Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations New Pond with a wild creek!

Hello everyone! I am new to pondboss. I have already built my pond and now I need to add some structure. I have read untill my eyes are tired before posting and a few things i have not found. There was talk of getting your clay/soil tested to see if it needed lime. I wondered where to send or take a test in central Texas? I have built a 1+ acre pond with some deep water (13.5') because I expect a lot of variation in the water level. I have had this place for two years and have had 3 runs on the creek that would have filled the pond and 2 smaller runs. On one of the smaller runs i had some high grass at a low water crossing that trapped dozens of native perch, a couple of large shad, and some bullhead. My question: Is there any way to put a gate above my pond to trap these fish? It would need to be 40' X 6' and would it keep out even the fry? It really comes a hard run on a 3"+ rain. If the answer is no, could I stock fish large enough to keep these trash fish under control? Any advice for control of my pond would be appreciated.

Ponds - Situations like yours where ponds are fed by small streams are always problematic in regards to having complete control the types of fish present. The constant infux of unwanted species can also easily upset the fishery balance. I think one of the better management practices for you to use is to maintain a strong or numerous largemouth bass population that is dominated by lots of smaller sized bass (8"-12"). This size of LMbass are efficient and aggressive predators and they should effectively keep the "unwanteds" and everything else under control. Although large numbers of smaller bass are not the hardest and most exciting fighting fish they are frequent and willing biters that make exciting fishing especially for the younger anglers.

Nets and fences are often impractical to keep trash fish from entering the pond. Nets and fences will quickily catch, entrap and clog from flood water debris. Plus as you mention fish fry are quite small and when present in flood water, they will be extremely difficult to effectively filter or entrap.

Ugh The 8-12" bass is boring and not why I am spending all this money. I appreciate the answer but some exciting fishing is what I am after . I am thinking if I can get some blue or channel cat up to 10# and some large HSB is more my style. Would these fish keep the trash fish in check? I could set some perch traps and cull the native perch, throw out bullhead I catch on rod and reel and keep the predators at a large and agressive size. Anything wrong with this plan to control trash fish? Would BG or RES compete with these native perch and help keep their numbers down?

What I have seen done around some of the ponds here is to have the area upstream of the pond filled across with larger rocks. By doing this the water will still make its way through but the larger fish will not easily make it through. The small fry may make it through, but usually on the downstream side of the rocks you dig a pocket of deeper water such that it will be a silt trap as well as a spot for some of your larger fish to pool up and wait for some feed to come down to them. It also gives you a great place to remove the silt every few years to keep it out of the pond. ( I wish I could have put one like that for my creek, but I used a different type of silt control by moving the creek into a zig zag pattern and putting in water friendly grasses.

SOme other things I have seen done if a large screen over the openeing to catch the larger crap from flooding and then a water wheel prior to the pond across the entire oepning ( only really good for smaller creeks feeding ponds ) Most of the fish from the pond won't go out past this up the creek and anything that comes down to the pond might get chopped up in the water wheel if it decides to go that route. Also once again build a pool on the downstream side of the waterwheel and your fish will pool there to eat anything that gets chopped up in the water wheel.

Just some interesting approaches I have seen used around here. Good luck with your project!!

PondsForFun, a question and then some comments. When you say "native perch", exactly what species are you talking about?

Unless our lakes are at the absolute top of a watershed, it is likely that we will get unwanted species. There are loads of threads about "how did this species get into our lakes?". The question for all of us is, how do we manage these problems? You can look at this one of two ways. You have a problem or you have an opportunity. It's up to you.

In general, you already have a forage base established. Certainly, add the BG and RES. HSB and catfish are put and take species. Manage LMB as a put and take species also. Let the BG, RES, "native perch" and bullheads stunt. By doing it this way, you might have 3 species of predators to have fun with.

Norm- The scrawny, bony, bait stealing perch that are in all texas stock tanks and ponds. I am not sure exactly what species but they look more like the green sunfish except they are smaller, thinner, bony-er and lighter colored. The ones trapped in my grass were only about 4-5" at the largest.

Fun is my middle er last name!

With many years experience working and managing central Texas ponds under this belt, I'll suggest you will be able to manage for large catfish while contending with native species. Depending which management style(s) you choose, native fish probably will only be a problem when fishing. So, you may need to think about how you fish for the big cats. Native species shouldn't inhibit your pond's ability to grow plenty of big catfish. Trapping unwanted species may help manage numbers, but won't eradicate the population. Trying to prevent them will likely be futile. I suggest managing around them, grow your target fish by feeding, and see what happens. You will likely be pleasantly surprised at what you see over the next few years. And, remember this...catfish ponds are the easiest to adjust, once you see what you have and compare it to what you want.

Bob Lusk, along with big catfish, could PondsForFun successfully have some HSB and LMB in his lake also? What is your opinion of this idea?

Yes, he can. Provide the niche and food chain, and it will work. Hybrid Striped Bass need open water with some depth. Largemouth Bass need cover. Focus on feed trained fish for best results, to support the largest standing crop of fish in small water.

Thank You all for these great suggestions. What a great forum and wonderful place to get help. I am ordering the magazine today. If we don't get some rain soon I may open up a firing range in my pond! or a fire fighters training scool. The 10 day forecast today had 0 chance of rain for the whole 10 days. Well it could change just as fast to flooding. May half of your days be rainy and the fish always bite.