hello pond boss! ive been following this site for a year or two and will FINALLY start my own pond soon. i purchased 2.25 acres in louisiana back in '09 and have been saving to build a custom home. the wife and i house shopped for about 6 months and couldnt find what we wanted. one of the prerequisites was that it had to be on the water. after alot of searching, we finally decided to build our own place. she is an engineer and im a construction manager so we figured we could put our skills together and build our dream home.
there is approximately 10' of drop from the front of the property to the back. roughly in the middle is a slope that accounts for about 6' of drop. i plan on building my house on the top of the hill overlooking the pond. the pond will be approximately .6 - .75 of an acre, will be 6-7' deep, and will house LMB and BG.
i finished the clearing about two weeks ago and have been waiting for a weekend with calm winds to lite the burn piles. my tigers are playing a cupcake in football saturday so this weekend would be as good a time as ever.
i have access to equipment at work but, most of it is tied up on jobs. therefore, i have looked at getting a contractor to dig the pond for me. a friend of mine has recommended a couple of guys that are pond builders that sell the dirt and can do it virtually for free. i should be meeting with them within the next couple of weeks.
i will try to keep you guys updated with pictures, as well as ask for help and suggestions. i appreciate all the experience and knowledge that you guys share on here.
aerial photo of my property. roughly drew in the pond.
picture i took after clearing. pretty much the view i will have from my back porch
Make sure that the dirt guys and you are in total agreement on EVERYTHING. Get a contract. Also assure that they know how to actually build a pond including coring, packing with a sheepsfoot roller, etc.
Lots of highway dozer drivers know how to use a Cat but not all of them understand how to build a dam that doesn't leak and make the hole a home for fish.
Welcome to Pond Boss a-ron, I look forward to following your thread!
well ive been burning trees the last few weeks. they didnt want to burn without a fight. 400 gallons of diesel later im just about finished. here is a pic of the site with the piles just about gone
i contacted the NRCS earlier this week. they will be out to do soil bores in about 2 weeks. im pretty positive i have enough clay to hold water but, im gonna take advantage of their services and make sure. im still looking for a contractor to build the pond and do my house pad and site work. im hoping by about march ill be moving some dirt. ill update with pictures once the work gets started.
Wow, that's a lotta diesel just to burn trees.
What you are saying about NRCS is one thing that gets to me about them. They vary so much from office to office it's silly. My county office doesn't even have a coring tool, while the office 2 counties over does. They (at least around here) are not very willing to help each other out. i.e. I couldn't get my agent to use a coring tool if I paid him. "We don't have one because we don't need it." I'm glad that you have a good office.
I do have a question about what kind and how much fish I need to reach my goals. Though it would be nice, I don't plan on raising any trophy bass. I don't think my goals would allow me to. Given that my pond will be at the most .75 acres, I'm worried about overfishing and the fish becoming conditioned. I would like to fish 10-15 times a year for both LMB and BG and would like to fry fish a few times a year. I would be happy with bass between 1-2 lbs. I'm more content with quantity than quality. What fish and how many do I need to stock in order to reach my goals? Do you think I'll have a hard time with a pond that small?
I think your goals are well within reach if you manage the pond for large BG (CNBG if your climate allows for them to overwinter).
Especially if you will be feeding and aerating.
700 CNBG
150 RES
100 LMB
I'd stock 10#-20# of FHM in the pond as soon as it was 1/3 to 1/2 full, let them spawn and multiply for 6 months before adding the CNBG/RES. Wait another 6 months and add LMB.
But, that's not etched in stone, there are many different ways to stock the pond to achieve your goals.
If you don't mind restocking periodically, (i.e. every other year or so) look into a HSB/HBG mix if you will be feeding and aerating.
You don't "have to" feed and aerate, but it sure will make the fish grow faster, and easier to catch (I think) if you use imitation pellets or Stubby Steve's.
Thanks for the input. What's the advantage of putting RES with the CNBG?
RES like to eat snails, which are part of the lifecycle in white,black and yellow grubs, and swimmers itch.
Well I'm about 3/4's finished with the pond. I sold a little over half the dirt that came out and am using the rest for my house pad. Here's some photos of the progress. I've got a couple of small oaks that I'm going to lay in there and will be building a couple of PVC trees this weekend. I'm dressing up around the pond and the slopes of my watershed with topsoil and will seed and fertilize once done. It should turn out pretty nice. Ready to get some fish growing!
