How to Stock a Pond for FREE. Creating a Monster Bass Pond.

But I'm gonna video it anyways, because if I fall off this log, I know you guys are gonna laugh at me. Here we go. What's up, guys? This is Daniel from Arms Family Homestead, and I'm over by our pond today. You guys have seen us fishing this pond several times. This farm pond is on our property. It was built by my dad, gosh, I'm not sure, probably in the early 1990s, early to mid-1990s. And it's always been a phenomenal bass pond, because my dad, as I've said before, was a diehard bass fisherman. And we never really professionally stocked it, but what we would do is every time we'd go to the lake or somewhere, we would keep the legal limit of bass, and then bring them home and reintroduce them into our pond. So it's been a phenomenal fishery over the years. Now, in 2011-12, Oklahoma went through some severe droughts. The pond never went dry, but it got low enough that it got hot, and the oxygen levels dropped, and we lost a bunch of fish. And then in 2015, when we had some tremendous floods, we lost a bunch of fish there, because they went out the spillway. So there's still a good fishable population of bass, but I really feel like I kind of owe it to my dad to make this an awesome fishing haven for my kids. So that's the plan for this year, is to make this pond somewhere that my kids can come over here and catch fish any day of the year, anytime they want to. But I don't want to spend a bunch of money to go out and have it stocked. So there's a few things we need to do. First off, our spillway over here. You can see the pond. It's kind of like a big ditch back there, not really a creek. Catches a lot of water that flows into the pond, so we got a spillway here. This is where the water comes out. Little crossing here, and it goes on down to the creek. Well, the problem is when the pond catches a lot of water, the spillway overflows, and the fish get out. So one project we're gonna have to do is come in here, set some pipe, and put a little fence in here to allow the water to come out, but keep the fish in. And there's already, like I said, a good fishable population of bass in the pond, so I really want to start with bait fish. Now, you guys saw last year around Emily's birthday we were over here and caught some great old big bluegill. And we also caught a big shiner. I didn't really know that was a shiner at the time. I didn't realize what it was because I didn't know that we had those in our pond first off, and I didn't expect to catch one on a fishing pole, but we did. So I brought my fishing pole over here today. I'm gonna do a little bit of fishing, if I can get untangled here. And so I just brought a little ultralight over here, and I'm gonna be fishing with a 132nd ounce, it's kind of yellow and red, crappie jig, panfish jig, whatever you want to call it. And we're gonna do a little walking, talking, fishing adventure, so enjoy the video. So my goal here is to just get over here and see if I can catch very many bluegill, because that's what we want for the bass to feed on. So I'm just taking my little jig, that was a terrible cast for the first throw there, by the way, just taking my little jig, and I'm gonna kind of work it down the banks and just see if we can get on some of these bluegill. I really don't know how many bluegill are in here, but if we want to grow big bass, they love to eat those bluegill and other kinds of sunfish. In Oklahoma, we call them perch, but most of you guys will get onto me for calling them perch because that's not what they are, they're sunfish. So I said I want to stalk this pond a little better. Oh, oh, looky there, fish on. Nevermind, we'll talk about that more later. Let's see what we got. This is definitely not a bluegill. Fighting like crazy, it's gotta be a bass. Pretty nice little bass. Gotta fight him easy, because I've just got like, I think, four or five pound test line on here. Oh yeah, this is a pretty bass. Let's get him out of that grass. Oh, looky here, looky here, guys. That's what I'm talking about. Oh yeah, check that out. Bass number one of the day, trying to bluegill fish. Can you believe that? Check this out. This bass hit this little bitty 132nd ounce jig. Look at that. Pretty fish right there. Probably, I'd say a pound and a half or so. Really pretty fish. But see, that's what I want the kids to be able to hear. Or that's what I want the kids to be able to do, is just come over here and catch gorgeous little bass like that. Awesome fish. Let's turn her loose. Get back in there. There he is. I don't think this is a bluegill though. Over here trying to catch bluegill and I think I'm gonna end up catching bass. Let's see what we got. I'm sure putting up a good fight on this little ultralight. Yeah, there we go. Check him out. Nice, nice little black bass right there. Good farm pond fish. Probably, oh, about a pound or so. Really pretty little fish. Let's let him go. So as I was saying before I was rudely interrupted by that gorgeous little bass, I wanna be able to restock this pond really well. I mean, obviously there's still bass in here because we just caught one. But the main thing is, is having a good food source for those bass and things like sunfish, bluegill, things like that are what those bass are gonna love to eat. So I think it'd be an awesome project for the kids. We can start catching bluegill and stuff out of the creek and maybe some other small ponds and restocking this thing with lots of bluegill. We want lots of bait fish in there to grow those bass really big because