Undesirable Fish

Undesirable Fish Species For Texas Fishing Lakes and Farm Ponds

See Also:
Desirable Texas Fish
Fish Stocking
Fishing lake Aeration

Many other species of fish have been stocked in Texas fishing lakes ponds, but none have been as consistently successful as largemouth bass, channel catfish, bluegill, redear sunfish, fathead minnows, or combinations of these fish. While other species may do well in streams, lakes or reservoirs, they often cause problems in fishing lakes or ponds or are not suited for pond environments. Do not stock the following species or any species not listed without first consulting a fisheries biologist.

Hybrid Sunfish
Hybrid sunfish are often touted as a “superfish”; however, the crosses used to produce these hybrids are not good  forage fish and should not be stocked alone for bass prey. Hybrid sunfish perform best when stocked with channel catfish and fed regularly with a commercial catfish ration. Some reproduction can be expected, but the offspring will not be as desirable as the original hybrid. Eventually, pond renovation and restocking become necessary because of overpopulation and stunting. Stocking largemouth bass into a hybrid sunfish pond may greatly reduce the production of second generation hybrid sunfish through predation. In this scenario, do not harvest any bass and allow this population to become as abundant as possible. As long as no other prey species are available, an abundant bass population may successfully limit the survival of the less desirable hybrid sunfish offspring. This could eliminate the need to renovate a pond and potentially ruin a developed catfish population. This scenario can only succeed when no other bass prey exists in the pond and bass abundance is high. This scenario will require periodic restocking of hybrid sunfish to maintain the population. Because this scenario involves many factors, consult a professional fisheries biologist if you are considering hybrid sunfish for your pond.