New pond stocking plan calculator
Counts are for a new or renovated pond with no fish in it. Stocking on top of an existing population does not follow these numbers. Buy from a hatchery that can certify the species; wild-caught fish bring in green sunfish, bullheads and crappie that upset the balance.
Method and sources
Unfertilized: 500 bluegill (or 350 bluegill and 150 redear), 50 bass, 50 catfish, 5 lb fathead minnows
Fertilized: 1,000 bluegill (or 750 bluegill and 250 redear), 100 bass, 100 catfish, 5 lb fathead minnows
Rates follow the extension stocking tables in Mississippi State Extension publication 1428, Managing Mississippi Farm Ponds and Small Lakes, and Texas A&M AgriLife stocking guidance. Redear replace part of the bluegill count rather than adding to it. A catfish-only pond takes 100 fingerlings per acre unfertilized or 300 fertilized, with no forage or bass.
Forage goes in first, in fall or early spring, so it spawns before the bass arrive. Bass follow the next late spring or summer, 6 to 12 months later, and grow on the young of that first spawn. Catfish can go in any time with the forage. In the South the pond reaches carrying capacity in about 18 months; in the North allow about 24.
For trophy bluegill the bass rate is raised to 100 or 150 per acre and the bass are never harvested. Dense bass keep bluegill numbers low so the survivors grow large.
Practitioner discussion: Pond Boss forum threads LM Bass Stocking, Growth, Management and Growing Some Big Bluegill.