Stocking Backyard Bass Pond with Shiner Minnows, Crayfish and more
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Published 2020-08-14
It's time to stock the backyard bass pond with bait. Golden shiner minnows, Pumpkinseed sunfish, crayfish, perch, tadpoles, frogs and of course small bass are gathered from the surrounding waterway and stocked into the backyard pond. The pond was dug two months prior and is now ready for bait fish and bass.
Check out the pond digging video here: • Digging a Pond with an Excavator
Trapping and netting produce the most bait for the pond, but I have to make a desperate stop at a bait shop in order to replenish the shiner minnow numbers that the bass have eaten. A smallmouth bass grows from a tiny fish into a six inch bass in a short time and on the way, eats more than its share of shiner minnows in the weeks ahead. Underwater footage shows the bass chasing the shiners and cornering them into the shallows. The stocked sunfish and rock bass are seen on underwater cameras settling into their new surroundings. A problem frog that will attack anything that moves, eats a few crawfish along the way.
Smallmouth bass fry are added to the pond early on in the pond stocking, and they grow quickly and remain plentiful with few predators in the pond. A largemouth bass is finally added to the pond in hopes of it growing large one day. The goal is to have enough large minnows in the pond by fall to have those minnows spawn and reproduce in the following spring in order to create enough of a bait buffet so that larger bass can be stocked.
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All Comments (21)
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we need an update on the pond this video was really entertaining
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I absolutely loved this video! It's sometimes more helpful to see someone else's mistakes before you make your own, so thanks!
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Your pond needs more structure to allow the bait fish to live and breed. Definitely need to stock with about 1000 shiners. Pond management is important for pond health.
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The crayfish frog drama was hilarious.
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We need a update on the pond and the pond needs more structure so the bait fish can hide and reproduce
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You need to stock about 500 + minnows per acre, maybe more. There should be a hatchery or two relatively local to you where you can buy minnows much cheaper than at a bait shop. You also need to add some structure for all your fish. Throw a couple of small dead trees or bushes in there. Add a rock/brick pile... once you get the bluegills spawning, you've added another food source for the bass.
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Frogs eats anything 😋thru som tree limbs in at one side of pond
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Cool video! Also a good idea to stock minnows in the winter when the bass are slow and the minnows will get smarter once the water warms up.
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Respect to that Bullfrog 😎
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We need more this year please!
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Great video man. Bullfrogs are monsters by the way. Ha
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the frog triped me out lol
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I took an old dog kennel (you can wrap with small chicken wire if needed) and put a few logs and gravel in the center of the tray and sank it near the bank. I release my bait fish into the kennel so the predator fish can’t get to them and they have a sanctuary
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4:22 best part
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Use oatmeal balls for the minnow traps. It works great. Make sure to freeze the oatmeal balls so they hold together a bit longer
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I know you don’t wanna but you may need to pull a few bass out.Perch are working pretty good for me now.
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Buy some minnows in bulk from a hatchery and feed some fish chow regularly, plus add structure will improve minnow survival rate so they can reproduce hopefully. Sure is nice and clear.
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Very entertaining. We enjoyed it.
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chicken skins and scraps work pretty good
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What a great entertaining video ! Well done !
