Don't hear much about frogs on here. I am interested in putting more frogs in my pond. I think they would be a good forage for the LMB. Of course, there are already frogs in the pond I just want to put more in. I can catch tadpoles by the chitload.

Good idea? Bad idea?

One of the best ponds I ever fished (for LMB) was only about 1/2 acre and shallow. The shallow end of the pond was like a swamp. But this pond, every step you would take walking around the pond, frogs would jump in. They were not bullfrogs, they were maybe leopard frogs or pickerel frogs.

You could see a couple bruiser LMB swimming along the dam when the water got real clear, around 6 to 7 lbs. I wasn't the only one fishing there. Anyhow, a guy caught a 9 lb 12 oz out of there. This is a state that has had very few LMB over 10 lbs.

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showgallery&Number=364805

If the habitat is suitable, frogs will come and be sustained at the level possible within the habitat. If you add more tadpoles, you may just be feeding them to the bass with no permanent impact, other than decreasing their numbers where you take them from. It is also likely illegal. If you are missing a native species, that is another story, but transplanting amphibians is typically a no no.

I'm with RAH on the habitat. Give them the habitat and they will be there. They lay a gazillion eggs so just need some cover so the eggs can hatch, tadpoles survive, and some escape predation to repeat the cycle.

Like the pond conditions MSC describes above, if you could dig a small, swampy area connected to your pond (would not need to be very big) that would taper up from six inches deep to nothing and have some type of vegetative cover, I think you will get tadpoles, lots of tadpoles. After I initially cleaned out my old pond but had not yet went around the perimeter making it bigger and the edge deeper, I has such an area flooded at the inlet end (in this case it was just some old fescue grass that had previously been above water level because I raised the pond level a foot more than i originally planned - so had shallow areas I had not planned on). When I would walk or ride by this area, I could see hundreds of tadpoles swim frantically for deeper water.

I cleaned that area out and made it deeper with a backhoe so those frogs may be gone , but we have a small seasonal creek that transverses between the two ponds and we have boocoo plenty of frogs, so no shortage.

I had ran across this NRCS publication early on when first starting pond construction and before I found Pond Boss forum. It gives a good overall list of needs for different species in the farm pond ecosystem,including frogs.

NRCS Farm Pond Ecosystem PDF download

Hope it is helpful.

Edit: A pond like described in the above article is obviously aimed at a more naturally "balanced" pond ecosystem, with different goals than what a premium fishery might have with a "fish goals only" desire.

Snrub, good info in that link, thanks. You guys are right. I guess the best thing for me to do is make better habitat, because the frogs are going to be there already. My pond is pretty clean and probably lacking good frog habitat.

I once fished an isolated 18 acre pond as a kid that had thousands of frogs lining the bank. It also had stunted bluegills by the millions. And this pond too had bruiser bass in it even though it was pretty far north in New England. Sometimes you would see frogs disappear among lily pads with a big splash. I landed ver few of them as a kid using live frogs as bait as they would wrap themselves in lily pads and snap me off.

GBH's will do a number on your frogs.

This thread just gave me an idea. I had not thought much about the large number of tadpoles I saw last spring/summer till telling the story. I think I kind of like them.

Where the water runs in to my refurbished pond on the west side it is pretty flat in there. With a few hours or less of the backhoe I could create a shallow disconnected area to that pond to create the habitat similar to what is shown in the NRCS publication. Plant some cattails or some other water tolerant vegetation in and around it. Wife likes those water plants with the arrowhead looking leaf and we have some in the creek behind the pond - so maybe some of those. The large number of frogs would be back, and in addition it would act as a filter basin to keep the sediment from the adjacent field mostly out of the main pond.

Sounds like a new plan! I'll redo what I just screwed up! We all need something to keep us busy.

2"-1' deep hole 25-30' diameter at pond inlet but not connected to pond with water or with no more than a couple inches of water.

Overhead picture below the pond is about 16" below full pool. Had excavated around the perimeter last fall and not enough runoff to re-fill it again. Have added more 3" rock on the shoreline since the satellite picture was taken.

As an after thought, I probably want to make the "frog habitat" not connected to the main pond. Leave some dirt between the BOW's. Otherwise it might make too good of an area for BG to hide from predation and over produce.

