the only thing you need to do is bring containers to transport the fish. They stock Bass, Bluegill and Catfish normally, and will not recommend stocking Crappie in ponds/lakes smaller than 15 acres.