Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Stocking Pond in Michigan

I have been building a pond in Michigan for the last 3 years on 20 acres I bought. The county has been buying sand and digging me a pond in exchange for the sand. Each year they have been taking sand and I make it bigger. They are in the last phase of it and the pond will be about 4 acres and 15 feet deep in some spots and 8 feet for a big portion of it. For the last 3 years I have been catching fish off my dock at my cottage right down the road and putting them in the pond. I just put the fish in by hand and not any water from the lake. I have probably put in 20 Rock Bass, 10 large mouth, 10 small mouth bass (all bass have been small), 20 small perch (4 inch), 1 catfish, 500 small BG, 300 Medium BG and 100 Large BG. I have not added any structure to the pond yet and am waiting until it is all done. Only cover has been a few weeds and some cattails. There are many small fish in the pond so I know they have been breeding. I have caught a few perch this year and they are 6-7 inch. I see many lathe BG in the pond too. The pond has about 8 small turtles in it as well. The pond will be done in about month and should I add anything to the pond before winter (structure) or buy more fish or just wait until spring? The entire pond has about a 30 degree slope. I do not want to add structure in all the pond as the kids swim in it and ride jetskis. I do want one area to be the "fishing spot" and will add lots of structure to it. Right now I still can tell them how deep to dig the last two areas of pond. Should I have them dig some areas with a very gradual slope to create a shallow area for spawning? Any other suggestions?

Patrick, to me digging in sand means a groundwater pond, which is at the mercy of water levels in the ground. I'd see if they can dig it deeper, plus put a shallow shelf that will be under up to 3' of water for spawning. Reason for deeper is that sand ponds will have a considerable amount of soil movement (sand migrating to deeper areas) and the deepest spots will get shallower rather quickly.

I'd rope or bouy off an area to keep the jet skis out, and place structure there.

Oh, make sure that the shoreline is well protected by plants or rip-rap for erosion issues due to the waves from the jet skiis.

The property was perfect for building a pond. It was 5-7 foot of sand and then all clay - not all sand. After taking the sand I have had the sides lined with 15 foot of clay. Then some sand is put back on top of the clay so it is not all mucky. It holds water great and has filled up quickly each phase. Basically a huge swimming pool - a clay pond not a sand pond. The jet skis are only on the pond a little but do create waves. Plan is to leave area where I add structure alone for the fish. They are just finishing taking sand from the last 1.5 acres of pond and I am trying to figure out what to do with the shape of the bottom (All nice clay) to help the fish in the area of pond I am setting up for the fish and if what I did with putting fish in the pond so far is OK or did I screw it up. A note the first year I only put BG in the pond and only this year I have added some small bass and perch. I am going to plant grass around most of the pond except for one area with a sandy beach for swimming. So I should create shelfs on the bottom in the fishing area about 3 foot deep? Most of the pond is a 3 to 1 slope on the edge. Should I have a less steep area in the fishing area on the edges? Should the fishing area be real deep?

That's great! Best of both worlds with the sand and clay.

If the water is deep, and not aerated, the fish won't use the deeper water (can't) in the summer due to the lack of O2 in the deeper water.

Any bottom contour that you can add is attractive to fish, rockpiles, etc.

You might find the BG bedding in your less steep beach area, or they might not like that area at all. I made a few bedding areas in my pond, and the fish seem to use the South shore for bedding the most, not the areas that I made for them.

If you are going to ice fish the pond in the winter, I'd put some cover in the deepest part of the pond too. Fish should hang around it during the winter.