I am in the process of digging out and old farm pond, it had 8-10 ft of mud in it before we got to somewhat solid clay in about half of the pond. About half of the pond will now be between 13-20 ft deep and the rest will be graded out at a 3-1 slope rate except for the deep end that has a solid clay wall of about ten feet before it starts to slope. The pond is 225ft by 210ft. I now think that we are either close to the water table or it is spring fed, in the deep half of the pond the water is rising about 1-2 inches per day without a drop of rain in several weeks. The current deep part of the pond is probably going to stay with deep dozer ruts that are now under water, I think this would be beneficial to habit for the fish. I am planning to put in two five foot tall PVC Pipe trees and I am not sure at what depth to place them. We are planning on put in a fixed structure dock in on the deep end (not sure wood or pipe base). We will be placing rocks or gravel wear the water comes in the pond. I will be running an aerator that will work in about 6-9ft of water with two different diffusers. How soon after the pond fills should I start adding fish? I want to stock it with catfish and bass (will eat more catfish) and would like crappie but I have read that my pond will be too small. Any suggestion would be great.
Welcome to the Forum BigeaterOSU. Cowboy or Sooner? I went to that former internment camp about 40 miles south of ya in Okmulgee!
The rock will always be a good idea- use 6-15" limestone to help keep the PH up. Pea gravel in 3-6' depths will help with spawns, again use crushed limestone if available.
I would suggest putting your aeration in the deepest part to make your entire water column usable, otherwise your dozer ruts will be of no use except in winter. Use the membrane diffusers- FAR less maintenance! You may want to add a submerged island and a shelf or three also. There are tons of threads on structure here. Large rootballs are great for the catfish if you have any.
You can add Fathead minnows with a foot or so of water, bluegill and catfish early this spring, and Bass this fall. Others are far better than me with stocking rates.
Crappie are do-able if you're willing to intensly manage the pond but they usually turns a fun pond into real work.
If you have any pictures, I'm sure you'll get lots more accurate suggestions. Besides we REALLY like pics!
We all hope you stick around and keep us informed of your progress! Hopefully you can make it to Branson for the Third Annual Pond Boss Conference at Bass Pro's Big Cedar Lodge on Sept. 18 & 19.
Again, welcome!
PS don't let JHAP or DIED scare you into adding those nasty little green sunfish!
Glad to have you. It sounds like you did a lot of homework already.Look at the pictures that are here and send us some.
After it gets about 2/3 full I think you can start with some forage fish. However, you need to check your water quality, alkilinity and Ph, prior to stocking.
How big is it and what are your goals?
Welcome to Pond Boss Big, we're glad you found us.
And please ignore Rainman's negative comments regarding the magnificent Green Sunfish, I find this type of trash talk unamusing, unacceptable, unaccommodating, unalluring, unaccredited, unacknowledged, unacademic, unannotated, unadajudicated, and unbecomingly unabsorbent.
big, please ingore JHAP. he went to the "Jackie Childs School of Public Speeking, & Journalism".......
Rmedger, although I find your comments lewd, lascivious, salacious, and outrageous at least you didn't accuse me of attending the Jackie Chan School of Public Speaking & Journalism, so I guess it could have been worse.
Welcome BigeaterOSU,we're glad you found us.Stock big and fish with dynamyte,its a culture thingy.
And watch out for bad advice from some of the clowns around here.Now back to your regularly scheduled programming
See this archive thread on
posting photos.
Answers-
1. Oklahoma State Cowboy
2. I am trying to make all of my underwater structure out of materials that will not decompose underwater. Looking at placing 10-20lbs rocks around the 12” Culvert exit pipe, the step walls in the deep end and around the secondary spillway. Then use a mixture of large rocks and pea gravel where the water comes in.
3. What type of water test kit do I need to get and where?
4. The pond will probably be between 1 to 1.75 acres, and my goal is to have a good fishing pond that we can harvest the occasional fish dinner (probably catfish).
5. “Hedley” I would doc you a days pay for napping on the job.
6. I will post pics ASAP.
Glad to see you fell in to line with the crew.