we've caught some big bass out of this thing over the years. As you can see, it's kind of rough country going around this pond. Another one of my goals is to eventually maybe get a bulldozer in here and just kind of make a trail, a nice clear path all the way around just so it's easier for the kids to get over here and be able to fish. Because it's thick right now. So I've had several people asking if I was gonna be doing tips and techniques and things for fishing on this channel. And we may do some of that. I don't really feel like that's where this channel is gonna be geared in any ways as far as fishing videos are concerned. But I watch a lot of fishing on YouTube. And in my opinion, there's a couple different varieties of fishing channels. You've got entertainment guys and you've got instructional guys. So entertainment guys that I watch are like the Googan Squad. They're giant channels. They're all great, awesome YouTubers. But I watch them for the entertainment value. There's a whole group of them. Lake Fork Guy, Lunker's TV, Flare, John B. Fishing. I think there's six guys on the Googan Squad or something. I'm not real sure. But they're for entertainment. They're awesome. Go check them out, especially Lunker's and Lake Fork Guy. I love watching those guys. Super awesome entertainment. But if you're talking about looking for a channel to watch to learn, I've got a couple shout outs for that too. So a lot of people, a lot of people on my channel may just be more interested in low budget, how to get out in the outdoors and do some fishing for a very inexpensive, low cost. And one channel that I know you would enjoy because he does a lot of the same stuff I do, fishing wise. And that is a channel called Creek Fishing Adventures. He's a guy that takes out a little light tackle and just goes creek fishing around where he lives. It's a super small channel. He's only got about, I think 950, 975 subs. But I really, really enjoy his channel. So I'll roll a few clips of him fishing and what his channel's about. And I'll leave a link to him up here, a card to his channel, and a link down in the description box below. Be sure to go check him out. I'm kind of high, I don't know if the fish can see me. Let's just toss it out there. Oh, whoa. Oh, yes. Nice. Oh, there's another one. Dude, there's another bass right behind it. Dude, that is awesome. Man, that's nice. Dude, that's a solid bass. There's another one in there, right with it. I just tossed it out there and was twitching it and I didn't even feel nothing. I started reeling and set the hook and had him. That's cool right there. And I'll leave a link to him up here, a card to his channel, and a link down in the description box below. Be sure to go check him out. There he is. Another little bass. Not catching any bluegill at all. I haven't caught a bluegill yet. Little smaller bass this time. That's all right, though. Come here. Get up here. Let's go. Ain't nothing wrong with that right there at all. That is a pretty little fish. So much fun to catch. All right, let's get you back in the water. There we go. Let's get another one. Check it out. Oh, I got a good fish. Yeah. Look at him pulling drag. Oh, yeah. You see that? Man, that's a good one there, guys. Don't come off. Yeah. Come on in here, baby. Let's bite him down a little bit. Ooh. Man, that's a nice looking fish. Here he comes. Oh. Get over here, baby. Yeah. That's a nice bass. Sweet. That's what I'm talking about right there. Good, solid fish. I mean, he's not just a giant, but hey, when you're catching fish like this out of your own pond, there ain't nothing wrong with that at all. Oh, yeah. All right, let's get you back in the water. There you go. That was awesome right there. That was a good fish. Good, solid two, two and a half pounds, something like that. So my goal is for my kids to be able to come over here and catch fish like that all the time. Now, we're not catching bluegill, so that tells me we need to really focus on putting a lot of bait fish in here. I would have thought we'd come over here and catch a bunch of those little bluegill back up in these trees and stuff, but the bass are doing excellent. We've caught, I think, four now. That one was by far the biggest, but we need to feed the bass. So that's my goal. We're gonna create this bass sanctuary back here, and a big key in that is getting my kids out here and letting them catch a bunch of bluegill, trapping bluegill, seining bluegill, whatever we need to do without going out and buying them from a fish hatchery and fill this pond full of bait fish. Well, we didn't catch any bluegill in the pond, so why not come down here to the creek where I think we should be able to catch some bluegill pretty easy. Let's see if there's any bluegill in this little hole of water on the creek. Here we go. That didn't take long. This is what I'm talking about right here. So here's the game plan. Come to the creek and bring the kids down to the creek and let them catch 10 or 20 bluegill like that, and go, whoop, he got away. Then we can go release them into the pond, and they can reproduce for the bass. What's up, bear? Did you hear me talking, had to come find me? Hmm? You heard me. Yep, you heard my voice in the woods, didn't you? Say, what's that crazy guy talking to? Let's get another one. This creek just gets full of bluegill in the summertime. Still a little early. They haven't spawned out yet, so they haven't really filled up these little pockets of water, these little fishing holes. Oh, looky there. Now that's not a bluegill. This guy here