Excerpt from Louisiana Conservationist, Vol. 7: February 1955

At times, the pond may become so clogged that it should be drained and allowed to dry out.

After the dam and spillway are built and the pond is filled with water, the fish may be placed in it. Again the Soil Conservation Service will help you by recommending to the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service that the pond be stocked with the proper number of fish. This will usually be 500 bluegill and 50 largemouth black bass per acre if the pond is not to be fertilized, or bluegill and 100 bass if it is to be fertilized.

Ponds located on soils of low or average fertility will produce more fish if fertilized regularly. For most ponds, 100 pounds of a balanced fertilizer such as an 8-8-8 should be added each month from March through September or October. Pond owners often start a fertilizing program but due to lack of time or the cost do not keep it up. Unless such a plan is to be followed through, year after year, it is probably better not to fertilize at all.

In fertilized ponds, bluegills should weigh 4 or 5 ounces and bass one pound one year after stocking. In unfertilized ponds on poor soils, growth will bemuch slower. Ponds built on fertile soils are more productive due to the soil fertility in the pond plus added material brought in by water following rains. You should scatter the fertilizer evenly over the pond. A five gallon can which will float can be used while wading in larger ponds, and small ponds can be fertilized from the shore.

The fertilizer greatly increases the growth of one celled plants which are the first link in a food chain. Very small animals, some of them only one celled, feed on these minute plants and in turn serve as food for larger animals. Insects and larvae feed on these larger animals and they in turn are eaten by bluegills. The bluegill is the main food for the bass.

The plant growth in a properly fertilized pond keeps the light from going more than a foot or so into the water which stays cool. If your fingers are easily seen when the arm is extended to the elbow in the water, then more fertilizer should be added.

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