Just found the site today after doing some research on different pond questions and this always seemed to be the site at the top of every google search.

What brought me here is that I am buying a piece of property (17 acres) that currently has a small pond currently on it, oblong shaped about 100ft x 75ft in size. Not sure on the depth yet, current owners aren't sure but the say that they did stock it with bluegill and catfish in the past.

What I would like to do is expand it to a size where I can introduce crappie and bass into the pond and have a fun fishing hole on the property. I am not too concerned with developing trophy fish because I am more of a catch a couple fish and cook em for supper than anything else.

What I am here for is information, information and some more information. I like learning as much as possible about a topic before doing it, want to see what works, what might work better and what doesn't work.

Welcome!

Avoid crappie in a pond that size. They need a much bigger pond.

Bass should probably be possible.

Before going too far you need to figure out:

How deep.
Water quality - PH, etc
Fertility - The water should have a noticeable green color this time of year.
Inflow - How often does new water flow through the pond?
What critters are in there now? Bluegill are great. See any minnows?
Habitat - Is there vegetation? Any logs, rock piles etc in the water?

Given answers to these questions, the gurus can get you started.

If you can afford it, there are professionals in N Texas who can do an evaluation and help you put together a plan. It sounds like your goals are practical.

That’s about 1/5 acre and bass need, at a minimum1.5 acres. That’s on the low end. Bass need bluegills to feed on and bluegills need bass to keep their numbers in check. Both have the tendency in small ponds to over populate and perish due to oxygen depletion.

For your sizeTexas pond, I would recommend hybrid bluegills and hybrid stripers. Either install a feeder or hand throw good quality fish food. I would stock 200 hybrid bluegills and about 20 stripers.

BTW, what part of orth Texas?

You said you wanted to expand...do you have room and funds to go at least 1 and 1/2 acre? You will need that for lmb (large mouth bass). Larger would be better. I would say a minimum depth in the deep end of 12 foot. 15 might be better. A lot of us have 2 acre ponds or a little less...including myself. Get prepared for sticker shock but someone on this forum told me when I am sitting on that dock with friends and family catching fish and drinking a cold beverage while watching a beautiful sunset and seeing the smiles on your kids and grandkids face....you NEVER one time think about how much it costs to dig the pond!!! They were right!!! Good luck with your project.

I want to go to 1.5 or 2, that is my goal but I don't know what that is going to cost. I have never looked into it before this week. My goal would be to have that size range if at all possible.

What is feeding the pond and the depth are my first two questions to try and figure out.

I don't know if this is an indicator of anything but in the immediate area (within 1000 yards) there are several larger sized ponds that from overhead maps don't show connecting creeks so I am wondering if that means it is likely a high water table to feed that many ponds in a close proximity?



Trenton area.

Expanding is all about the runoff area. And, of course, the $.

Is the 1.5 acre minimum for LMB a Texas thing? If not, my LMB did not get the memo.

I was curious about this as well, the pond behind my parents place is only about 1/2 at most but is pretty deep I think but it holds LMB and crappie in it.

Either way the plan hopefully is once we get moved in and settled to find someone who knows what they are doing to take a look at the pond and make some recommendations on the best ways to expand it to make it better suited for larger fish.

I think this is recommended to keep the bass from overpopulating the pond. Just a guess. I know of several ponds that are smaller than that have a LMB population but it is stunted.

Lots of good discussion.

Does your pond have a dam, or is it just dug below grade?

N Texas is well represented here, so you should be able to tap experience.

Rah, it seems to work out that way and may just be a Southern thing. We have a longer growing/spawning/feeding season than up North. A consideration is, in certain areas like mine, hot weather/evaporation and lack of summer rains to keep up with it. A 1/2 acre pond can turn into a 1/4 acre in a hurry. And, that top 1/4 will have will contain about 40% of the water.

I get a lot of pond questions around my area regarding too many runt bass. I've been asked to look at a lot of them. An acre of water(think of a football field) seems pretty big until balance is considered. We know that bass and bluegills have a symbiotic relationship. Only bass can keep bluegills in check and only bluegills spawn enough(rolling spawn) and are prolific enough to feed bass. Sooner or later in smaller ponds, the bass overeat their food supply and stunt. That's why we know to start culling early and never release a bass under about 13 inches after the second year of stocking. An exception would be a bass that clearly exceeds an accepted weight ratio. Also, in those smaller ponds, the bass dang sure learn about the perils of footsteps on the bank and develop lockjaw.

Absent bass, bluegills over spawn and an O2 crash is inevitable. Been there/done that.

All of the above makes me recommend HBG and HSB or channel cats.

To get bigger bass, we have to heavily cull to allow the BG to get large enough to feed larger bass. Right now, Al Hall, with 11 acres of water is busting his butt culling bass in his quest to feed the big girls. If we don't do that the smaller bass can wipe out smaller bluegills that we need to grow.

My situation may not only be different due to being up north, but also due to the amount of cover I have in the form of plants. This includes a shallow cove filled with water lilies. My neighbor also removes 50-60 eating size BG each year and has begun to also keep and eat the small bass. Herons, kingfishers, and mink help with the culling as well. A friend has a very small (less than 1/4 acre) plant-rich pond which has some lunker LMB in it as well. The key may be sufficient cover for the forage fish, but that is just a guess? Diverse habitat may help in stabilizing smaller ponds.

I think all of these are factors but I am not an expert. Maybe if Bob sees this he can chime in?

In my area of Texas it generally takes 3 to 4 years.