Well this is my first post. My parents purchased a ranch in Mills County 2 yrs ago. Its an amazing place with 1.25 miles of Colorado River. It has 13 tanks/ponds and my baby a 15 acre lake. The lake is 4 yrs old and the previous owners stocked the lake with Red Ears, Copper Nose Bluegill, and fathead minnows. No predator fish added. Last year we stocked some threadfin shad as well as 1000 Lone Star Legacy Bass from Overtons. The lake has a maximum depth of 40ft with two draws coming in. Losts of flooded timber and brush. There is also several big rock piles and bolders left from construction. This past weekend tried to go catch some bass but was limited due to the high winds. I did manage to hook one but he came off. He appeared to be in the 2-3lb range which is just crazy. As of now I have no plans to stock any other kind of predator fish. Goal of this lake is Trophy bass. We have two other tanks about 2 acres in size that we did stock some channel cats for the kids. We have a 4 acre tank that I am considering making a crappie tank out of. But thats a project for a later date. Look forward to learning from you guys and sharing my projects as well.

Thanks

Brandon

Sounds like a dream place!

It is an amazing place with lots of recreational opprotunites. Based on my memory I think the original stocking rates of the forage were the following. 150 lbs Fathead Minnows, 3000 Red Ears, and 7500 Coppernose Bluegill. I may be off a little but not much. These fish had 3 yrs to spwan before the Bass were added. Should be plenty of groceries for them.

Wow, sounds like paradise to me

Sounds like a cool place! How about some photos?

One thing to consider is that you could use the small "tanks" as species-specific, forage-only ponds. You could seine and dump the progeny into the big pond on a regular basis.

I have considered on a couple of the ponds. I especially like to do that with shad but I don't think they are deep enough for them to survive a winter. I have been trying to upload pictures but for whatever reason I can't. I can email them to somebody to upload.

EDIT -- I see you mean TFS.

Do any of our TX pond bosses want to weigh in on depths required for TFS to survive the winter in his area?

I have read 15 ft is the minimum. I know once temps get below 45 they start dying. I think the deepest tank that we have that isn't purposefully stocked maybe around 10 ft max.

Hay Brandon, We did a PM conversation a short while back over @ Texas Bow hunters. Remember Deer Farmer? Welcome to the PB Forum. Lots and Lots of good people here. I can not speak of TFS life span in your County, but I can say Todd and Walt Over @ Overton's told me we will have a die off every so often due to colder water temps here in E Texas near Shreveport. I know we had a rough winter kill back in 2014 from what I was told. I stocked 10,000TFS in 2015 and my pond depth is 12'. Like I said before, I would like to have the water u have

Tracy

Hey Tracy thanks for the welcome. I think your right on TFS having a die off every couple of years. This year they sure wouldn't have. Being further north I am sure its more of an issue for you.

[img][img]http://forums.pondboss.com/gallery/49/medium/9736.jpg[/img][/img]

Still can't figure out how to get the pictures to show. But here is one . Will try to get some more up later.

Throw the picture on Photobucket.

Copy the direct link image.

Click on the "enter an image" tab on your new post or the reply.

Click on "non-floating image".

Paste the direct link from the photobucket account.

click on submit.

[img][IMG]http://i1096.photobucket.com/albums/g335/BrandonArrington74/ribbitdock_zpsyxvs19sk.jpg[/img] [/img]

Well at least I got them to post. The water is actually outside the reds lines on the left and a little on the right. We are 100% full pool now. Thanks