is a little bass. Come on up here. Yeah. You guys see that little bass? That is a fat little creek bass right there. That's a spotted bass. So he's not a largemouth, actually. He's a spot. See that? I don't know if you'll be able to see it on camera, but he's got a spot on his tongue. They're a little rougher. You can tell by the coloration, his color pattern. That's a spotted bass. But we can catch little guys like that, and go release them into the pond, too. Nothing wrong with that at all. Let's release this guy. Dropped it down in that little brush pile. Look at this. Oh, that's a big glorified minnow. Here we go. See, another little spotted bass. Guys, if you're interested, like I said, go check out that channel, Creek Fishing Adventures. This is the kind of stuff he does. I mean, obviously he probably catches a little bit bigger fish than that. Going on my first kayak fishing trip. Well, actually my second. I'll test it out one time, but this time I'm really going to catch some fish. There's one. Wow, this thing's moving. All right, first catch. Yeah, I didn't go, I didn't get skunked. I smell a skunk over here. I don't know where he's at. But I got a bluegill. Another bluegill. And my first fish standing up. Man, they're getting smaller. You know what I should do? Oh, that's a, wow, that's a really small one, but that's a red ear. Get back in there. Let me ding. I got another one of them little bass. Them little spotted bass are just all over this little hole of water. Look at him down there. I don't know if you guys can see him or not. He's fighting like crazy. Look at him. Come on up here. Hitting that little 132nd ounce jig. Just stick it down there in front of their face and they can't resist it. Pretty little fish, aren't they? Get back in there. Ooh, I got a monster now, guys. Look at this. I snagged a carp. We call them suckers in this creek. They're actually just a small carp, but they used to, when I was a kid, there would be hundreds of these things come up the creek and they'd be three, four, five pounds sometimes. Now they're just bottom feeders. He didn't actually bite the hook. I snagged him. Let's see if we can get him up here without breaking the line. Come on, flip up here. Yeah, that wasn't what I was expecting to catch today in the creek. But how do you complain about that? We call them suckers. You can see the bottom of their mouth. That's why we call them suckers. Their mouth, come on, focus camera. Their mouth is directly on the bottom of their head. See that? They just come along the bottom and eat vegetation. But it's a carp, basically. Awesome little fish to catch on an ultralight right there. I didn't think I'd get one snagged. All right, back in the water you go. You're the best idea. But I'm gonna video it anyways because if I fall off this log, I know you guys are gonna laugh at me. Here we go. Nope, chickened out. Woo, that was close. Man, it gets a little, I think it might break in half. It's kinda old. I don't feel like falling in the water. I got on pants and boots instead of shorts. Well guys, as you can see, there's my plan on how I plan on restocking my pond and making a supreme bass fishing haven for no cost at all, pretty much. We'll get out here in the creek, catch a bunch of bluegill. I know if I brought the kids down here with some little tiny hooks and some worms, man, we could just load up on bluegill. We may look into some perch traps or sunfish traps, as you northerners are gonna call them, and start trapping a few. We've got a lot of bluegill and red-breasted sunfish and things that spawn in this creek, and there'll just be hundreds of them in the spring and summer. So we'll start catching those, build us a little bait box with an aerator so we can transport them back. I really wanna get the kids involved in this, teach them something about how to stock a pond, and let you guys tag along. It'll be awesome. Had a great morning of fishing. Trying to catch bluegill in the pond didn't quite work out because all we caught was, what, four or five bass. Some really nice fish in the pond already. And then get down here in the creek and start catching these spotted bass. And you get farther down the creek, closer to the lake, and there's actually some smallmouth, so maybe looking into putting some of those in the pond too. But anyways, guys, that's my plan. Can't wait to get the kids involved in this. It's gonna be an awesome spring, summer. We're gonna spend a lot of time on the creek fishing and restocking our pond with bait fish. We wanna get a lot of bluegill in there. So anyways, guys, if you hadn't seen my little contraption here, holds my iPhone. Awesome little tool to get out here and video. You saw me almost fall off that log. That was crazy, that was a dumb idea. Glad I didn't fall in the water. But I'll leave a link to this thing if you guys are interested in that. It's an Amazon link. I'll leave it in the description box down below. Be sure to go check out Creek Fishing Adventures. Awesome channels, awesome guys. They'll teach you a lot, they really will. Low budget fishermen, they're not out there spending 60, $70,000 on a bass boat. Just doing it country boy style. Guys, thanks for watching. I hope y'all enjoyed this video. If you're not subscribed to the channel, I'd sure love to have you subscribe. Stick along for all of our adventures. Hope you guys are having a great day. I know I am. I'm gonna catch a few more fish before I go home. Anyways, guys, thanks for watching. Hope y'all have a great day. And as always, we'll see you on the next video.