Let me query the group. If you where installing a pond of this size what
would you stock and why? Remember I am in Wisconsin, so the fish have to be
hardy and I do like to fish, so a pond full of darters isn't going to cut
it. It's also got to be able to pretty much manage itself, with a proper
predator-to-prey ratio. I mean lets face it I'm not much of a fisherman!
haha
Ty
Some of the most exciting fish to catch on hook and line are gar and
bowfin.
This leads to the way to exterminate unwanted exotic species, make sure the
populations of gar and bowfin are not being destroyed by knot headed fools
who kill them senselessly. A 8 foot alligator gar can consume a lot of
lazy
carp, and would prefer to eat these species over other native fish species
that are deemed more desirable ( bass etc). Here in the marsh, bowfin are
doing well, and the panfish and gamefish are also doing great ( as are
small
non game fish + "evil" big companies use this marsh to farm cranberries).
Carp are around, but have never yet got out of hand. Get to similar water
in
eastern Wisconsin were the case is different, and the populations of fish
are much less diverse and healthy. I attribute this to the 'big city'
attitude that lead to tons of carp being poisoned out, and the restocking
with the silly 10 bluegill to one bass mentality. This has created a bunch
of lakes full of 4 inch bluegills, and low and behold, carp again. Gar and
Bowfin have been part of ecosystems in Eastern North America long before
the
other " good fish" came along, and there were / are plenty of species that
made a go of it having to compete against the evil devil fish.
Ray
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