Well, I'm not exactly a new member but close enough. I believe I originally registered a few years back but made only one post. I figured I'd take the time to introduce myself and my property before posting some questions for advice on an upcoming project.

First off to introduce myself. I'm a mid 30's married man with two young kids and one more on the way. I'm an outdoorsman through and through. Hunting, fishing, trapping and conservation/ wildlife habitat improvement are what I spend the lions share of my free time doing. We currently have one stocked pond that is approx 1.5ac and of average fishing. It is a good spot to take my oldest for a quick fishing trip where I know he will get into some panfish fairly easily.

This past fall we built two new ponds for the primary purpose of providing water to cattle. Both ponds are fenced off from livestock and each has an automatic waterer below the dam. Actually one of the new ponds was an existing cattle pond with a dilapidated dam. It was drained and dug out to be made deeper and expanded for more surface area. The dam was also completely rebuilt. Stocking these ponds for fishing was more of an after thought so the designs were not necessarily laid out for ideal fish habitat. The land is actually in a trust in my wife and her siblings names so my goals have to take that into consideration. That said I have their blessing to make it into a fishery that everyone can enjoy.

Some species I am considering include YP, SMB, RES, BG, WE, and CC. I am primarily looking for suggestions on stocking ratios, feeding or not, forage species, introducing aquatic plants, fish habitat, and any other management suggestions that I may not have considered. Both ponds are fed by runoff. One from cattle pasture and crp and the other strictly runoff from tall grass Crp. Currently there is not much water in either one. I suppose the next couple months will allow me to introduce some fish habitat and some structure into the ponds. Oh and these ponds are located in south central Iowa.

I will post some pics and more info about the size and depth of each pond soon. I look forward to learning from all members on this truly awesome site.

Welcome nontypcl1 ! I am also an Iowegian. As you've noted, really can't beat the wealth of knowledge here on the forum. I am sure one of the forum mods will be along to chime in. I will be happy to try and answer any Iowa specific questions, if they arise. I have a 2.5 acre pond with BCP and BG, and the random/rare LMB. I have been working at water improvement projects for the past two seasons, and am almost ready to begin some corrective stocking myself. TJ and Dr Perca (aka Bill Cody) have been extremely helpful and given me several excellent suggestions. I also spend lots of time searching for previously addressed topics, using google. If you put in the word or phrase you are wanting, followed by one space and 'site:pondboss.com' (without the quotes of course), it will display links to those topics already hashed out on the PB forum.

Welcome to PB. One thing to take into account is the structure and it's timing. Since we can't really forecast the weather, I would consider getting the structure in ASAP. A lot of us have found that an unexpected rain event can happen when we aren't expecting it. It's a lot easier to put it before that potential event.

Hello and welcome to the forum! I'm next door to you in NE and manage several fisheries featuring cool water species fish you mention. In my experience, cool water species management can prove to be more time consuming and requires some fundamental knowledge of species interaction which is unique, but once that's established you can focus on achieving your goals and adjusting your strategies as necessary. Lot's to cover - feel free to contact me sometime as my time is free and I'm happy to help any PB family member. Welcome again!

TJ

tj@hudlandmgmt.com

Thanks for the warm welcome. I know I've got a lot to learn so I've been searching through all kinds of old posts trying to absorb as much as possible. There's so much great information available here. I'm hoping to get some pics of ponds and more definitive measurements this weekend. I really like the idea of having a res, yp, and smb pond with maybe a few walleye as a bonus. I guess we will have see what is possible. Thanks again and it's good to be here