By not connecting it, the area would likely go dry during the driest periods, but I think that would be fine. We nearly always have plenty of water in the spring early when the frogs are reproducing and likely the crawdads would also come back in this "seasonal" pool.

If you have bullfrogs, you don't want the hole to dry up. They take 2 years to mature. If it will dry up, I'd leave them connected so they could swim to the big pond as the water goes down. Small BG will have to do the same.

Good points, thanks.

Got the "frog addition" to the old pond done. If you look carefully in the picture there are three flags that denote where the water line will be at full pool (water is about 14" down right now). So the dirt between the main pond and the new "frog addition" will be under about 6" of water at full pool.

Only under the most severe drought conditions should the pool dry up enough so it has no access to the main pond.

This is on the inlet side from a farm field so will probably silt in in a matter of 5-10 years, but should be pretty easy to clean out with a backhoe if needed. It is not that big of an area. Deepest part is about 2.5 feet now with gradual sloping sides so weeds will grow nicely and create a wetland type area. Should also help keep the sediment out of the main portion of the pond.

So I have added my "frog friendly" portion to my old pond.

I did have lots of frogs of all kinds until this Winter's kill. I've never put any kind of tadpoles in my pond but I do have a small area 1/8 acre that stays wet for half of the summer and is about 50 feet from the pond that I planted with silk leaf dogwood for the wild life. I am sure this little area supplies most of my frog for the big pond. I watch the tadpoles all the time and they are always eating algae. So the tadpoles help to control the algae, which turn into some big plump tadpoles that feeds the fish along with the frogs they turn into. So you are turning the dreaded algae into bass, etc., the old fashion way, the food chain.

Snrub, I like it. You might have created a frog hatchery pond

We also have a nearby frog source in the way of a seasonal stream that keeps water in portions of it in all but the worst of droughts. This stream sits at the base of the dam of my big pond and a few hundred yards from this old refurbished pond.

Last year the old pond had gobs of tadpoles at the entrance area. When I refurbished it the plan was to put a 8" drain pipe in the dam and an emergency overflow a foot above it at the end of the dam. I got the emergency overflow done and rock lined but did not get around to putting the pipe in. Was going to do it after vacation. Well we had a 12" rain event while gone and the pond filled to the emergency overflow. When I got back, I liked the new level and just left it there. Never put the pipe in.

Problem was, this now put a lot of shallow water around all the edge of the pond. The water entrance area was fescue flooded. This is where the thousands of tadpoles were. Drive by with a 4-wheeler and you could see the rush of tadpoles through the water to the deeper water. No bass in the pond.......yet.

But I did not want this shallow water all the way around the pond, so ran a backhoe all the way around and cleaned out the bank area so it was deeper. Kind of a half arsed way to do it, but hey, I wake up in a new world each day and take it as it comes.

After doing the backhoe work, I am very pleased with the results. Pond is about a surface acre now. I just wished I had left the inlet area for the frogs as I kind of liked them.

But I did not (dug that area out too), so now I am trying to re-create what I destroyed last year. Oh the grand plans of mice and men. I guess once retired we have to find ways to occupy our time.

Does give me a good excuse to play with the big Tonka Toys. You know what they say. The different between men and boys.............. are the size of their toys.

That is the idea. Thanks

What was it Mike Otto said about people buying a wooded area and trying to create a prarie and people buying a prarie and trying to create a wooded area........... or something like that.

He could have been talking about me...........but my family has been on the farm since 1870 so I've got an excuse. I was born here (in the house that is now our farm office)

Spring peepers have been out in force - a sure sign of Spring!

I cleaned out another 5 gal. of winter kill bull frogs yesterday which makes a total of 15 gallons now. I was also worried about my turtles but I saw one on the foam island yesterday so why they made it through the winter and the frogs didn't is a mystery to me.

Anyway the frogs are giving life to other wildlife.

This must be depressing, but life recovers.

We have nowhere near the cold winters that you do. But I have noticed that we get freezes that trap turtles, frogs, salamanders, and such, that get frozen. I mean really frozen. And then they thaw out and come back to life.

But we never get a freeze that lasts like up North.

Wow! That is a lot of dead bullfrogs.

