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I have noticed an increase in the number of pond-related calls coming into the office lately. This seems to be an annual occurrence starting about mid-February.

Here are some practices you can start to implement with your farm pond any time in the next couple of weeks.

If your pond is stocked with catfish, venture out to the pond on sunny afternoons and see if you can coax some of the fish into feeding on a commercial fish food. People in East Texas generally can start to feed catfish (and some people supplement their bluegill in the ponds as well) around the first part of March and can continue this daily practice all the way through the end of October or middle of November, depending on the weather.

The goal of supplemental feeding for a catfish pond owner is to increase the weight of catfish in the pond for catching purposes.

The goal of supplemental feeding of bluegill can be twofold - to increase the size of bluegill for catching (bluegill are a very dependable and catchable species for teaching kids how to fish) and to increase the frequency and size of bluegill spawns in ponds containing bass, as young bluegill are a major bass food source.

Begin by offering small amounts at first on cool and cloudy spring days until you see that the fish are going to come up that day and feed. Increase the amount given until it takes 10 to 15 minutes for the fish to consume all the food offered as feeding intensity increases during the summer. Taper off the amount fed again as the water cools going into fall. Fish food can also be delivered via automatic feeders, allowing you to feed fish daily even when your schedule does not allow you to visit the pond.

If you intend to restock your pond, March is a good month to consider stocking with either catfish or bass, depending on the size of your pond and the clarity of your water. Here are some recommendations for ponds that are being stocked the first time; stocking ponds that already contain fish would need to be addressed on a more individualized basis.

Ponds with muddy water or with a surface area of less than one acre in size are generally best managed as a "put-and-take" catfish pond. Stock these ponds (if no fish are already in the pond) with between 100 to 1,000 catfish fingerlings (channel catfish are the variety normally stocked around here), depending on how often you plan to feed. You can also stock around 500 fathead minnows per surface acre as a forage fish for the catfish.

Ponds bigger than one surface acre are large enough to manage for bass and bluegill, with catfish thrown into the mix if you want them in the pond as well. When stocking bass, you must stock them with a forage fish as well. Typical stocking rates in this area are 20 bass, six to eight inches long, and 30 bluegill, three inches or larger, per surface acre. You can add catfish at 100 per surface acre (these need to be as large as the bass at stocking).

Once these fish are large enough to catch, it is time to create a simple log sheet for the pond where you can record your catch data. It should include date fished, number, size, species caught, whether the fish were retained and comments you might want to make. Catch data is valuable for evaluating the health of the pond's fish and for determining what management decisions you might need to make to improve your personal fishing spot.

Brian Triplett is the Smith County Extension agent for agriculture and natural resources. He can be reached at 903-590-2980 or via e-mail at b-triplett@tamu.edu.