Retention pond stocking

[cnyfishing]

Last week a 9 foot deep retention pond was dug behind my house. I know the area of the pond is wide enough to hold fish, but I do not know what to do to prepair the pond to be stocked with blue gills and bass. What kind of baitfish should I stock in it? How long do I need to wait after the pond fills fully with water before I stock it? Should I add any plant life such as lillypads to the pond before stocking it? What should I add for structure?
Thanks for any help

[AD]

Last week a 9 foot deep retention pond was dug behind my house. I know the area of the pond is wide enough to hold fish, but I do not know what to do to prepair the pond to be stocked with blue gills and bass. What kind of baitfish should I stock in it? How long do I need to wait after the pond fills fully with water before I stock it? Should I add any plant life such as lillypads to the pond before stocking it? What should I add for structure?
Thanks for any help

Honestly I worked in a fish hatchery for a bit and the general recommendation when people asked us this same question was to stock your pond with fatheads and let them go spawn without any predators for a while, its getting late in the year so maybe stock them next spring and let them breed all summer so they get there population numbers up really high.       You can put in spawning structure such as pallets, Christmas trees and other things.    If I remember my fish biology right fatheads spawn on the underside of structure, there eggs have even been found in soda cans that were carelessly tossed away.      There are two ways you can go from there bass and sunfish, or just trout an maybe sunfish.    These both have there perks and downfalls.      The good side of bass and panfish is they are easy catching and there will be a lot of them, but the downfall is that they can overbreed and stunt there growth, and overpopulation could possibly lead towinter/summer kill.        The good side of trout is that they are excellent table fare and are a blast to catch, the downfall is they will most likely not spawn in your pond so you would have to stock it occasionally.    Stocking amounts would depend on the size of your pond, but at least a couple pounds of fatheads first.    They are the baitfish that are the best in new ponds and breed the fastest and most.    One female fathead might spawn over 13 times during the summer.   
     As for plantlife with the pond only being 9 feet deep I'd be a bit hesitant about what plants you put into the pond, as it is shallow enough that the plants could grow anywhere in the pond, and maybe overgrown in your pond also.    So you might want to do some looking into different types of plantlife and do a little research on the net.
Just my .02

[flipstick]

By retention pond, do you mean it was designed for erosion/ storm water control or was it excavated as a pond?  Most retention ponds used for storm water and erosion control measures only retain water for short periods of time to prevent flooding and allow sediments to settle out of the storm flow.  Also, if it does remain filled with water and is associated with a storm water control system, the pond may have large amounts of sediment flushed into it too often to support populations of fish.  These are just some situations that may exist and I would hate to see you put a lot of time or money into a potentially losing cause.  I would recommend just monitoring the basin for a year or so to determine its suitability as a fishery, jmho.

[bigredfishing]

Flipstick has a good point...find out exactly what the pond's purpose is going to be, and wait a while to see if it fills up completely ect.  I took a few courses on pond management at school, and worked on a few too in the schoharie county area...most people go the route of the fathead stocking, waiting a year, then stocking either bass and golden shiners or bass and bluegills.  The pallets are good for fatheads to breed on, but you really dont want pallets out there to get snagged on, do you?  Large flat rocks will work if they are set up so that there is lots of crevices.

As a general rule, small ponds need to be at least 10 feet deep to prevent winter kill, unless it is spring fed.  I think trout are out of the question, as 9 feet without a large inflow is just not going to be enough to keep the pond cold enough during the summer, and to keep enough oxygen in the winter during the ice over.  It should still be able to support bass and panfish (as long as it doesnt dry up or get very low).

No matter what, if the fish are reproducing, you are going to need to keep an eye on them, and regularly harvest fish to prevent over population.  In a few years when the fish become established, you will need to be taking a few pounds of bass out per month - at least.

I'll tell ya what, if you get a chance, PM me the measurements of the pond (width, length, avg depth), and i will take a look at my stuff, and will be able to give you a better idea of numbers the pond can sustain, ect.

[Water Wolf]

 Around my area stocking dugouts is quite popular. I know that even in deeper dugouts or ponds fish can winterkill, usually due to the decay of the organic matter like the water plants using up the oxygen for the fish. What we do a lot out here is purchase a windmill or solar dugout aerator, this will keep the water circulating and bringing it up to the top to pick up oxygen off the surface of the pond. A word of caution with an areator going in the winter the ice is very very thin so not recommend that you go on the ice.
 You might also have to get a permit to stock, I know we do here, and the only fish we can buy to stock a pond is rainbow trout, but could be different in your area.
 If you want a pond to just fish in and not worry about eating them, carp could be a good choice they grow fairly fast, eat anything from plants life to animals, thus keeping the pond fairly clean, also they tend to be fairly hardy requiring less oxygen then some other fish species.
 WW

[venisonman]

Water Wolf is right, you'll need a permit in NY. Big fines if you don't have one. Check with the DEC.

[cnyfishing]

Water Wolf is right, you'll need a permit in NY. Big fines if you don't have one. Check with the DEC.

what if I only stock non sportfish such as bluegills or catfish?

[venisonman]

I believe you would need the permit if it was even only goldfish!!!!!

[crappie66]

You would be surprised at what retention ponds can hold.  I lived in an apartment complex that had a pond where all the rain from the gutters drained into.  The ponds maximum depth was maybe 5 feet deep, and the pond was probably 2 acres.  It was nothing to go out there and catch tons of decent fat slab crappie, bass up to 6 lbs, catfish up to 10 lbs, the carp were huge, and I even put in a couple small 30 inch pike to feed on the abundent bluegills.  The pond did have 2 fountains in it to keep the water circulating when it wasn't high enough to spill over into the drain.  They left the fountains on all winter which is why I never once in three winters saw a dead fish from winter kill.  The water was always clear because of the grass all the way to the edge which I imagine prevented erosion.  So maybe you might want to see if your retention pond will have grass holding the soil together, to prevent murky dirty looking water from spilling into it.