Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Stocking a Nebraska Pond

Norm,
Thanks for the rsponse. My goal with this pond is to use it primarily for fishing. We have some recreational idea's (swimming) but see that mainly for the kids.

I would be looking to grow trophy size bass. I started fishing bass on the tributaries of the Colorado River back in 1983, and have always enjoyed the challenge.

Anyhow, this pond is around 13-16 ft deep. It was origanally buit back in the 1950's. What we did was have 40 years of silt removed. We placed a jetti on the west bank in order to add a fishing area, and more structure. I had the contractor create a shelf at about 3-4 feet deep, 10-15 feet from the shore.

I had some wells dug for a Geothermal system for our house. The well driller found water at 37 ft. He reported that we have a heavy layer of blue shale, which is reported to keep water from getting through. The bottom of the pond is also blue shale. The spring is so productive that a LGP Dozer hit it got stuk and worked his way into a hole. They dug/pulled him out leaving a hole @ 15 feet in diameter 4-6 ft deep. The hole was completely full of water the next morning.

The dam had been broken to drain the pond, and has been put back together for about 6 days now. I would estimate the we have about 1 1/2 ft of water in at the deep end right now. The pond is filling from the spring and from a very small creek (also fed by springs). The water has a high iron content. So much so that the first water seeping out from the spring left puddles of orange sediment.

I will look into some of the accessories like feeders and areators, but funds are limited right now.

I have also dug out a much smller pond that is about 8 ft deep, and is fed with ground water putting aout a much greater flow rate. It is about 2ft from bing full. Dont know what this will be used for, so idea's are welcome.

This is my first pond so I have lots to learn about managment. The problem is so much information that I've been jumping around as to where to start. I am pricing lime, and I read on the MSU websight that you should start a new pond with lime and then every 3-5 years after.