Ever since I've moved into my place we have a lot of frogs for such a small pond. When I drained it last year I stocked bullfrog tadpoles. I did that because I don't have predators that will eat them (fish wise). I'm fairly sure some of the ones I stocked have matured already. I only say that because it's very early in spring and the sound of the frogs is incredible already.

My tadpole habitat is my cattails though. Whenever I go to the section of the pond with the cattails, it's incredible the amount of movement you see. And if you pay attention, I'd say 80% of that movement is tadpoles.

They seem to like to lay their eggs in lots of thick cover for protection of the eggs and tadpoles. We had the thick tadpoles in flooded grass that was about six inches to a foot tall. Would have been similarly thick cover like your cattails.

Been thinking about transferring some pond weed out of the small creek to the frog portion of the old pond for some habitat but worried I will pick the wrong kind and it will take over the pond. Got about three different kinds in the small creek that runs behind the pond.

The birds will bring something in eventually and something will get established. Just trying to decide if I want to do something purposeful before it happens naturally.

Cover it with lily pads? They'd take over the entire thing, but they sure look pretty . I'm terrible with grasses as I only care to know as much as what's in my pond.

Besides having a small swamp pond next to my main pond the cattails and lily pads really provide the habitat for lots of frogs and tadpoles. The cattails also have lots of Redwing blackbirds nesting at night in them so I am getting lots of fertilization but between the plants in my pond and the FA eating tadpoles FA isn't a problem. The tadpoles were so thick before the winter kill that the pond looked like raindrops were hitting the water as the tadpoles came to the top and popped the water. And as I walked around my pond the frogs were jumping in droves, keeping my dog entertained.

John,

I have Redwing Blackbirds but no cattails. Go figure.

The bank swallows came back a couple of days ago but disappeared after the cold snap. I have a pair of swallows that nest in one of my 4 inch PVC inflow pipes every year. I added another faux pipe above it for them to nest in and capped the one that is used. I don't want to wash their nest into the pond when I fill the pond, but they want no part of it. LOL May not cap it this year and hopefully they'll be done nesting by the time I need to refill the pond.

Edit: i presently have a large group of swallows flying over the big pond. I can't imagine there are any insects with sub freezing temps but...

Cecil my Tree Swallows always nest in my Blue Bird houses but this year this couple is using the Wood Duck house. I have the house fill a third of the way with cedar shavings but if they fill the house the rest of the way for their babies to leave the entrance hole it may take for ever. I do have a roughened walk for the wood ducks youngsters to get up to the hole so maybe they can use that. I hope they know what they are doing.


It gets even crazier around here. Here is a bat house that has never had a bat in 10 years but last year a woodpecker pecked a hole in it. A few days ago I saw a woodpecker hanging on at the entrance. The Tree Swallows just like to meet on top of the bat house.

Cool stuff John. I love my bank swallows. They chew me out and dive bomb me if I get to close to their nest, but the way they can fly and turn on a dime just amazes me.

Cecil the swallows are the ultimate flyers aren't they. What amazes me is that they can see tiny bugs to eat on the fly with there dipping, dashing and turning. It's amazing how their eyes have developed over the eons. And yes, they buzz us with in feet and are unafraid.

I have a pond this spring that is full of large tadpoles, does that mean they are bull frog tadpoles?

That is what I would guess. Bullfrogs are the only frogs that the tadpoles take two years to mature. All other frogs develop within a single year.

I have the same thing in my old refurbished pond. Tadpoles 2-3" long a couple weeks ago. No way I can see they were from this spring. So I'm also assuming bullfrogs. No LMB in the pond currently.

Daughters pond and son's pond that I also rebuilt have tons and tons of tiny tadpoles. 1/4" to 1". I would think they will make great food for the 4-6" BG we have been catching out of our pond and putting in theirs to stock the newly redone ponds.

snrub, I'm pretty sure the fish will not eat the tads until they grow feet and start hoping off the banks.

Really! Did not know that. Thanks.

Just assumed it would be a good protein meal for them.

I have 1,000's of toad tadpoles in my pond every spring. The fish (LMB, SMB and BG) constantly cruise the shoreline picking off any tadpole that gets into water deep enough for the fish to swim in.