Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Thinking of starting over...help!

Hello all...i am a new member to pond boss as i have only recently discovered it.

My dilemma is our family pond. We always have enjoyed fishing their and have caught some great fish and have some amazing stories from the old pond. About 5 years ago a guy who leases our pasture for his cows spread chicken litter on the pasture to fertilize it. That night it came a torrential rain which washed a ton into the pond. Im assuming this is what caused the fish kill. We ended up with dead fish floating everywhere over the next few days. I found 6 lmb over 5lbs and over 500 eating size bream belly up on the banks. It was devastating to watch. Since then we have the most scroungy starving fish i have ever seen. Everything is horribly skinny. Even with our auto feeder they are still dinky. It used to be nothing to go catch a mess of bluegill the size of your hand for dinner or go have a heck of a time catching nice fiesty largemouth. Now your lucky to catch a bream big enough to fillet or a bass over 10 inches. My dad suggested killing the pond out and starting over. I am here for suggestions and help as what to do about fixing our problem to restore the pond back to its former glory...watching fish break the surface chasing bugs or minnows...not just a stagnant puddle anymore...Thanks in advance for your help and advice...

Welcome to Pond Boss Pier. In many cases, it is best to start over and your situation may fit the bill. How are you intending to kill the pond off? Are you able to drain it or draw it down?

Thank you! The more i play on this site the more im addicted...

Im not sure how we are going to do it...What is the best way? we have another pond about half the size of this on directly below it seperated by a dam and its about 20 feet lower in a hollow...

I have warned my friends and told them to have their fillet knives sharp and coolers ready... its about a 2 acre pond or a hair over..ten feet at deepest..average depth being 3 to four... we previously had to have it dug out and the banks steepened to deter those pesky herons. They had been brought worms to our fish which were showing up in their tails and in the meat. That and loud rifle blasts solved that issue...now with this new hurdle to overcome..

I'd kill it and start over. Have a stocking plan before you start. Go here http://www.acme.com/planimeter/ and you can figure out the size of the pond.

Stock RES in the new pond, they will help with your parasite problem.

Drain as much water out of the pond as possible - you'll need less Rotenone that way.

What's the status of the lower pond? Is it in the same situation?

I ask this because unless you use potassium permanganate to neutralize the rotenone it will go downstream unless you have some way to temporarily block flow to the lower pond.

Cecil, would they have to nutralize it if they drop the level in the one pond? If so, how long would the water have to stay in the pond without overflowing?

If I'm getting your question right, I would assume that as long as no water treated with rotenone made it's way to the next pond there would be no need to neutralize it. Additionally if there is enough time for the rotenone to break down, that would work too. As you know that depends on water temperature.

Unfortunately the bottom pond is in the same shape as well...but we hardly ever fish it at all...which is possibly because of the lack of catching anythjing exciting...The lower pond only gets water from the top when it comes a massive downpour..we would love to make the bottom a catfish pond..its about half the size of the top pond... but my dad says he doesnt want to mess with the bottom right now...we have an auto feeder on the top pond but would have to come up with some other means to feed the cats since our farm is about 30 mins away from my dad and an hour from me...we only get out there a few times per week...

as far as having a restocking plan i am in need of guidance there also...i know we want lmb res and would have to have some monster bream...i havent learned all of the combos and abbreviations yall use for those yet haha...we have always enjoyed fly fishing out there and would love to have some big ol hogs ready for a fight...

If you look in the archives, there is a listing of all the acronyms.

LMB, RES, BG is very easily accomplished. Once the pond is killed, and all the poison has dissapated, stock FHM. Stock as many as you can afford - 10# to 50#. Let them make little FHM for 6 months or so, then stock the other fish.

You have a feeder, feed a high quality food that is formulated for carnivores. Many here use Purina AquaMax 500 or 600.

Please realize that none of these numbers are etched in stone. As a general rule of thumb, you want to stock at least 10 BG per 1 LMB, providing that the LMB are not large enough to eat your stocker BG. If you want a typical farm pond.

If you want largere LMB (but fewer in number) stock 2-3,000 BG, 500 RES, and 100 LMB.

If you want larger BG and smaller LMB, stock 1,500 BG and 300 LMB.

Before you make any concrete decisions, look into Hybrid Striped Bass (HSB). There are other fish combinations that you might look at too.

Thanks so much for the insight guys... Wears actually considering stocking tiger bass...I have been reading up on them and def like what I see ...plus the pops is into it and actually suggested them... We would want to grow large bass and also have good size bg We aren't looking to break any records with the size of the bass. Just want some big fierce machines that will make your heart thump and give us and our friends some good smiles and stories. Comments?