Hi folks,
I thought I would ask for some opinions here. A new neighborhood near my house includes two small lakes, which will not be stocked with fish by the developer. I’ve heard that fish will show up due to ditches, bird droppings, eggs on birds’ feet, etc. How long does this usually take. I’m in the deep south, if that’s of any help.
I’m thinking roughly a year to 18 mos. What do you think?
Thanks-
if a pond is planted with fingerlings and conditions are ideal the fish can grow one inch per month. I cannot speak to the situation you described altho it sounds great.
Most residential ponds in my area get stocked by the locals by catching fish from an established lake and releasing them in the new pond. I am not sure how legal this is but I have caught 5 and 6 pound bass in ponds less then a year old.
Part of it dependson the fertility of the pond. Also if there is any aquatic vegetation in the pond.
If you put some larger fish in the pond will have catchable fish sooner.
Be sure to lleave larger predators in or the pond will fill with stunted panfish.
Rick
They did this, a few years ago, when I still lived in the “BIG CITY” of Portland. Out, in the “Burbs”, they built these “Yuppie nesting places” covered with too expensive homes and almost, all, had a “neighborhood lake/pond”.
Basically, they scooped out a lake with a loader and backhoe, let it rain and in rare cases, ran the fire hydrants in them, until they filled up. Well, with NO proper aquatic vegetation, more importantly NO way to exchange water aeration, within a year they had themselves a fantastic mosquito breeding farm operation going so bad, the city made them fill in many of them and others were forced to install “high volume aeration fountains”, to remedy the problem.
They tried fish, in a few, but in limited numbers and in no time the raccoons, herons, seagulls, ducks,geese and neighborhood cats cleaned them out. The Yuppies also started dumping their goldfish in them, THAT became interesting in a few cases!!
They were all, about 1 to 3 acre lakes, too, not mere “farm ponds” or “overgrown fountain ponds”.
Also, since there was no other bodies of water within miles, come migration time these new lakes and ponds, were so "covered in ducks and geese" not only could you not see the water's surface, for the bird bodies, you couldn't walk within 25 yards of shore, without "sliding in green doo-doo, straight into the water!! (Or, at the least, slide onto the tops of a 1,000 ducks and geese!) The stories, in the local paper also described; "The near, deafening noise of a thousand squawking ducks and geese, at all hours, day and night!"
I’d call my County Extension Office, locally, and ask them what they think these lakes may support and when. Or if they’ll sustain vegetation, and/or, life of any kind, that you won’t need “OFF” to protect yourself from!?!! They should come look at these new lakes free of charge and at least give you an idea.
I don’t know, about your neck of the woods but in Oregon, the penalty for “transporting live game fish, from one body of water to another”, is a $1,500 fine and the loss of your fishing license for 3 years. If you have any tackle in your car/truck, when caught too, they also confiscate that as well and you DO NOT get it back! Unless, of course, you go to the once or twice a year “State of Oregon Evidence Auction” and bid on your own tackle, to get it back!?!
Otter,
If the ‘pond’ won’t be actively stocked and ‘managed’ by it’s owners, then the chance of it supporting catchable fish populations during your lifetime are slim to none. Waiting for an ecosystem to naturally ‘establish itself’ is the stuff of generations, not just a few seasons.
I’d avoid it unless you know that it will be properly aerated or have constant water exchange and it will be properly stocked and managed.
Otherwise, as Flybinder noted, it will become a cesspool.
Buddy
I manage two ponds in a 10 year old addition—the developer agreed to provide the money and I stocked each with $2000 worth of 4 inch hybred gills and 4 in bass. In 8 years we have 8 to 10 inch gills and thousands of small ones to feed the bass. The bass run over 4 pds. It is yearly sprayed for weeds. The association stocked 20 ten inch grass carp in each without my knowing it. Its fun trying to clean them out with my 8 weight ,they now weight over 12 pds. You have to stock small bass otherwise they will eat any small stocked bluegills and one homeowner provided two truck loads of sand for gill beds–they lay eggs three times a year. BILL
Otter, if you are asking how long it will take for incidental stocking by eggs stuck to waterfowl, etc…, that could take years. Most likely the “bucket brigade” will dump a random assortment of fish that may, or may not, create a stable population of predators and prey.
Ed
otter
Why not give the Fish & Game folks or the ag extenstion agent a shout? They ought to have all the relevant info for your area. Could be some nice surprises in store!!
