... and now we HAVE one!

Hi all,

I first learned of Pond Boss when my wife and I were looking for rural property here in Central Texas and I was searching for answers about the pond on a place we were considering. Very impressive forum you have here!

We ended up buying a place with a nice-looking one-acre pond at the end of a draw. It's part of an old dairy farm. The pond is rumored to have been a popular "swimming hole" in Fayette County, TX years ago. Rumor has it that at least a portion of the feed for the pond is a spring from a near-surface aquifer, but I don't have a clue how to prove this.

Over the years the pond has become silted in; therefore it's quite shallow (2 to maybe 6 feet) and it tends to go dry in times of drought (like now). At the moment it's nearly dry and we can finally see just how shallow it really is. I have seen stock tanks much deeper go dry around here, so I'm tending to believe that maybe it does have a little bit of spring feed, but that's diminished now also so our pond dried up too.

My goals with the pond are (in no particular order):

** backup water source for the garden
** maintain its tranquil beauty and all that. It really IS pretty when it's got water in it.
** stock fish -- maybe crappie? -- if it can be reworked to support them.

I need lots of pond education since I don't know much about 'em except they're wet. I really appreciate everyone's help in creating this wonderful resource!

Thanks,
Jeff

Jeff, welcome to the forum!

Congratulations on the new place.

If your budget will support it, I'd research what type of soil you have, and if there's enough clay there I would call in a pond builder to clean it out and make the pond deeper. It's a LOT easier to work in a pond when it's dry or mostly dry vs. full. Then when the water returns, it will be less prone to fishkill from heat or cold and you'll have less of a weed problem too. Renovating the pond will remove a lot of nutrients that have accumulated in the pond over the years, which will contribute to a lot of weed growth.

I don't recommend stocking crappie. They are very hard to manage in a small BOW, and with a new place you probably won't have a lot of time to spend managing the pond.

Hey Jeff Welcome to the PBF!! If your pond is that dried up right now if you have the money I would maybe consider getting a piece of equipment in there to get some of that silt out of it. You can't ask for a better time to do it while it's so low! As far as crappie go in a 1 acre pond well.... unless you really know how to manage your pond for them the experts "which I am not" are going to tell you NO WAY not in a 1 acre pond. Way to small for those buggers! Man they populate like rabbits and before you know it you got a ton of 3 to 5 inch crappie and nothing else! You have the typical makings of a bluegill / bass pond or maybe bluegill / catfish. Just hold on though I am sure someone else here will chime in and give you some great advise besides me

Hey Esshup sorry did not know you posted that. I guess I was typeing while you were posting! Hey sounds like were one the same track. Great minds think alike!

You just have to have faster fingers!

Welcome Jeff! Some good starter advise already. I would get an estimate on how much it'll take to deepen the pond so water stays put. Your water level will always fluctuate, but figuring out how deep it needs to be to keep a healthy depth at the driest of times is crucial if you want a year round quality little pond.

Thanks for the advice. I have been reading a little bit about crappie in the forum... I see where you're coming from.

LOL about not having enough time... I see you've been there!

Thanks
Jeff

The kind of fish you want to stock in the pond depends on your personal goals for the pond. What are your goals for the pond?

Oh yeah! There's months at a time that there just aren't enough hours in the day for the jobs that need to be done.

That's a good question, actually. Not to raise trophy bass, that much I know. To be able to occasionally pull out a few catfish for the table, or let the nephews catch a few perch... that sort of thing. And mosquito control.

I think I know the answer, but by "perch" do you mean Yellow Perch or some sort of Sunfish? i.e. Bluegill, Redear, CopperNose Bluegill, etc.

In Texiz, he'll be talking about sunfish.

Boy, would you be in for a surprise if you came up Norte and ordered a Perch (all you can eat) dinner from a home cookin, family owned eatery around here. You would be saying, "Texiz, where is Texiz"

Now Dave, I am sure you have some good places down their also.

I went to a place down south that was featured on the Food Network "TWICE". Must have been the chef's day off, because, my mistakes are a heck of a lot better than what I was served. Needless to say, I was disappointed.

They must have known you weren't "frum aroun hyar".

When I was a kid, anything that wasn't a catfish or a bass or a trout was a perch.

The fish that I see in my mind's eye is no doubt a sunfish of some variety or another.

But the truth is, I'm not picky at this stage; I'm open to whatever species works best.

If there's $$ in the budget for it, I'd look into digging it a bit deeper try and keep it from going dry. If it's almost dry now, you won't have to pump out too much water to do the work. That will give you a clean slate to work with, no unwanted species of fish in there.

If you aren't going to feed or aerate, I'd go with the traditional LMB, BG/RES/CNBG (perch ), and CC stocking. If you were to feed and aerate, I'd consider tossing in 50 HSB and cut back on the # of LMB stocked by 25%.