Recreational Fishpond ManagementCreating excellent fishing in your own backyard!

Rusty Wright, Extension Fisheries Specialist

Auburn University

•Build it right. •Eliminate wild fish.•Stock it by the numbers.•Maintain fertility.•Keep out the weeds.•Harvest, harvest, harvest!

The Basic Principles

Build it right and the rest will follow.

• Pick the right site.• Core the dam.• Build to the right depth.• Slope the banks.• Choose the best spillway.• Seed the shoreline.

Pick the right site. It should have• a natural swale that catches surface water off the watershed—not a large spring or stream

• adequate clay (at least 20%) to seal the bottom

• a ratio of pond size to watershed to just keep the pond full with only occasional major flushing

Core the dam; pick a good spillway; design and slope the sides correctly.

Eliminate wild fish

Fishes that cause problems in bass-bream ponds

• crappie• bullheads• green sunfish & hybrid bream• golden shiners (only in weedy ponds)• gizzard shad

Stock it by the numbers

Keep it simple!

Stock only largemouth bass, bluegill, and redear sunfish.

Stock 1,000 fingerling bream (800 bluegill and 200 redear “shellcrackers”)

per acre in the winter.

Bluegill, Lepomis macrochirus

Redear sunfish, Lepomis microlophus

Stock 100 largemouth bass, Micropterus salmoides, fingerlings the following spring.

What about channel catfish?

• an alternative fish for anglers

• a fish that bites almost year-round

• an excellent eating fish

Channel catfish provide

but

Channel catfish can

• compete with bluegill when small• compete with bass when large• cause the pond to be muddy if too many are stocked

• Stock no more than 50/acre (100 per acre with feeders).

• Stock at the same time as the bass in new ponds.

• Stock with >8 in fish when stocking in established ponds.

Catfish stocking

Maintain fertility

A fertilized pond supports 300 to 400 lb. of fish per acre.

An unfertilized pond supports only 100 lb. of fish per acre.

Before fertilizing a pond

• Clear muddy water.

• Add lime if needed.

• Control any weeds.

Clearing muddy pondsFirst fix the source.

• Fence out livestock.

• Establish a good turf around the pond.

• Prevent excess runoff from construction or newly plowed fields.

• Remove common carp or excess catfish.

Clearing muddy pondsThen treat the problem.

• Raise alkalinity by liming and fertilizing.

• Add hay or cottonseed meal in winter months.

• Treat pond with gypsum or (if all else fails) alum.

Contact your county Extension agent before trying these treatments.

Ponds should have a minimum alkalinity of 20 ppm.

A soil sample of the pond bottom will provide a minimum estimate of lime requirements.

Only use ground limestone.

Apply lime at a rate of at least 2 tons per acre.

or

Consider the rate prescribed by the soil testing lab a minimum.

Apply as much lime as you can afford.

Spread lime from shore in small ponds. Use a lime barge in large ponds.

There are several types of fertilizer.

Application ratesFertilizer Rate Method Liquid 1 gal. Dilute in the prop

wash.

Water soluble

4 to 6 lb. Spread on the surface.

Begin fertilizing when water temperature hits 60 degrees F. Maintain a water clarity of 18 to 24 in.

secchi disk

Controlling weeds

Why should you control weeds?

• Weeds compete for nutrients.

• Weeds interfere with recreation.

• Weeds interfere with bass feeding.

• Weeds can cause oxygen depletion.

• Weeds can be unsightly.

Weed prevention

• maintain the pond with deep edges- no more than 20% of the pond less than 2 ft deep - livestock should be fenced out

• fertilize early in the year and maintain water clarity between 18 and 24 inches

Grass carp:An excellent long-termmethod of weed control

Managing for balance:

harvest, harvest, harvest!

A pond is in balance when there are the correct numbers of bass and bream permitting good growth and reproduction of all fish species.

In a fertilized pond, remove about 25 lb. of bass per acre each year.

In an unfertilized pond, harvest about 10 lb. per acre each year.

Professionals can check a pond for balance by using electrofishing.

In a balanced pond, both angling and electrofishing catches should show a wide range of sizes of both bass and bream. These fish should be in good condition, neither overly thin or fat .

(See Extension publication ANR-1193, “Relative Weight: An Easy-to-Measure

Index of Fish.”)

Check pond balance in early summer using small-meshed 15-ft. seines.

One person stands on shore while the other sweeps the net in an arc.

In a balanced pond, you find bass and bream fry and a few 3- to 5-inch bream.

In a bass-crowded pond, you find bass and bream fry and NO 3- to 5-inch bream. In extreme cases, no bass fry are found.

In a bluegill-crowded pond, you find NO or very few bass and bream fry andmany 3- to 5-inch bream. In extreme cases, you may find no bream fry.

To correct a bass-crowded pond• Correct weed problems.

• Maintain good fertility.

• INCREASE BASS HARVEST!!!

To correct a bluegill-crowded pond

• Try corrective restock with 4- to 6-inch bass if the problem is just beginning.

• Try marginal rotenone and corrective restock of bass.

• Start over.

Survey Results

• 51% never checked for balance or water quality

• 93% did not keep harvest records– Slow LMB growth most commonly reported

problem

Beyond balance

Manage for trophy bluegill by underharvesting bass.

Manage for trophy bass by overharvesting (small) bass.

My current recommendations for forage enhancement

Forage enhancement for bream

Feed 1 to 10 lb. of floating pelleted catfish feed per acre per day during the growing season. Be careful not to overfertilize in combination with the feed.

Feeding will reduce the effectiveness of grass carp.

What NOT to use as a forage enhancement for redear sunfish (shellcrackers)

Corbicula

Forage enhancement for bass

• Temporary • Sustainable –based on production• Trophy only

Temporary Forage

Red swamp crayfish

Fathead minnows

Partially Sustainable

Nile Tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus

Tilapia only where it is legal: check with your local natural resource

agency. Must be restocked annually in areas where winter water Temp < 50 F

Sustainable

Threadfin shad, good for ponds 7 – 8 acres or larger. Will winterkill at water temp. <40 F. Does compete with bream but may not cause serious reduction.

Golden Shiner, Notemigonus crysoleucas

Trophy only

Forage enhancement for bass• Stock adult tilapia in the spring. (where legal)

• Stock threadfin shad in larger ponds.

Shad will compete with bream, so expect reduced bream catches.

MAYBE NOT!

Pond Forage Enhancements

NO MAGIC BULLETT!!!

•Ecosystems have limits

•Ponds could still be bass-crowded with shad

A well-managed pond will provide many years of enjoyment with catch rates unequaled in our public reservoirs!

Russell Wright, Extension Fisheries Specialist, Alabama Cooperative Extension System, Auburn University

Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work in agriculture and home economics, Acts of May 8 and June 30, 1914, and other related acts, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Alabama Cooperative Extension System (Alabama A&M University and Auburn University) offers educational programs, materials, and equal opportunity employment to all people without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, veteran status, or disability.

www.aces.edu