View from pad
Half way dug
After some heavy rains
Here's a couple more of the pad
Wow, steep banks.
Oaks are notorious for leaching tannins into the water. As I understand it, the tannic acid can push the pH to levels that will stress or kill fish. Many avoid putting oaks in their ponds because of this.
It's starting to look good though. Those puddles need FHM!
The guy talked me in to stepping the slope down a couple of feet and then doing a 3:1 after that to cut down on vegetation growing. . He got a little carried away with it in a couple of spots though. Im going to get him to do a 3:1 all the way up by the house. He still has to get down inside and blade and shape everything so I'm going to get him to fix the spots where he went too deep with the step.. Pond is only 6-7 feet deep.
What do you guys think? I can see how it could be a little dangerous if an animal fell in. It's got a step that's about 2-3 feet deep that a person could stand on though. And its only that deep if the water is to the very top of the bank
By the way, the slopes on the right hand side is what it's supposed to look like. The bank on the left is just the center of the pond where he dug straight down. He still has another half of a pond to dig over there so it won't have vertical sides like that. What you see in the pics is the total length but only half the width of the pond
After searching the forum, I think I'll take my chances with the oak trees. They are small in diameter and have been sitting in the sun for a while. I'm cutting the limbs off and may or may not use them as brush piles
Yeah, I would eliminate the steps, but as an idea, could you dump in large river stones or rip-rap which may combine as erosion control, plant preventative and minnow cover? Just a thought...
The sides may be steep, but wont b for long after water has had a chance to chew away it it.
Made some PVC trees over the weekend
Back half of the pond is done. Put a couple of trees and some PVC trees in
ive been thinking a lot about my slopes at the bank. i see everyone suggest a 3:1. i came across this and something similar to this at several sources on the internet:
link this is kind of what i was going for. please tell me if i am doing it wrong. would it be best to just have a 3:1 all the way to the bottom?
It all depends on the soil type and what your plans are for the pond. 3:1 is pretty steep for walking down and mowing in our sandy soils, I probably will be re-contouring a few ponds so the above water shoreline is more in the 4:1-5:1 range.
I always thought the 3 to 1 slope started at the water line. 3 ft. straight down could be a safety issue if little ones are around.
decided i'd update this thread with a picture I took today. the water is still pretty muddy. I plan on planting some lilies and a few other plants pretty soon. thanks pond boss for all the tips, ideas, and info
Piney woods in S.E. La. Are you in one of the Florida Parishes, a-ron?
Sorry I didn't find your thread in early 2012.
Very nice looking place, but when your water clears, you might have a problem with vegetation growing up from the bottom of the pond since you have only seven or so feet of water. You might want to research ways of attempting to control that issue.
I opted to fertilize heavily in an attempt to keep a fairly heavy bloom which deprives the plants of sunlight.
I'm interested in knowing which course of action you decide upon should your pond develop the problem.
A-ron,
What kind of grass is that? Is it rye? It would make a good turf if a warm-weather grass.
Dudley...i'm right outside of baton rouge.
yes, that is rye grass. I love it. wish it would stick around all year.
update:
i picked up 700 CNBG, 100 RES, and 10# of FHM back in march.
i didn't get any good pics of us stocking them but my wife snapped a few after. this was in one little area
i will picking up about 100 LMB next weekend or the following. i'll make sure i get some better pics next time. my water has cleared up nicely with about a foot and a half of visibility. both the FHM and CNBG have spawned and there are a ton of fry now. i was weed eating this morning and i guess i made it out there for feeding time. i saw about 6, 3" CNBG tear up some minnows. i can't wait to get the bass in there. should be a bloodbath
well, I got the LMB this morning. all 100 made the trip safely. i didn't get any pics at all though
. my wife was sad because the bass immediately went for deeper waters unlike the other fish we stocked. we sat there for a while and saw a few eating minnows, and a few getting harassed by momma minnows. i put them in right next to a floating pallet that the FHM were spawning at so they shouldn't have any trouble finding food.
my next update will either be after i plant some cypress trees and iris or after my first catch next year. thanks again pond boss for all the good info!