We are happy to announce that the Marilyn
Ridge pond has been stocked with fish for the enjoyment
of the community. We stocked the pond with 144 largemouth
bass (6 inches long), 288 blugill (3-4 inches long), and
5 lbs. of fathead minnows. Because of the somewhat fragile
state of our brand new little ecosystem ( for the first
two years in particular), we have established some rules
for the sake of protecting our fish and to maximize the
quality of our future fishery for everyone in the community.
1) Fishing shall be
for Marilyn Ridge residents and their guests only.
2) All fishing should be catch and
release only (at least for the time being).
Maintaining the predator fish (bass) to prey fish (bluegill
and minnows) ratio is always critical in any body of water,
but this is especially true when establishing a new fishery.
Fishing is of course now that we have stocked the pond,
but please be patient while our fish "grow up"
They are pretty small right now, but in time we will begin
to see some larger fish. No fish
should be removed from the pond under any circumstances.
If a couple of bass are removed from the pond for example,
the bluegill population would start to grow and this could
produce smaller and less healthy fish in general.
3) Fish from other
bodies of water are not permitted in our pond. Other
species of fish can cause all kinds of problems in a small
pond like ours. I realize that different
fisherman enjoy catching other species such as crappie,
catfish, carp, and others, but because of the size and physical
characteristics of our pond, these other species would damage
the health of the little ecosystem we are trying to create.
Catfish could muddy our water, crappie could overpopulate
and starve our bass, and game carp could muddy our water
and damage our vegetation, just for a few examples. We simply
can’t sustain any and all fish species in such a small
pond.
Our pond was stocked with
the species we chose for good reasons. Please honor this
policy so we can ensure the best fishing possible for everyone
in the community. We truly hope everyone enjoys this addition
to our community.
