The next two months are a great time to stock your private pond or lake with fish, and the first factor to consider is the actual surface area of the water you’re wanting to stock, according to a freshwater biologist.

Steven Bardin, owner of Texas Pro Lake Management, told the TFB Radio Network that the one-acre rule is an important starting point in making fish stocking decisions for the first time.

For farm ponds, landowners can effectively grow largemouth bass or channel catfish, but the size of the water body will determine the best fish choice.

The surface area gives you an idea of how much oxygen is in the pond, how big of a food chain it can support and, overall, what types of predators. If your pond is less than one acre, we tend to lead you down the channel catfish avenue, just because you’re going to be more successful in raising enough food for channel catfish compared to largemouth bass. If it’s over an acre, it’s much easier to raise enough food for largemouth bass.

Building a food chain in the pond or lake for largemouth bass usually involves first stocking bluegill sunfish, fathead minnows and redear sunfish. For channel catfish, he said the most common food sources stocked are redear sunfish and flathead minnows.

Fish for stocking are most available from April 1 through the end of May and in September through October.