Hello!

I've lurked here a little bit in the past, but finally decided to join today. My wife and I just purchased 15 acres and built a house, and the property included 3 small ponds which are about 100 yards behind my house. The house/structures shown to the east are the neighbors property. My house is to the south. It is kind of a unique setup, as the ponds are in series. Here is a GE image of the setup.



This shows how the ponds receive flow. The main flow comes from a culvert on a county rd about 200 yards away that runs down a ditch. Pond 1 flows into Pond 2 and then flows into Pond 3. The blue lines represent culverts. There was a berm that was built up by the PO that also captures runoff going down the hill and pipes into Pond 3 from the south. When we bought the place, the berm was pretty short, only may 30 yard long or so, and wasn't catching much water. As soon we bought the place, I had it extended about 150 yards up the hill.

As you can see, Pond 3 is very low. It does not hold water well at all. We've had lots of rain recently, and it is pretty close to full now, but I can already tell that it is dropping. When we first starting looking at this place last year, it was completely dry, and the other 2 still were holding water. Pond 1 was low, but still had a good bit of water, Pond 2 was almost full still and crystal clear, which makes me think there may be a seep or something draining into it from the ground.

As far as I know, there were no (at least not many) fish in any of these. Maybe just a few minnows/sunfish. I have caught A LOT of crawfish (and big!) in traps out of Pond 1. I have since added about 100-150 various species of BG/sunfish into Pond 1. I love to fish for yellow cats (flatheads) in the nearby lakes and rivers, so I am essentially using it as a bait pond right now. Over time, I would like to make it into more of a big BG pond. Pond 3 I would like to make a LMB/BG pond. But first order of business there is to get it sealed.

I have had many ideas on modifying the setup completely, such as combining 1 and 2, just expanding 2, and even combining all 3. Combining all 3 would make about a 1.5 acre pond. But the wife is against me doing that for whatever reason.


I just got a new phone, and I haven't taken any new pics yet. I'll update as soon as I do.

If happy with the current setup, check into soilfloc for pond 3.

Sean

I guess I will elaborate more about their descriptions and my concerns/goals. We can assume for now I will keep the layout the same.

Pond 1: Approximate depth is about 8'. I plan an taking my jon boat out in the next few days to verify. Very little cover in the form of small brush growing along the edges. As said above, I have already put 100-150 BG/SF, ranging from 2"-8". Most are in the 3-5" range. I plan to (for now, at least) keep this as bait tank, where I can catch/trap as needed. I would like to establish a breeding population. I have also added about 100 or so small red and blacktail shiners. There is already a big population of crawfish as well. I have trapped (and then released right back) at least 6-8 dozen very large crawfish up to 6" in length. Most, but not all were large and red, so I believe most are the Red Swamp Crawfish species. I don't mind them being in there and using them for bait, but they generally don't work as well as BG/SF for Flathead bait.

Questions on Pond 1:
The mixing of the BG/SF species....good or bad?
Should I remove the crawfish? Will them being in there still allow for a breeding population of BG/SF?
Just this week I began feeding. This is what I bought from Tractor Supply. Thoughts? The fish responded almost immediately and have been eating quite a bit.
Should I consider adding any cover?

Pond 2: Pretty small, not sure what I will ever do here. It would probably be best to combine with 1. Both of these are about the same elevation, which are a bit higher in elevation than Pond 3. Combining all 3 would really take a lot of dirt work to make it all work.

Pond 3: When full, is probably at least 12' deep in the center, and gets shallower toward the east side where Pond 2 spills in. Again, I will plan on checking the depth very soon. There is no cover. It does have a very nice dock, but the PO never completed it. It has 12" concrete columns with a steel frame on top, but no wood was ever installed on it. It is very heavy duty. I have been reading about the Soilfloc suggested above, and may decide to go that route. Once I get it sealed (hopefully). I plan to eventually make this my main fishing pond. I definitely want to put in LMB and BG at least, where I can catch decent sized ones of each.

Pond 3 Questions:
How will the addition of channel cat work in conjuction with LMB and BG? Would it be best to leave them out?
What kind of numbers of each would be a max capacity for that size pond? I realize I have to account for forage as well.

I'm sure there a lot of factors that can play into how these questions are answered, but those are the first questions that come to mind.

Any other things I should consider?

Thanks

Finally got around to taking more pics.



Pond 1




Pond 2



Pond 3




The never-completed pier

3ponds,

I like/have big water, I also have brood ponds. I know my goals and I test everything. But that's me, I'm "different." The real question is what do you want out of your water?

To start the process, test your water. Know the PH and Alkalinity. Figure out the types of fish you want in your water and study what they need to thrive. If it will not work, forcing it to work will be costly in both time and money.

You said you want catfish, so know that they are thought of as "put and take" in small waters.

Your journey is just starting, take your time. Ask a lot of questions and answer questions honestly and you will get where you are trying to go with your water.

Best of luck.