After retiring from the Army, we settled onto some land in Western Georgia that included a one acre stocked pond. I have never had my own pond and am trying to figure this all out.

I do know that we have to cut down a bunch of trees that have been growing through the dam, but I will wait until I have someone with me that can call 911 if something goes wrong before I tackle that.

I have been buying minnows at bait shops and have not had much luck finding a place where I can buy large quantity of minnows at a decent price to toss in the pond.

Welcome KS, please do some more research before u cut down the trees in your pond dam, it could cause the dam to leak as the roots dry up leaving a void where the roots once were.

Kilo7,

Remember, no matter what the problem is, you can make things worse.

Like Tracy says, learn before you do things. There are consequences to actions.

If you want a lot of minnows for low price locate a fish farm and buy a couple of pounds of FHM. The minnows from bait shops are a lot more expensive and are more likely to be diseased.

Welcome to the forum.

A good place to start on this forum is the "Common questions and answers (archives)".

There is a lot of basic pond management information in those archives.

If you have LMB in your pond, buying minnows is a very expensive way to feed them. Growing your forage fish using commercial fish food might be a better bang for the buck. But it all depends on a lot of things.

Common pond Q&A

Another welcome Kilo. Know it will be tough but please be patient. It's so much better to do lots of research than to do lots of fixin.
I've done both, unfortunately the research was done after the mistakes. You'll be amazed at what can be accomplished in a few yrs if things are done correctly.

May I suggest that you and family/friends do some heavy fishin and determine what is in there and then you will have a better understanding as to a plan.

Figure out what ya want, research heavy and ask any and many ?s.

Good luck and have fun...Bob-O

Brian,

I've seen a lot of quotes from some famous people that folks post in their signatures on this forum but, I can honestly say, I have never seen a message as profound as this one.

You're not far from a couple of suppliers, maybe 1-2 hours depending upon where you're pond is at. Greg Grimes at Aquatic Environmental Services www.lakework.com is in Ball Ground, GA.

Bill D,

That statement came form a professional in my past. Unfortunately, it was written in blood. I learned from it and try to remember it in his honor.

Welcome to PB posting.

It is always best to know as much as possible before you take on a project. Much like the doctors creed "do no harm" is the first rule.