IA DNR: Iowa Farm Pond Program

Some of Iowa's best fishing for largemouth bass, bluegill, and channel catfish is provided by properly stocked farm ponds. Each year, farm pond owners host some 1.6 million fishing trips by licensed anglers. Farm ponds also support fishing valued at $7.5 million per year. The DNR stocks over 600 acres of ponds in a year, and has set up programs to assist farm pond owners in the stocking of their ponds. One popular program is the farm pond program, which assists landowners with the management of the over 10,000 farm ponds in Iowa.

The DNR stocking program for ponds was initiated to assist landowners in their efforts to provide quality angling experiences to all persons. It is successful and well-respected because it is based on research funded by fishing license dollars.

Stocking your farm pond for success,*pdf

Fish can be obtained for a nominal fee to stock your farm pond from the Iowa DNR if your pond meets the following criteria:

The pond must be new or renovated and be free of fish.
Surface area must be of at least 1/2 acre and less than 10 acres.
A quick pond-area estimator can tell you if your pond is big enough.
Maximum depth of at least 8 feet. Ponds fill in with sediment and debris quickly, so the pond that was 13 feet deep when new can be quite a bit shallower after a few years. The easiest way to see if your pond is deep enough is use a fishing rod. Tie a heavy sinker on the end of the line, and measure eight feet up the line. At that point, put a bobber on. Cast the line out to the middle of the pond. If the bobber sinks, your pond is more than eight feet deep.
The pond must be fenced to exclude livestock with a 60 foot minimum buffer between the pond edge and fence.

If you feel your pond meets the above criteria, you can contact your local fisheries biologist or conservation officer and sign-up for fish. You can also download the Farm Pond Stocking Application (PDF file) which will need to be completed to start the process. A DNR employee may contact you to arrange an on-sight inspection of your pond and to obtain additional information.

The file referenced below contains many images, and may take some time to load. A reduced-image version is also available.

An on-line version of the Iowa Farm Ponds brochure is available. It contains more detailed information on the farm pond program, as well as guides to building farm ponds, stocking and managing the ponds, and even hints on catching more fish from the ponds and attracting other wildlife to them.

Problem	Cause	Remedy
Overabundance of three-inch bluegill, few large bluegill	Improper bass-bluegill ratio	Stock 50 eight to ten-inch bass/acre
Overabundance of eight to ten-inch bass, few large bass, no bluegill	Improper bass-bluegill ratio, no bluegill or other forage base	Stock as many adult bluegill as you can catch: stock 250 five-inch bluegill/acre
Bluegill contain black or white grubs	Fish contain an immature parasite that matures in fish eating birds	Thoroughly cook fish; grubs cause no harm and problem can't be eliminated
Muddy water	Pond contains bullheads and/or carp; pond not fenced and has row crops in watershed	Completely renovate pond and re-stock with bass, bluegill and channel catfish; fence pond, seed watershed to grass
Weedy pond (prevents shore fishing)	Large mats of aquatic vegetation; improper bank slope	Stocking 5-10 (ten-inch) white amur/acre will eliminate rooted vegetation, lesser stocking will control vegetation (25% vegetation coverage is good for fish); spray selective herbicide (follow label directions carefully)
Catch only bullheads; few bass and bluegill	Overabundance of bullheads with too few bass (pond may be too shallow and susceptible to winterkill)	Completely renovate and re-stock with bass, bluegill and channel catfish (be sure pond depth is adequate)
Winterkill	Oxygen depletion due to deep snow cover on ice for extended period of time; not enough water volume in pond in fall	Check for remaining fish (winterkills are seldom complete); renovate and re-stock with bass, bluegill and channel catfish; make sure pond in nearly completely full in fall
Turtles steal bait while fishing	Large numbers of turtles in pond	trap turtles
Muskrat holes in dam	Too many muskrats	Trap muskrats; pour creosote and mothballs in vertical holes in dam; remove cattails (muskrat food)
Large numbers of crayfish holes in dam	Overabundance of crayfish; not enough predators	Stock fifty (eight to ten-inch) bass/acre
Summerkill	Depletion of oxygen in water	Check for remaining fish (summerkills are seldom complete); renovate and re-stock with bass, bluegill and channel catfish; control vegetation

State of Iowa Home | DNR Home | Site Policy
webmaster@dnr.iowa.gov © Iowa Department of Natural Resources

Share our similarities, celebrate our differences.