My small pond finally finished filling about three weeks ago, eight months after dam construction. I have several schools of golden shiners that feed on the surface in open water. There are basketball-sized clusters of tiny minnnows (fatheads, I assume) right next to the bank along the dam and other open, clay banks. Redear are nesting in the gravel that I put down in the back of the little draw on the south side of the pond. Life is good.

Photos:

The north shoreline, looking east.
The south shoreline.
The eastern end, with flooded meadow.
Flooded timber.
The view from my door. Makes it awfully tough to leave for work in the morning.

Great looking place Bill. Congratulations!

"The view from my door. Makes it awfully tough to leave for work in the morning." Aint that the truth!

Wow, great shots! What a success story - good work MO Bill. Most of us can only dream of a day we live on the water.

So, now that the forage base and RES are rolling, what are your fishery plans moving forward?

This fall, I want to add 25 smallmouth bass, 100 yellow perch and maybe half a dozen hybrid stripers. Depending on how well the SMB do, I may or may not convert to LMB later on.

I'm seeing fish in the shallows that look an awful lot like small bluegill. I'll net one this weekend and make sure. If they are BG, they must have come down from a shallow pond that lies upstream. I netted and fished the pond last fall but didn't catch anything except tadpoles, insect larvae and newts, so I was hoping it had no fish in it whatsoever. It gets a thick layer of green scum every summer.

If my pond has bluegill, I'd sure like to add some Condello genes to the mix. Want to sell me any?

Be aware that the smallies may not do real well with all that tree leaf input during the fall- winter and maybe even during summer with all the leaf decay consuming lots of DO. Smallies won't mind the Missouri heat but the low DO (BOD) could be a problem. YP will tolerate lower DO than SMB.

Great looking place.
I too love flooded timber!

I hope to rake a lot of the leaf litter out of the pond as it falls. In fact, I did a bit of that this past weekend.

I am also keeping track of surface temperatures and will do so all summer. I won't stock SMB this fall unless the overall summertime temperatures warrant it.

I really like your fishery plans...but if you have been invaded by BG be aware your SMB and HSB won't manage them alone. It's not the end of the world - you'll just likely end up with a stunted BG population, but it won't likely affect your RES, HSB or SMB. Your YP might be affected, however, as BG and YP can compete for the same forage items, but hopefully the abundant YOY BG will provide plenty of forage for the YP. If you adopt a pellet feeding program it will help both your BG and YP overcome competition issues.

IRT high levels of organic matter in your pond...looks like you have power close to the pond - aeration can help speed up the decomposition process and boost DO levels, too. Something to keep in mind - considering the size of your BOW, you won't have to break the bank to implement a system. Sounds like there are plenty of forum folks who have had success with DIY systems which lowers the price even further.