If its not illegal, I would go for putting fish in yourself. My friend owns a few ponds that were overrun with wild shiners, causing problems for the bream population (competition for food, maybe). He caught two jackfish (chain pickerel) from a different pond and put them into the shiners pond. Within a year, there was no problem with the shiners population. Apparently the two pickerel he put in were male and female because he says he will occasionally catch a few of them while bass fishing now. I know its different in your situation but introducing fish can make a difference. If its not a huge pond, I would find out the proper ratio of predatory fish (bass) to forage fish (bream/ bluegill or whaterver you can catch locally) for a pond that size and do your best to introduce fish (that you have caught elsewhere) in that ratio to the pond. All of this is if it is legal, of course.
This is on the SC DNR website. Click on the Pond Management link and you might get some info relating to what you’re looking for.
Of course, the problem with stocking a pond yourself with fish you catch elsewhere (and the reason it is illegal in a lot of states) is that along with the fish you bring in, you are also bringing in any diseases, parasites, etc. that those fish might carry. This is especially bad if you are taking fish from multiple locations as you run the risk of introducing something the fish you already have can’t fight off. Also, it only takes a leaf, a tiny piece of root system, or in some cases a few cells to start invasive plants in your pond that can take over because there is nothing there to control them. Yes, there are chemicals for that, but it’s rarely a one time solution, and it’s best just not to start the cycle.
thanks for all your responses. i’m contacting the game and fish department to see if they’ll be interested in looking at the ponds.
[QUOTE=YUPPIES[/QUOTE]
I just love how some people think it’s OK to lump people in groups like this but if someone dared mention the N word, well the world would come to an end…
We have a couple of these small ponds in my development, but they are required by local government to control storm water runoff, and to meter the flow into the storm drainage system (our city is very flat, and there are hundreds of these all over the city). Ours have a population of gills and bass that I believe the developer stocked when they were built, and somewhere along the way a carp or two got into the big pond, and it’s nothing but a mud hole now (carp are pigs with fins, IMO). With no aeration, poor circulation during dry spells and an overpopulation of Canadain geese, they are no longer attractive, plus they have to be treated to keep the mosquito population down. Storm water from 72 homes and streets flows into these basins via the storm sewers, as well as oil from leaky cars and chemicals used to keep the lawns pretty and weed free. It all washes into the ponds and I sometimes wonder if they shouldn’t qualify as a Superfund site because of all this junk in them.I stopped fishing in them after about 5 years because I couldn’t walk around them due to the goose poop.
We have a 400 unit condominium association on the far side of the pond, and many of the kids fish in the big pond. I have seen them putting fish on stringers to take home, and tried to explain that they probably shouldn’t eat those fish because of the stuff they live in. Some listen and some think I just don’t want them to keep the fish.
Without proper management these basins quickly become eyesores and cesspools. Yes, the Young Urban Professionals (Yuppies) like to say they live “on the water,” but for my money I’ll just stay inland a bit and away from the stench.
Joe
Joe you really have a problem pond. All are not the same–our two addition ponds are fed by ground water from over 100 homes some springs. Both are 35 feed deep controlled for weeds. Great fishs small boating and some swimming. One boy loves to chase the geese with a remote speed boat. I catch the muskrats and everyone is happy. BILL
A couple of things to consider. One, never do it yourself, without professional help. It is a system, not just two kinds of fish out of a tank. Two, it is illegal as heck in most places (as flybinder said) to bucket plant, and there is a reward for turning in people who do it. Three, many states provide mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis) to keep mosquitoes at bay (but they are small and bass and gills will eat them).
Typically, if a new pond is stocked and is capable of supporting fish, you will see a sharp rise in size and numbers of catchable fish for a few years after planting, at which time there are likely to be some BIG fish cruising around. After that, fish numbers will most likely drop, and size will as well, and at some point the pond will level off (more likely wobble around) at its carrying capacity. However, most ponds and small lakes will have a definite lifespan, as they silt in and get visited by geese and ducks, weed up, and so forth. So don’t expect it to last forever, and do not expect it to sustain the fish it may have a few years into its life.
A local sports shop owner and I got caught by the police adding big fish one night to a local city pool the night before a children fishing contest. They had big spotlights and laughed when they saw the size. Had lots of fun the next day with the kids. In Indiana any legal caught fish can be stocked in another pond. BILL