I got the dozer contractor out to my land to get a quote on some land clearing, and we decided to build a pond. And, my dad is going to pay for it!

The main purpose for the pond is to provide water for my dad's trees, so it is not going to be big and the water level is going to fluctuate a lot. I am thinking 50'x70', 10' deep. Why am I so excited? The dam of that pond is going to be about 50' from my 3/4 pond, soon to be enlarged to about 1 ac. I always heard that less than one acre is too small for bass. But when you have a fathead hatchery so close - it starts looking real good. Does anyone here manage a small pond just for fathead?

I expect to get the quote by the end of this week and the construction (if the price is right) to begin in about 3 wks. He is also going to clear some land so he can shoot the lines for one or two future ponds. But those are years away. I will post progress to this thread.

Ed Richter

Ed, off the subject a litle bit but I have a spot up from my pond where I can build a 1/4 acre pond. I am starting to look into freshwater shrimp(prawns) some farmers in south Georgia are growing them. You raise them from fry to full size over the summer then drain the pond and harvest them.

check out www.gafreshwatershrimp.com

That is interesting. I sent them few questions and probably will send more, before I pay the $150. I want to see if these critters can handle the temps here in So TX and I would also like to hear some opinions from people who ate them. I also wonder how easily they reproduce. Do you have any experience with them?

Just the little bit of reseach I have done. they will not reproduce in a pond they are a one season grow out. The warmer the weather the longer the growing season the larger shrimp you get.

Ed

They were sold in Houston area around 2 years ago.
I bought some twice and was not very impressed.
They were soft, kind of mushy and did not have that good ole gulf coast shrimp taste.

Maybe I got some old shrimp. I have heard that they don't keep as well as normal shrimp.

Don Stuart