Since I have the space and a backhoe I am toying with the idea of digging a small forage pond and stocking only FH's or only GSH for future harvest for my main pond.

Would a small 25x25 pond about 8 feet deep in the middle be sufficient to provide enough forage to keep me from buying FH's a couple times a year? Or would it just fill with algae and kill everything? It will be in a wooded area, not baking in the sun constantly.

Thanks

25' square should provide lots of FH if you have plenty of floating spawning material. Being in the woods, I would be more concerned about the water becoming too acidic from the tannins in the leaves, plus not having enough sun to break down the fish wastes. This could lead to toxic ammonia and nitrite levels, unless you have some good water fowing through.

I'm sure there will much more experienced opinions coming forth soon.

Yeah, it should be fine. I've done it several times. I would think about the 8 ft. depth. The FH will certainly spawn and spawn and spawn and spawn. Then, you have a sewer on your hands. You need the ability to seine it to control over population. Forage ponds and convenience aren't always the same thing.

Dave,since youve done this just north of me how deep would you make it.Ive been thinking about the same thing.I could put in a small pond but it would be in the sun.I could also pump into it so it didnt go dry during our annually dry summers.
Another question is how to keep the preditors out.I do have a local GBH which I promised the game warden I wouldnt shoot(after I got caught with the last one) so sss isnt an option.After all,sometimes a mans word is all hes got left

You might could partial control the GBH if you limited the amount of wading area they had. If it's only 25x25 you could possibly put some netting material laying flat just over the surface of the water to deep water. If they can't land or wade, they'll leave. The easiest is the one you got caught with.

I chose 8 feet so it does not freeze in the winter, though it may end up around 6 feet. I plan on regularly removing fish and putting them in my main pond to control the population a little.

It seems this would be a much better alternative to buying FH's from the fish farm all the time

What about a design that allows for migration? I wonder how far a FH might swim through a pipe. Wouldn't overcrowding stimulate some fish to exit the minnow pond and enter the main pond?

I'm thinking about building one upstream from my pond and hoping that heavy rains might automatically flush some minnows through.

Oh thats just great.Weve taken a simple project and made it compicated.Good idea GW,but now we need to know if the preditor fish will go up the pipe into the minnow pond,or if they just hang out at the end of the pipe for free lunch all day

I was picturing a 4 - 6 inch pipe for that reason, maybe with a some chicken wire over one end. I imagine the minnows could detect better water quality at the opposite end of the pipe when overcrowding became an issue in the minnow pond.

Duh... my brain is at work instead of the pond.I didnt think about wire over the end of the pipe.My bad,problem solved.Ill go back to the corner now

A brain is a terrible thing to waste....

on work.

Thats an interesting idea, GW. If the pipe was set up a few inches above the high water mark of the main pond you would not have any predator fish sneaking in either

That was my thinking in terms of runoff washing minnows into the main pond.

My second idea was a pipe below the waterline. The large mesh wire would keep your predators out and eventual overcrowding of the minnows would stimulate them to enter the main pond.

I might try this when I get some large fish.

Don't forget about predator spawn going up stream to live......

I made my forage pond upstream of my main pond and put in a valve so I can lower the level from 10" to 2" to flush out the minnows occasionally. I also have the abiliity to pump water back into the forage pond if needed after lowering.

I did forget about that Rainman. How effective is the flushing action? Don't the minnows swim upstream and defeat it? Do you ever have to manually remove the minnows?

This is why he makes the big bucks lol.

So your forage pond is only 10" deep, or am I reading this wrong?

Rex, take a look at the post by Eric showing his minnow cage he built. I explained in that post a method I've seen used by minnow growers to encourage spawning and egg hatching while deterring birds. I've seen it done but never tried it myself. I would think it would work good for you. You won't need a cage in a forage only pond but the black plastic would work for you I think. You just pull the plastic out when it's time to sein. The guy I saw used eight foot wide plastic and layed it in the shallows all around his pond. The fish hide underneath and lay eggs underneath.

Tom, the way I figure is that if I can't control (seine) it, it's of limited use. My forage pond is an old cattle stock watering tank of about 1/8 acre. However, it's about 6 ft. deep. When I do seine, most of the larger fish just swim to deeper water and escape. I get an awful lot of one inch BG and CNBG that seldom survive the stress. I wouldn't go over about 4 ft. deep.