Do not join any kind of sun fish club, they are only trying to get your money.
Although Mr. Otto that is true of BISA, just for the record here at the GSA we don't require ANY membership dues. We are 100% supported via extortion, misappropriation, kidnap for ransom, black mail and other time honored fund raising activities.
For instance, GSA is quite happy with your first born in lieu of cash.
Well yes, that is right Theo. However, the Bylaws have recently changed. At age 12 you either have to take them back or pay heavy maintenance fees.
Darn, there goes my plan to get JHAP off my back AND pay for 4 years of college!
Darn, there goes my plan to get JHAP off my back....
First off that'll never happen.
Secondly, that'll never happen.
What is the best type of grass to plant on the fresh soil around the pond.
Usually, annual rye, wheat or oats can be planted as they grow fast and will hold the soil in place and prevent erosion. They can often be mixed with perennial species that are slower growing but will fill in a last for years with proper care...
Your local NRCS/Soil & Water office may have a good recommendation of grass mix for your local climate/soil.
Looks great, lots of good structure...
Wow...what a great chronology of photos...really shows the project from concept to fulfillment! Looks like it's setting up to be one sweet fishery - congrats!
I used the muck out of the pond to build up the back side of the dam; the pond will end up being 15-18ft deep and about 175 ft across. I am using 15 tons of 12lb rip rap for erosion control. I also put in 18tons of 3inch limestone washed gravel. I planted 1 pallet of Bermuda Sod and planted 25lbs of Rye seed, 50lbs of fescue and 20lbs of 10-20-10 fertilizer. Any other suggestions?
Are there any fish in the little bit of water that remains? If no fish exist, be patient and stock it correctly... It will pay off in the long run.
Any ideas on what species you want in your pond and the goals for your pond?
My goal is to have a good all around fishing pond. I would like to have Crappie since that is what we like to eat, but from what I have read the pond will be to small. My plans are to stock it fist with about 5 lbs of minnows until it get more water in it. It is a spring feed pond that is getting about a ¼ to a ½ inch of water ever day with no rain at all. There is about 80 acres that drain into to it so with a little rain it should fill up fairly quickly, and at that time I am looking at putting 200 Channel Catfish 100 4-6” and 100 6-8” since this is what we will probably harvest more often. Then 100 Bass 1-3”, 5lbs more minnows, 100 Copper nose Bluegill 1-3”, 100 Redear 1-3”. I was told that I could add these all at once, not sure if this part is correct or not? I have a small aerator that I will be placing in the pond and I plan on feeding up to a couple of pounds of food daily.
Correction, it is about 235 feet across.
Looks great
The trackhoe and dozer look like they did a good job. Did you do the work yourself or did you get help.
I hired a guy out Tulsa that had the track hoe and dozer, I ran one part of the time and he ran the other for about 3 days. We probably spent 1 day just digging out stuck equipment, since it is spring feed and I didn’t know prior to starting there was a lot more mud than I thought. Then I used a small front end loader and box blade to finish smoothing it out. If anyone is in the Tulsa area I would recommend the person that I used that had the equipment, he was very reasonable and reliable.
It looked like he knew what he was doing.
Man, that is awesome...gives me some ideas
My pond filled up really fast and it took a couple of weeks before I could get fish until last Thursday. The pond already had a lot of baby crawfish, tadpoles and a bunch of frog eggs. I am hoping the fish with eat the growing food supply. I stocked 75 bass, 300 catfish, 350 bluegill and 10 lbs of minnows. Since Monday their have been 5 ducks in the pond, should I run them off or are they able to help control the frogs and catfish with a limited amount of fish before moving on.
Great Pics!!!
Is that rock or concrete?
My favorite picture is of the excavator and dozer. The dozer looks so small in there pushing that mud. Did he get stuck? Nice how a pair of operators work as a team. One pushing the dirt to the other so they keep moving and making progress together. Kind of like a dance!!!
Eddie
At what water temp do you cut back or stop feeding
Most people say 55 degrees around here but my CNBG from Overtons were eating before that.
