Wife and I close on our new home in Missouri next week. We looked for a home with either land to make a pond or one with a pond. Neither of us have any experience at all with a pond. I have raised a lot of fish in tanks and that about it. Yet, we wanted the pond for protein and for recreation. Fishing, paddle boating and possibly swimming for my wife. She wanted a pool, but when She seen this pond she said she would swim in it. So I may try and line more of it with rip rap on the back side and make a small beach type area close to the home under the trees with sand or river rocks. Trying to please her and the fish at the same time. I probably will still get her a pool, but we will have a lot of questions over the next year for you all. We are the 3 rd owner of this home.

The current people have owned it for about 10 years and know nothing about the construction of the pond. It looks like they have kept up with it. They say it's about 16 feet deep for the most part in the middle. Whe asked if its stocked was told yes. They don't know with what. Other then about a 3-4 foot grass carp I have seen I have no clue what else is in this thing. I plan to fish it a bit. Throw some fish food out and see what come up. Also plan to throw a sieve out. I plan to measure the depth my self and also use a light disk to see what we are looking at. I plan to put some rip rap around the peir as its already thin and you can see a little under mining already. I plan to invest in the fish habitat and stocking once it's time.

What other new owner things should I look at? I bought this place because of the pond.

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Looks nice! And welcome to the forum. There are several of us Missouri guys hanging around here. I've received nothing but good jnformation here. Hopefully one of the experts will be along soon to answer your questions.
I sure wish I lived a little closer to our pond. We caught a dozen perch yesterday, and had them for dinner. Outstanding!

Welcome to PBF Daytrader!

Beautiful pond you have there. Exciting time for you and your wife!

My advice is "go fishing" using various baits and techniques to see what you can catch as a first assessment as to what type of fish you have. Post a few pics of what you catch.

Lots of folks here with experience they are willing to share. We are looking forward to hearing more about your pond.

Again, welcome!

Bill D.

Welcome from west central Missouri!

It looks great. Enjoy your journey. If quality fishing is a goal, as has been mentioned by Bill D, FISH and see what you get. Keep records of species, length and weight. Once you have a good idea of what you have, then you can work on adjustments needed.

Welcome Daytrader! Did you get a recent rain, or is the water always kind of muddy? looks like a really nice setting!

Daytrader.....welcome to Pond Boss. Tons of good info and lots of helpful folks here......

Was lots of rain when pictures taken. I will get some better pictures next week. I have a tree on the back side of the damn I need option on. The water is really clear. I am thinking of putting a diffuser in. I have to have some electrical work done. While they are out there I was going to have power ran to the dock or the end if that peir.

Welcome to the club and Missouri!

Hello from southwest MO. I went to school in Rolla many years back so I am somewhat familiar with your area.
Dave

Daytrader, I am looking at re-opening a fish farm near you that has been untouched for about 15 years......

Awesome, I will need to probably stock this thing I am guessing. Just closed today. I fished it for about 45 mins. Caught two maybe 10-12" large mouth and a decent blue gill. The folks I bought it from said they never really stocked it. Just put in what they caught from other places. They said there are catfish, bass and blue gill. I looked at the damn good today and have a bunch of cleaning up to do this winter. A couple of the trees in the back of the damn have me worried. One I figure out a better way to share the album I will post the pictures for opinions. Would like to find someone out this way to have them take a look at it and give me opinion.

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Edit, picture no longer at this photobucket address

Ok here are some pictures of the dam. It needs cleaned up and I plan to do that this winter in the next few weeks. I may have a leak, I am not sure as I do see some pooling of water in the back side of the damn by the road, but it could be run off also. The damn seen very dang thin in one area. The last owners said they never did any thing to the pond other then stock it and mow around it. By stock it they ,earn they caught fish at other places and brought them home. My wife and I can clean this mess up. I am a bit concerned about the mimosa tree. Should I cut it out or leave it alone? It's about near the top of the damn. Maybe 20% down the damn walk that's about 12' tall. Also some of the other little tree things are about 3" wide. I think the mimosa is the biggest concern. I did find a place to deliver clay. Seems I am only 4 miles from the quarry so I can get 15 tons of clay delivered for 70 bucks a load. I plan to add some to the back side of this dam in springtime after its all cleaned up. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Dam that needs cleaned up

So I fished my new pond for about 30 mins after closing. Got two bass and a blue gill I think. Is this a bluegill or a redear? Now, I am not a very experienced fishermen. I had a heck of a time getting the hook out of the dang basses mouth. Can one tell any thing from just looking at the fish? I plan to take pictures as I catch more after I get all moved in. It's 120 miles from my current home. I did see a lot of tiny black fry also by the shore line.

Here are the 3 fish caught in 30 mins.

Those are pure strain Bgill and males. Look for some with smaller sligtly less rectangular dark gill flaps for/as females.

Two nice BG and the others are LMB likely added after Bill's comment.

Welcome to the forum. Really nice looking pond and nice setting.

Looks like you have some maintenance to do on the dam but the trees look small enough you can remove them without fear of dam leakage or damage. But I would sure get them mowed down or cut down or in some manner taken care of. They are not a good thing to have on the dam.

After you cut the trees, you might poison the stumps or you will have sprouts to deal with for several years. You can apply the stump killer with a brush to the cut surfaces.

Well I caught Bob today while Bass fishing with a spoon. That's what we named him. At what point are these fellers not useful anymore? Is it normal for them to hit a spoon? Thought they ate grass and weeds? I think there is at least one more larger then this. I seen him on the bank line one day. My pond is about 1.5 acre. So far other then Bob I have caught about 10"-12" bass and some 6" bluegill. We have started feeding floating cat fish pellets also. Only thing we see feeding is many of the 6" and some a bit smaller Bluegill and the two ducks that patrol the pond and live here.

Bob

I caught a "bob" once with a yellow jig. Pretty exciting when all I was expecting was a pan fish!

I wish there was a fish that ate the leaves that fall in my pond. Would save me from having to add aeration next year. Ha!