The traditional fishing pond also utilizes the predator/prey relationship found in lakes and rivers to produce a self-sustaining quality bass and bream fishery in your pond. Bluegill (coppernose or native) and redear sunfish (shellcracker) form the base of the food chain spawning several times throughout the spring and summer providing adequate forage to grow big bass. Largemouth Bass control the bluegill and redear population by feeding on small and intermediate sized bream allowing larger bluegill to reach catchable size. Redear sunfish also eat snails eliminating grubs from your pond.

      A successful traditional fishing pond must be stocked in the proper sequence to ensure the development of the predator/prey relationship. Small (1-3 inch) bluegill and redear can be stocked into new ponds during fall or spring (September –April). They will begin to spawn in May and June. Once bream spawning has occurred, small (1-3 inch) largemouth bass may be stocked during that summer or fall (May-September). Channel catfish and hybrid crappie are stocked at relatively low rates to provide the pond owner with some variety in their pond without changing the predator/prey relationship which drives the pond. If you do not want catfish and crappie see the Black Bass Pond Option.

      As the bass feed on the young bluegill they will grow rapidly reaching 1/4 to 1/2 pound by the following April at which time they will begin to spawn producing the next generation of bass for your pond. It is important not to harvest any bass from your pond until they have spawned at least twice. This ensures that there will be enough bass in your pond to control the bream population. (see bass/bluegill management section ).

     Fathead minnows should be stocked with the bluegill and redear to serve as forage for the growing bream. Once bass are stocked minnows will disappear quickly. This is ok because the bass will feed on the young bream. Minnows can be stocked periodically in the spring and fall to supplement your forage population. Grass carp should also be stocked in fall or spring to control aquatic vegetation before it becomes a big problem.

     Mature Largemouth Bass can be expected to grow 1/2 to 1 pound a year with younger bass staying in the 1/4 to 1/2 pound range to control bream populations. Mature bluegill and redear should grow 1/4 pound per year with many younger bream staying in the 2-4 inch size range to feed the bass.

     Feeding traditional fishing ponds allows bluegill and redear to grow larger, produce more forage and grow bigger bass. Bluegill and redear should be fed a high protein feed with at least 38-40% protein and 8–10% fat. Ponds without aeration should not be fed more than 10-15 pounds of feed per acre per day. Aerated ponds may be fed up to 20-30 pounds of feed per acre per day.

    Hybrid bream are not good forage for largemouth bass and will breed with other bluegill and redear producing inbred fish that do not grow. DO NOT stock hybrid bream in traditional fishing ponds (see hybrid bluegill option)!

    Properly stocked traditional ponds may take a few years to mature but can provide good fishing for generations with little management. Unfortunately many pond owners are not willing to wait for good fishing and make the mistake of stocking large bass in new ponds to provide instant fishing. Ponds stocked in this manner rarely ever produce good fishing and require expensive corrective management to repair. 

     While advanced fingerling and adult bass are available for sale, these sizes are to be used for corrective/supplemental stocking of existing ponds and should not be used as a short cut to fishing in new ponds. The reason for this is fairly simple. Largemouth bass must eat 5 pounds of forage to gain 1 pound of weight.  While 5 pounds of forage does not seem like a lot, we have to remember that this is 5 pounds of live fish caught and eaten. In order to catch 5 pounds of forage a bass might need 100 pounds of forage to hunt successfully. Developing this wide forage base requires time. An average pond at maturity may only hold 300 pounds of forage per acre and only support 50 pounds of bass per acre. Stocking advanced fingerling or adult bass into new ponds before the forage base has had time to develop is only a shortcut to poor fishing.