Hello everyone!
Just recently found the Pond Boss forum. I really enjoy this stuff!
I manage seven ponds on our ranch. I've been at this for several years now just kind of tinkering. After reading some on this site, Pond Boss magazine and all of the Pond Boss Books I now see some of the glaring mistakes I have made. Also I have gotten lucky a few times and did some things right. (Blind Hog) I am trying to soak up some knowledge and apply it to my ponds.
All of my ponds are an acre or less. I manage mostly for big bass, except one pond that is blue cats and blue gill only. My Dad and I are thinking about building a 4-5 acre pond at the ranch. I am still collecting soil data and gathering topo's and aerial photos. I think we may have a site picked out. We also are going to improve one or two of our existing ponds. The dirt guy is coming around Thanksgiving.
I live in Big Spring, TX but my ponds are in Donie, TX (near Buffalo) At least Overton fisheries is close by.
Anyway I just wanted to say hello and introduce myself. I'll probably be hanging around here a bit.

Hi RoyB,welcome aboard.We're glad you found us.Yep,you found the best pond site anywhere.Sit back,read to your hearts content and ask all the questions you like.We'll help all we can.we give good answers,bad answers,dumb answers,funny answers,rediculus answers,well,you get the point.Oh yea,please keep a sense of humer handy too,you'll need it around here.

Welcome aboard RoyB. You have come to the right spot. There are some of the best guys in the business here, although I'm not one of them. You will have a great time here and get some great info. I retired while living in Midland, so have been through Big Springs many times. Good luck with your ponds. The experts will be a long shortly. Be ready for lots of questions before answers start coming. Pictures are always welcomed.

Welcome Roy.

Lemme see now. You live in West Texas and mess with water holes in East Texas. That oughta be a real character builder. I can't say that I blame you though. It rains in East Texas.

Like Tom says, keep your sense of humor handy.

Welcome RoyB. Lots of thought and planning go into a well done new pond or renovation of an old one. You might enjoy these archive reports from the first PB meeting in DFW.

Overview - Pond Basics - DFW Reports

http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=92439#Post92439

Hi RoyB and welcome to Pond Boss. Thanks for joining in and posting.

Thanks all, glad to be here hopefully I can learn something.
I forgot to mention my major fishing hole. We are members of a fishing club that owns it's own private lake. The club just had it's 105th annual meeting. The lake is a 300+ acre natural oxbow lake off the Trinity. It is heaven on earth to me. I've been going there all my life and I am 48 now. We try to manage it for fishing but, as it sits in the floodplain of the Trinity River, the river does get into the lake about every ten years or so. My wife, my six year old little boy and I caught a eight foot long approx. 200 pound alligator gar there last July.
It always produces good LMB, white bass, crappie and channel cats.
Here are some pics.

Hey Roy, welcome to the PB forum and thanks for the pictures.

To our PB friends, Roy and I just discovered on another forum that we are near neighbors.
One of his ranch properies and our ranch are only a couple of miles apart.

Another Texan who has a knack for taking great pix of his lake and the only forum member IIRC who has ever landed a 200 lb Alligator Gar from his BOW . Good stuff! Welcome aboard Roy.

Clint and I are glad to see you here on the forum Roy! We welcome the advice that is given to our clients here on the forum.

Beautiful place!

Is that Stanmeyer lake, Roy? If so I know that I personally stocked that lake with some supplemental fish back in 2006. Beautiful, naturally productive lake.

Hey Todd,
Good to hear from you. Yes it is Stanmire Lake. I think you have been there a couple of time stocking fish.
I have a picture of my Grandparents swimming there in 1919 back when they were "courting". Amazing to think that the fishing club was already fifteen years old then.
I just got through a major renovation of the lakehouse (almost a rebuilding)and am currently finishing up the new garage/barn.
You and Clint and I need to go out there and put some pressure on those gar!

Yeah I hear there are some monster gar in the lake. Need to do some bow-fishing/electrofishing!!

Man, what a nice oxbow. Those gar and other rough fish will help keep the game fish thinned out and in good condition.

Gators help with the job of controlling gar even big ones. Problem is when the gators get through with the gar they start looking at dogs and then people.

I will get some of our oxbow pics up and post them.

Do you encounter many gators Eric? I don't recall you mentioning them in the past.

There are definitely some alligators in that lake. Several people have seen them. We used to have more of a nutria problem than we do now. I guess the gators helped us there. I found a turtle shell washed up on our shoreline. It had some very big teeth marks on it. I could only attribute them to a gator. I still have that thing.