What Fish to Stock
The stocking strategy you choose should be geared to the kind of fishing you want. If your chief interest is to raise an annual food crop, then channel catfish or common carp would be best. If you simply want something in the pond to catch, just about any stocking combination will do. For both sport and table fare, the largemouth bass-bluegill-channel catfish combination is hard to beat.
Other combinations involving smallmouth bass, walleye and northern pike can be used if the pond owner is willing to pay for periodic and expensive restocking. A few deep, well-oxygenated ponds may be able to support trout. However, this is a "put-grow-and-take" proposition as with walleye or northern pike. There are many other species of fish that will live and grow in Indiana fish ponds. However, many of them require specialized management that most pond owners can't afford.
The use of hybrid sunfish in combination with largemouth bass is a popular technique. Hybrids are fast-growing and do not overpopulate as bluegill often do. In fact, so few hybrids reproduce, regular restocking is required. One important drawback to hybrids is that they will crossbreed with other sunfish (bluegill, redear, green sunfish). When this occurs, hybrid identity and vigor are soon lost. Where other sunfish are present or there is a good chance they may enter a pond, a hybrid stocking program will have little success.
The best all-around stocking combination for Indiana ponds has proven to be largemouth bass, bluegill and channel catfish. All three provide excellent sport in addition to fine eating. Occasionally, redear are substituted for bluegill because they seldom overpopulate. However, redear are caught less frequently and may disappear altogether from small ponds.
How Many Fish to Stock and What Size
Considerable effort has been made over the years to determine the best stocking rates for new fish ponds. Stocking too many fish leads to poor fish growth and is a waste of money. Stocking too few fish promotes fast growth initially, but increases the risk of initial overharvest, especially bass. Both problems can lead to an unbalanced fish population and corrective fish management may be needed.
The initial stocking ratio widely successful in Indiana consists of five bluegill fingerlings to one largemouth bass fingerling, not to exceed 1,000 bluegill and 200 bass per acre. For a low fertility pond, it is advisable to maintain the 5:1 ratio but reduce the number stocked to 500 bluegill and 100 bass per acre. The desirable stocking size for bluegill is one to two inches and three to four inches for bass. Four to six inch channel catfish should be stocked at a rate of 100 fish per acre. If redear are desired, replace one-fourth of the bluegill fingerlings with one to two inch redear fingerlings. If hybrid sunfish are desired instead of bluegill or redear, a 10:1 ratio of sunfish to bass would probably be more suitable. In this case, the maximum stocking rates would be 1,000 sunfish and 100 bass per acre.
For ponds larger than five acres, you may stock as if the pond was only five acres in size: 5,000 bluegill, 1,000 bass, and 500 catfish. If costs are not prohibitive, stocking more fish will provide better fishing sooner. Once again, be sure to maintain the 5:1 ratio and do not exceed 1,000 bluegill and 200 bass per acre. For ponds smaller than a half acre, hybrid sunfish or channel catfish only may be stocked at a rate of 500-1,000 fish per acre. Stocking size in this instance is not as important as when the fish are stocked in combination with largemouth bass.
Simply stocking a few adult fish to populate a new pond is risky and not advised. First-year production of young fish from these adults is unpredictable. For example, bluegill may spawn more successfully than bass and the pond will immediately be "out of balance." Fishing quality will become poor in a hurry and will probably stay that way.
How and When to Stock Your Pond
After you have decided what to stock, the next step is to locate a good source. While catching adult fish from a nearby pond or creek and stocking them in your pond may be inexpensive and convenient, it can lead to several problems. Fish identification can be difficult, particularly of small sunfish. Stocking green sunfish that you thought were bluegill, or bullheads that were supposed to be channel catfish, will certainly make for unpleasant surprises later on. Other problems include difficulty in catching the proper number and size of fish, as well as increasing the chances of introducing unhealthy fish that may be diseased or injured. To invest a lot of money into the proper construction of your fish pond and follow it with poor stocking practices won't give you the return on your dollars that you expect.
Fish for private ponds are no longer available from federal hatcheries or from Indiana state fish hatcheries. All fish raised at these facilities are used for stocking public waters that have guaranteed public access to all Hoosier fishermen. The best source of fish for private ponds is a reputable commercial fish hatchery. Several hatcheries are located in Indiana as well as in surrounding states. A list of commercial fish hatcheries is available from the Division of Fish and Wildlife.
Getting your fish from the hatchery to the pond in good shape is extremely important. Avoid rough handling and large temperature changes. If water in the hauling container differs by more than 10°F from the pond water, the fish should be carefully acclimated. Place the hauling container (plastic bag) into the pond water or gradually exchange the water in the container with pond water until the temperatures are similar.
Stocking should not be delayed once a new pond has filled. As soon as the pond has adequate water in it, contamination by unwanted fish is possible before a good fish population develops. Some pond owners believe unwanted fish eggs are carried into their pond attached to birds' feet or within a bird's digestive system. This is simply not true. However, many good fish ponds have been ruined through indiscriminate stockings by others or by emptying unused bait minnows into the pond.
The time of year a pond is stocked is not important. However, most commercial fish hatcheries are geared to growing fish during summer for stocking during autumn. If you plan to stock fish in your pond during the fall and the pond is not completely filled, you should consider water depth. Unless the pond has at least five feet of water, you may risk fish loss during winter.
Other Stocking Needs
Properly managed, the initial stocking of bass and bluegill is the only stocking you should ever have to make. However, regular restockings of channel catfish are usually necessary. This species requires a darkened enclosure such as a hollow log or undercut bank in which to spawn. Since this type of habitat is lacking in most ponds, channel catfish seldom reproduce. By placing milk cans, sections of large diameter field tile or culvert in the pond at depths of three to four feet, catfish can be induced to spawn. However, small catfish are a preferred food item for bass so even this will not guarantee more catfish. In most cases, it is necessary to add catfish from time to time. These should be at least six and preferably eight inches or longer so they're not simply a free meal for your bass. Depending on how fast you remove the initial stocking, a second stocking of catfish should not be needed for two or three years.
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