They are aimed at producing tangible benefits to Alabama anglers. The most obvious example of this situation is a newly constructed or renovated lake or pond. The Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries provides bluegill, redear sunfish, and largemouth bass for ponds. Fish are stocked at standardized rates for farm ponds upon approval by Fisheries Section biologists. Approximately 400 ponds in Alabama are stocked annually under this program.
Private ponds are the second most heavily fished waters in Alabama.
Another example of this type of stocking is to restore fish in public waters that have been depleted of fish by a fish kill. When the fish being stocked will not spawn successfully in the water body, periodic restocking is necessary to maintain a population. Although channel catfish may spawn in ponds, bass are such efficient predators of small channel catfish in ponds that catchable-sized catfish must be stocked. Rainbow trout are artificially maintained in a native warm water fishery due to the abnormally cold water discharges from Smith Lake. Since native fish and biota are unable to maintain a healthy fishery, a niche was created for survival of the rainbow trout.