In
general, the only species that are recommended for ponds are largemouth
bass, bluegill, redear sunfish, and channel catfish (see Management
Options). Other species, once becoming established in a pond,
can harm good fishing and cause the pond to fall short of its fishing
potential.
Although
both black and white crappies do well in large lakes, they usually do
not do well in small ponds. Once crappies become established, they
prey on small bass, compete for food with adult bass and bluegill, and
tend to overpopulate. This produces a pond full of small,
slow-growing crappies. If you have a pond that contains crappie,
there are some things you can do to improve
crappie fishing, but to have good crappie in ponds, you must
sacrifice bass fishing.
Introduction
of common carp into fish ponds is a serious mistake. They compete
directly for food with small bass and bluegill, destroy bass and
bluegill habitat, and can only be removed by totally draining or
chemically treating the pond. Because of their bottom feeding
habits, common carp make the water extremely muddy. Common carp
reproduce quite successfully in ponds.
Unlike
channel catfish, bullheads (mudcats) are not desirable in ponds because
they often overpopulate and stir up the bottom sediment, making the
water muddy. Overabundant bullhead populations produce few
bullheads of desirable size. In addition, their presence often
limits the success of channel catfish.
Sunfish
species other than bluegill, redear sunfish, and hybrid sunfish are not
recommended for ponds because they usually produce an undesirable fish
population. Green sunfish and warmouth are aggressive feeders and
compete with bass and bluegill for food. If they get big enough,
they even eat small bass. The pumpkinseed, longear, and redbreast
sunfish usually do not grow big enough to interest fishermen and they
overpopulate easily. Like carp, these sunfish species and
bullheads (above) usually require the pond fish community to be
eliminated and you must start over.
Gizzard shad are not
recommended in small ponds because they can quickly outgrow predation
and stockpile at larger sizes. Instead of having a pond that
supports hundreds of pounds of sport fish per acre, you end up with a
pond primarily filled with large gizzard shad. Threadfin shad do
not grow as large as gizzard shad, and provide greater benefit as a prey
species. However, threadfin shad are known to eat sport fish eggs,
and are not tolerant of cold winter temperatures.
Golden shiners are often
introduced in ponds from the bait buckets of pond anglers. This
species can also outgrow predators and is not recommended for most
ponds. A safer alternative bait species is the fathead minnow,
which does not grow very large and rarely establishes in well balanced
ponds.
