Stocking golden shiners

(with permission from the ponds owner of cours)

Would this help to casue teh LM bass to grow noticibly or is it not even worth it?

[Bluegill Budd]

Do NOT stock Golden Shiners in a pond! They are very aggresive fish when it comes to forage and will compete with the BGs & Crappie. I have spent the last 5 years removing the Goldens that survived after some one used them for bait in one of my ponds. Fathead Minnows can be safely stocked, and are available (at least around here). They will not grow to the size of Goldens and they will not be competition for the game fish.

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Clint

I feel closer to HIM when I'm fishing.

[James Smith]

Anthony,

It is almost always a bad idea to move/stock fish on your own. Well meaning people do this all the time and often ruin a good fishery. A healthy pond with a good population of bluegill and bass will support itself. As BlueGill Bud stated Golden Shiners are very aggressive and will compete with small bass and native Bluegill for food. They are also extremely prolific and will soon overpower the native fish. Golden Shiners are valuable fish in a very large reservoirs where landlock Stripers or Hybrids can control the population. The answer to your quesiton about helping the bass population grow depends more on pond management, which the State Fish and Game department should be able to assist with if the pond owners are interested.

Jim Smith

Thanks for the info, thats good to know

I wasnt talking about any state program, just me buying them myself.

Its just that I recently discovered this small pond and me and my 3 friends practically own it (one of us literally owns it) and we really want to do something to make it a good fishing spot for it. I have always been really interested in fisheries and how to establish one in a pond.

[tailingloop]

Golden Shiners take dry flies and small poppers if they get big enough - has happened in one local lake were live bait escapees reproduced.

True, they are always used at one of my local ponds, and I have caught them up to a foot on bread

[Micropteris]

I experienced both sides of this story one afternoon. I was fishing witha buddy one afternoon and the bass fishing was really slow so I switched over to fishing for gills with a small white marabou fly. In between gills I hooked into a 7 inch golden shiner and landed it. My buddy then pulled out a rubber worm hook tied it on and impaled the shiner onto it. Needless to say five minutes after he threw that shiner out into the pond a 6 pound bass nailed it. Do date it is still his biggest bass that he landed.

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Who has time for stress when there are fish to catch.
Nick

[ducksterman]

Any suggestions for a really good golden shiner imitation fly? I've found a new fishery [to me] that is said to have golden shiners as a main food source

[tailingloop]

I like Blanton's flashtail Whistlers, brown over yellow bucktail with an olive collar. This fly gives a nice wide profile.

[zzdruid]

they hit the same flies that I have been using for gills, umany times as soon as it hit the water: