Stock tank fish

[Mahoney Pursley Ranch]

Do any of you Texans stock bass,bluegill or catfish in your stock pond ?

 

[Arnold Ziffle]

Depending on size, depth and expected water clarity, I would bet that just about any self-respecting Texan has at least stocked cats in his pond, and maybe all three that you mentioned. :lol: And sometimes redears and hybrid bluegills. If you have a LOT of water, crappie (aka white perch) are good to have, but they are quite prolific and need to get adequate fishing pressure. Most people say to avoid yellow cats unless its in a VERY big lake, because they are a helluva predator and apparently can decimate the fish population of a small body of water. The state of Texas has long since quit giving away fingerlings to farmers & ranchers. However, if you need a source, check with your local feed store. There is an outfit called Dunn's Fish Farm that delivers fingerlings to feed stores all around my area several times a year. Dunn's, or some similar outfit, probably delivers to central locations in your area as well.

 

[Craig-TX]

AZ summed it up. We keep cats and bass. Somehow the perch find those tanks all by themselves.

Craig-TX

 

[Scotty]

If you are strarting a new tank I would put in blue gill. I have all three.



Scotty

 

[MULDOON]

I have Bass , Crappie, Perch, Chanel cats, Mud cats,
I've stocked bass,perch, and 10 to 20 pounds of fathead minnows each time. I've got lots of catfish, We've got some white crappie 3+lbs, nice slabs!
Havn't stocked any catfish , but i've caught some small fingerlings in a net.
so I'm guessing that the chanel cats are breeding ih the pond.

Have used dunn several times, there's also a guy from around Giddings , Tx that makes the rounds to some of the small towns.

 

[sidney411]

Same here, got 3 tanks stocked with all of the above, just waiting for them to get big enough to eat!

 

[endebt]

we have nine tanks on the ranch. some just have catfish , some have bass, and some have both. i have one i call the grandkids tank. it only has perch in it. they are from 1 inch to a pound. they can always catch something there and have fun at it. there is nothing worse than taking a kid fishing and not catching any thing. about the size of the bass and catfish. they are big. we have cought some catfish 8lb. and bass 5lb.

 

[Campground Cattle]

Bass and white perch need an ecosystem that most stock tanks are not large enough to accomodate. You will end up with one or two five pound bass, the whit perch will wipe out the baitfish in a stock tank in short order. Catfish and bluegill will both do well and can be fed.

 

[Mahoney Pursley Ranch]

Thanks for all the replies. :cboy:

 

[Arnold Ziffle]

I'm glad Campground mentioned the possibility of feeding catfish. The taste of pellet fed cats in a stock tank might be somewhat different than say, a river run or an unfed tank cat --- but it is still mighty good.

MPR -- since you'll be living on your place you may want to consider feeding some cats, either manually or by using something that is essentially an automated feeder with a timer (like a deer corn feeder). The conversion ratio of feed to eadible meat is pretty impressive and raising cats works especially well here in Texas and the south due to the almost year-round warm weather. My brother and I used to feed about 500 channel and blue cats in a small tank, with the floating pellets. Get a cow bell and hold it close to the water and ring it at feeding time and very quickly the cats learn that the bell means feeding time. Just like using your yell or a horn for calling up cows for hay or cubes. Little kids get a kick out of watching the cats churn up the water and scooping up the pellets -- they're like little swimming vacuum cleaners.

 

[Mahoney Pursley Ranch]

I'm going to try some bass & channel cats.Will put in bluegills for bass forage as well as catching to eat. Going to toss in a couple thousand minnows for bass forage as well. Will also be feeding 32% floating fish food. As far as I know there are no fish in this tank. The tank is about six years old and has never been stocked. Was picking off some rather large snapping turtles today with the 10/22. Fish won't last long with those suckers in there. :lol:

 

[dun]

The fish in our ponds, same thing as a tank further south, can feel the vibration of a vehicle pulling up and will start to swarm the surface even before we start to feed. To train them to eat pellets we fed lightly at first, but threw the pellets high in the air so that they made a lot of surface noise as the hit the water. That got their attention and a few would come up to eat. We only feed every couple of days, if that but once they get trained to the surface feed it looks like one of those pirahna movies with the surface churning.

dun

 

[Craig-TX]

The fish in our ponds, same thing as a tank further south, can feel the vibration of a vehicle pulling up and will start to swarm the surface even before we start to feed. To train them to eat pellets we fed lightly at first, but threw the pellets high in the air so that they made a lot of surface noise as the hit the water. That got their attention and a few would come up to eat. We only feed every couple of days, if that but once they get trained to the surface feed it looks like one of those pirahna movies with the surface churning.

dun

Feeding catfish is a real pleasure. There's something about it.

Craig-TX

 

[eric]

MPR...if you havent already, check out Dunn's Fish Farm website. They deliver around here about every 8-12 weeks. I ordered about 250 3"-4" bluegills and 3 pounds of fat head minnows a few months ago. I am getting ready to place a order for about 700 small channel cats in a few weeks. My pond is heavily aerated and I put in a large fountain last summer, as algae was starting to develop from the cows using it as a drinking / defecating pond. Since I've kept the cows out during the hottest part of the summer and sprayed with Cutrine+, and put pond blue in there every few months, the water stays a nice shade of blue and no algae in almost a yr. It takes a little bit of work if you want it to stay algae free and fishable all year round.



[/url]www.pondboss.com is a very informative for pond owners

 

[Double A Ranch]

We have bass and catfish in our ponds. Ours also hear the vibration of the truck driving up & will start making ripples in the water waiting for the food.

I like the anology of calling them vacuum cleaners. That's exactly the way I think about them.

 

[KANSAS]

If you can stock with fathead minnows atleast a month before you stock anything else..... preferrably the year before, but most of us cant wait. I believe the rate is like 10 pounds per acre. Check with your local fish and game they can help on that and usually help you with proven programs that work. The early stocking allows these baitfish to get established and multiply, supplying all future fish with plenty of free dinners.

After this the first year stock whatever you like except for bass. Within a year either bass will find their way into your pond, but let the blugill, crappie, etc get established first..... If you put in 6" bass with 3" crappie the following year they will be 8-9" and your crappie that you paid good money for will become their dinner. Once again wait atleast one year after you have stocked your basic fish. Let the ecosystem evolve do not try to create it if you truly want to be successful.

Trust me on this one.... I got a 27 acre pond on a piece of property that my brothers and I have managed for about 8 years.... never stocked a single bass in it..... last year we caught bass numerous bass over 7 pounds and a few in the 8-9 pound range, catfish close to 10 pounds, crappie well over a pound, and red ear sunfish over a pound......

We are hoping to catch a bass over 10 pounds this year... I just dont know if we got any yet....


Good luck.... hope I havent bored everyone...