Hybrids in the pond

My family owns property in North East Texas close to Atlanta, we have a 13 acre pond that was stocked with Catfish, Crappie, and Hybrids three years ago. We can catch Catfish and Crappie all day long but to date have only caught (2) Hybrids and that was when they were first introduced. We had a survey done last year where they come out and shock the water, they did find (1) 19" Hybrid which was very optimistic for us. We have used pretty much every type of lure that would be used in a lake situation: Slabs, Spinners, Spoons, and even minnows. The pond currently does not have any type of shad just minnows and perch. Any ideas on how to catch these is greatly appreciated.

In the world of fishing, I would recommend matching the hatch. Try using small sunfish under a float or balloon in the areas where the hybrids would feed.

How many did y’all stock? Finding 1 doesn’t sound promising to me

I've always heard they won't live in a pond. You might call the fish hatchery in Athens and ask them.

Hybrids can live in a pond, Stripers can not

We stocked 2,000, the area that was shocked was very small and on the shallow side of the pond. I can see them on the graph, just can’t get them to bite.

Send me coordinates and I'll figure it out for you

Try lights on the water at night...works great here at Cedar Creek

We recently started fishing at night (Heat) and have added lights to our fishing barge, I agree with the statement earlier about using small Perch suspended on a bobber. I'm going to take my cast net and catch whatever minnows they are feeding on, obviously if we present their natural food they should bite. The other issue is the Catfish are reproducing rapidly and when you set out to catch the Hybrids the Catfish are biting first. We are thinking about having Shad stocked so that we might have better luck with the lures down the road.

These were caught trying to catch the Hybrids!

As mentioned, try a small perch under a float and clip a corner of the tail fin down to the meat.

2000 hybrid stripers (if not fry or fingerlings) for a 13 acre pond seems very high.. If the pond does not have a huge forage fish base the hybrids will likely be starving. Without substantial forage fish they don't do well unless you have been feeding them. Like the others have suggested use big sunfish-like lures or live bait..

Hybrid stripers are a popular fish to stock in ponds and lakes and many are fed fish food just like they are in the hatchery and raised like catfish.

The best lakes to stock hybrids are those that have good sustained populations of shad..

The hybrid doesn't spawn successfully with another hybrid so their numbers will not get out of control and end up eating themselves out of house and home..