Stocking a small, decently deep, private lake

[KrappieKilla]

I would like to know if anyone out there has tried to stock a lake on their private property and how they went about it.

What species, how many, how big, how you transport them, the legalities, or just anything I would need to know.

The lake and its size and depth are pictured below would like to put sunfish and crappie in it, maybe some bass. I have popped holes in it in the winter and it seems like I could ice fish it (my intentions someday).

Also any info on winter freeze/kill? As always, thanks!

[KrappieKilla]

This seems like a good article, but it is from Ohio, do we have similar winter weather conditions?

Ohio Pond Stocking

[KrappieKilla]

Also I would guess the pond is only 1/3 acres from rough calculations. Maybe too small all together? thoughts?

[Twins Guy]

i'm not gonna be much help but definitely jealous! i do assume that instead of "(inches) you meant '(feet) or else you're gonna freeze through every year. even with 15' depth you could encounter winter kill issues from a lack of oxygen.

tg

[KrappieKilla]

HaHa yes I meant feet sorry on the double hash marks for inches

[Nick Kuhn]

You need a permit to stock any body of water. You apply through the DNR.

Sunnies and bass may survive in there, they may not. Winterkill is definitely a possibility. With that in mind I would avoid stocking crappies and bullheads because they tend to come back and stunt in winterkill situations.

[KrappieKilla]

I believe this is the form you need to fill out. Anyone ever done this?

Fish stocking/transport form

[LightningBG]

Could also put a bubbler in at one end if worried about winter kill. ( but don't walk over there)

[nofishfisherman]

I know someone who stocked a private pond in SE Wisconsin.

Its a little warmer there then it is here but not a ton. His pond is fairly small and has 2 spots where it goes to 10-15 feet deep. The advantage he has is that the pond is spring fed so winter kill hasn't been an issue. The springs are active enough that the ice never really gets real thick. Most winters its probably just enough to walk on. The spring also keeps the water fairly cool year round.

He stocked his pond with a sunfish hybrid (green/blue gill) and bass primarily. He also has a few catfish I guess. He also tried pike in an attepmt to thin out some of the smaller sunfish. He said most didn't make it but a few did. Those that are left have to be huge by now. I had one hit a larger spinner bait and it just swam around the pond at will on me until it finally snapped my line.

The bass and sunfish are naturally reproducing now. He hasn't stocked in over 10 years and there are many different year classes in there.

I'm not sure what sort of legal hoops he had to jump through. Perhaps its different in WI. I'm also not sure where he got his fish. I know he purchased them from some company just not sure who.

Despite the work and the cost of annual weed prevention he needs to do it has been worth the work. I've only fished the pond a handful of times but I've pulled multiple 5+ pound bass out of there plus 3 sunfish over 12 inches. All were caught and released as all fish caught out of this pond are. I've also seen bigger bass and bigger sunfish that I haven't caught. Just a ton of fun to fish knowing a trophy IS waiting for you.

[Agronomist_at_IA]

Pond stocking info.

That looks like a good size lake and should hold some nice fish, it should be deep enough to not have winter kill. In Northern iowa we have ponds of less then an acre stocked and they hold fish even pulled out 5 lb bass out of it. I once read somewhere that in order to stock crappie and to be able to have them do well you need a pond a minimum of 20 acres.

[KrappieKilla]

Thanks for the info, it seems like Iowa and other states provide fish for stocking, but it seems like that is not the case in MN.

I also believe this lake is spring fed, so I don't have to worry about winter kill.

How many acres would you guys estimate it is?

[LightningBG]

How many acres would you guys estimate it is?

What county is the pond in? Sometimes the county's GIS system will let you select an area and tell you how big it is.

[Nick Kuhn]

I believe google earth will let you put a polygon over the pond and let you calculate the area. I know I've done it once before; but you may need to convert units.

[TroutYammer]

Add an aerator and you will have success!

[goblueM]

There has been some good info on here. Carefully consider what you are looking for in terms of the fishery. If you are only really planning to ice fish it, I'm guessing you would be targeting panfish.

