ok guys,i've been reading on this site for probably 2 years about how fish get to a body of water.here's the story i have a 5 acre lake now that is stocked with fish.i built a 1 1/2 acre pond 17 months ago that is 315 yards from the 5 acre pond that i plan on connecting them together with a canal.at this time both ponds have a levee around them so the only water they get is rain and water i put in them with a well i had dug.the new pond has been full of water for 16 months now and i put zero fish in this pond.my contractor is digging the canal next weekend to tie them together so tomorrow myself and 3 friends are going fishing in this new pond with no fish, to see if fish have found there way there.either by birds,walked on dry ground and over the levee are there may not be a fish in the pond.i'm putting my money on we will catch something due to the fact i believe birds do bring fish eggs.just for the record i will say i own 436 acres with a 8' ft. game fence around this property,that has not been broken in to since i had the fence put up.i can't wait to stand on the bank and try,i have been waiting for this day all winter,we've had about 4-5 days of good weather (high70,low 50)so i figure if there is something in there we should catch it.i will write back monday and let you guys know if we had any luck.

Update on fishing trip..well the good news is there is fish in the pond,the bad news is we did not catch alot of fish.here's the break down on 2 1/2 hours of fishing in a pond that we did not put fish in.(bream we caught 6 fish ranging from 2-3 inches,goggle-eye 3 from 2-3 inches and 1 mud cat that was 6 inches long)probably not a bad day fishing for a pond of this age with no fish put in.i guess my next question is how did these fish get there???must be birds brought them.we have started digging the canal yesterday(sunday) to connect the small pond to the larger pond.so within a few days work will be complete.i must admit i thought there would be more fish caught and larger fish.

fish, post some pics, sounds like a great project Ted

not sure i understand what you are saying,do you claim birds brought the fish to your pond????if so,how might this happen.i don't believe i've ever heard of this.are you sure water does not come over the dam some were in the pond.

That is amazing, but I won't call you a liar. I have heard of carp showing up in a concrete sump box that was only conected to field tiles in the middle of a strawberry field.

here's what really happened.started digging the new pond and winter time got us so we stopped digging ,after several months i decided due to stoppage we will get to run this little test just to see what will happen.i have seen my share of birds around the pond so my dad told me the birds would stock it for me.so i guess he is correct,i now believe this is the only way fish could have gotten there.i had a game fence installed around the property so i know people cannot get to either pond.i might add this past weekend i caught a 7 inch crappie in the 5 acre pond,believe me i did not pay for hime and that's the only one we've ever caught.

Lets see now. In 1.5 years, birds brought in crappie, bream, a mud cat, a goggle eye and not sure whats coming next. I could maybe go for one type and maybe even 2 but not four. It sounds like you have a friend with a sense of humor that is trying to tell you that you have beaten astronomical odds.

BTW, with the trash fish you are catching, I wouldn't connect the ponds.

maybe you should read again,i think he said he caught bream,goggle-eye and a mud cat.i believe this,i however do not have a game fence around my property but some kind of way i got mud cats,goggle-eye and crappie in my pond.maybe the same guy is driving down my road putting thrash fish in my lake too.i would like to know how these fish are getting in ponds.

I think many unwanted species are released in our ponds by people fishing with live minnows.

196lake, you are right. I stand corrected. The crappie came from the 5 acre pond. However, since he also didn't stock the crappie, I still believe that it is a case of human intervention.

This is like the chicken or the egg.

I'm coming to the conclusion that Mother Nature is a force to be reckoned with, more so than we even know - scientists and all.

If there's a body of water, eventually there's going to be fish in it.

I sure wish a few of them 7 inch crappie had shown up in my pond last summer, I have a few too many 2-3 inch perch I am going to have to cull this year, heh heh, they would have fattened up some nice crappie. I may still get a walleye or two and grow them out in a cage feeding them perch.

I saw a minnow swimming in a terrace holding area, about 1 acre in size, 2-3 ft. deep at most. This holding area had been dry 6 weeks previously, and will hold water for about 30 days after a large rain in central Tx.
There is nothing uphill of this area; there is a creek about 1,500 ft. away and 30-40 ft. downhill. Either the minnow swam upcreek after a rain, or a bird brought him. There just seems to be no other explanation. Sure someone could have stopped and droppedit in the ditch, but that seems highly unlikely.

On the other hand, I've caught boys trespass fishing at pond in Louisiana, and found in talking to them that they had "stocked" crappie in the pond (thanks), so that does happen.

Saying how fish travel i can personally say(without crossing any fingers) that i have seen carp up to 15 inches long traveling upstream from my lake in a canal 20 inches wide and 8 to 10 inches deep. I dont know where they go but they must be going somewhere great to leave where they are coming from. Also i have a pond that when we had 9inches of rain one night 2 years ago got bass, carp, shad, shinners, bluegill, and crawfish from the tank running around.

I am no longer going to worry about how fish inexplicably get into bodies of water. Whether they swam upstream or got washed downstream, came on a turtle's back or in a bird's stomach, were sucked out of a lake by a tornado or were abducted by aliens, if they arrived by an act of God or via a practical joke by a neighbor, if they were stocked by the innate perversity of the universe or by your In-Laws,

FISH HAPPEN

and we just have to deal with them.

this is simple, birds( mainly cranes)get fish eggs stuck to their feed and legs while wading and bring the eggs to your pond where they fall off into your waterand hatch, this is simple and i've known this for years. they can and do also fly over with fish in their mouth from another source and accidentally drop them into your pond from time to time. This is mother natures natural stocking method, how do you think all of the bodies of water throughout the world got stocked? lol this is meant to be a little funny but still true!!!

Keven, if you look back at the many previous posts on this subject, I think that many people will disagree with you. While anything is possible, birds bringing fish eggs on their feet is one of the least likely.

The most likely is fish swimming upstream during a flood. The next most likely is someone putting fish into the lake. It seems like the urge to put fish into a water that doesn't seem to have any is almost overwhelming.

It really doesn't matter how fish get into our lakes, what matters is what we do about it. That's where management comes in.

Keven - Some, but not all, fish eggs are adhesive/sticky. An adhesive fish egg stuck to a bird's food does not just ""fall off"". Plus if the egg is initially adhesive how did it get pulled off the underwater thing it was originally attached or glued to, and then get newly stuck to the birds foot?. We have had carp eggs stuck to the back of our boat bottom and transom. We literally had to use a putty knife to scrape the off hand rubbing would not remove them.

Fish eggs are adhesive or sticky only for a short period of time in relation to the water hardening process, then the surface part that does not adhere to something looses it adhesiveness. Otherwise everything that was in the water in the vicinity of the eggs during the hatching process/time would adhere to the egg's surface thus making oxygen transfer to the embryo almost impossible. Perpetually sticky fish eggs would be littered with debris as they progress toward hatching and this is not the case. Your "sticky egg - bird foot" theory is full of holes.