In such a case, you can actually manage to produce some very large 'gills by overloading on small bass. Conversely, you can also set it up so you'll have a million potato-chip 'gills, and fewer bass - the bass will get pretty good-sized though.

Pond management done right is a wonderful thing! But be careful because if you tip the scales one way or another and go past an invisible threshold, it can take a lot of work to get the pond back to where you want it

[solbes]

How many acres would you guys estimate it is?

From the scale provided on the map, I'd say that lake is roughly 100x200. Only about half of that is water (with the land in the center). 10,000 square feet is 0.23 acres.

Very cool project, let us know if you stock it and how well they do.

[KrappieKilla]

well put guys, I think I would rather have alot of mid to big sized sunnies, than a handful of huge bass, more fun for the kids and others.

Also would love to fish some big sunnies through the ice, nothing better then that.

Would you guys suggest adding any fake structure before starting the fishery?

It has cattails but no real weed structure.

[KrappieKilla]

I believe google earth will let you put a polygon over the pond and let you calculate the area. I know I've done it once before; but you may need to convert units.

I did this on Google Earth and it seems as the scale on Google maps is small, when I did the polygon I got about .7 acres....I have a .25 acre yard on my city house and the pond is definitely bigger than that.

.7 acres seems about right

[Black_Bay]

Contact your local fisheries office. If the pond is located someplace other than at your home, in Roseville(?), then contact the fisheries office closest to the pond. They can give you all the info you need including contact info for private fish farms.

[KrappieKilla]

That is my plan now, thanks everyone that responded, very helpful.

I plan to stock come this spring and will give updates when I have started the process and as it goes along (years and years)

If we are still using the internet and this thread doesn't get blocked by SOPA you guys will get updates

[TruthWalleyes]

Would you guys suggest adding any fake structure before starting the fishery?

You can build your own fake structure with pvc pipe, or just cut down a tree and toss one in.

[Tom7227]

Not mentioned is the issue of carrying capacity. Any body of water has an upper limit on how much biomass it will grow. If you try and overstock it you will have problems with stunted fish. If you put in the wrong species they will compete with each other. If there isn't enough material for the fish to eat they will not do well. A friend in Iowa had a maybe 1 acre farm pond with catfish, bluegill, crappie and I think bass. He had to feed pellets to the fish every couple of days because there wasn't enough food in the system.

A friend has worked on stocking a 55 acre lake that is in NW MN and he owns all the land around it. He bought a variety of fish from licensed dealers. Bought a lot of walleye fry and had no success. Bass and crappie have worked out OK and cleaned up the overpopulation of bullheads. Perch are doing well also.

I got a text book from the library written by Steve McComas and learned a lot from it. I also did a lot of on-line stuff and found that Iowa has great info on stocking as they stock a lot of farm ponds. There are a lot of doctoral pieces on the DNR HSOforum about the various studies that have been done to try and get a handle on panfish. Tough read but you can learn some things.

The species you chose will be important. For instance I think there are 3 or 4 varieties of sunfish and some do well and others don't. I have read about hybrid sunnies that grow fast but have poor reproduction.

I probably have a lot of material stored on my main computer. If you're interested I'd be happy to share with you. Let me know your e-mail and I'll check to see what I have.

[Nick Kuhn]

You need a permit for structure as well I believe. Wisconsin does something called fish sticks where they jest cut down trees along the shore and let them fall in. You could also sink a few piles of brush (just tie them together and weight them down, easiest to build them on the ice and let them fall through in the spring).

[KrappieKilla]

Tom7227, PM sent

[goblueM]

Something to consider when putting in structure is that you can actually go overboard and have TOO much structure, which gives prey fishes (sunfish for example) too many hiding areas, and they start getting stunted because the predators (say, largemouth) can't get to them

Keep it simple - bass and bluegill ponds are the easiest to successfully maintain. Adding in crappies is tempting but I would advise against it.

Some google searches of state fisheries agencies (Ohio, Virginia, Tennessee come to mind) will turn up pond management materials that are quite comprehensive