Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat Pics of our lake

This lake is just short of 5 acres. About 1.5 acres is located in 4 ft of water and the trenches we dug out drop off from 4 ft to 8 ft in depth. We concreted all the hedge apple trees in after we dug holes with a 12 inch rear mounted auger. There is about 40 holes and most either surround pea gravel or they are on the edge of one of the drop-offs. Take a look and let me know what you think.

[img] [IMG]http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p56/knoxcountyfarms01/trenches.jpg [/img][/IMG] [img] [IMG]http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p56/knoxcountyfarms01/Lakepicspoints.jpg [/img][/IMG] [img] [IMG]http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p56/knoxcountyfarms01/P1010294.jpg [/img][/IMG] [img] [IMG]http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p56/knoxcountyfarms01/P1010291.jpg [/img][/IMG] [img] [IMG]http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p56/knoxcountyfarms01/P1010287.jpg [/img][/IMG] [img] [IMG]http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p56/knoxcountyfarms01/P1010286.jpg [/img][/IMG] [img] [IMG]http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p56/knoxcountyfarms01/P1010271.jpg [/img][/IMG]

Did not work, will try again.

[img] [IMG]http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p56/knoxcountyfarms01/trenches.jpg [/img][/IMG]

Here is the rest.......

Smart thinking about putting the toilet in. Now you'll know where to catch LMB after morning coffee.

Holy samolie...I love it! It kinda looks like the Ray Scott example pic that is on the www.

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I would say ol' Doc is serious about fishing. (nice touch with the porcelain)
I am impressed.

Doc you have done a lot of work but before I comment tell us what are your goals and what type of fish will you stock.

Nice touch with the toilet....must be planning to throw in some crappy! Kidding aside it seems like you have done some homework with your layout. Looks impressive.

Great Pics! I really like how you left some trees in. Is the last picture the dam?

To be perfectly honest, there are 4 guys involved with this property. It's 300 acres and the primary reason we own it is for Deer, Turkey, Quail & Fishing......in that order. We all have kids and we are trying to make our ground into the best of everything so our kids can enjoy growing up with something we never had as kids. Now, don't get me wrong......right now, it's for the Dads. If you notice in the backround we have turned all our fields over to warm and cool season grasses and we are actively working with quail unlimited and pheasants forever. Covey headquarters are located throughout the farm and we are in talks with conservation to help us with our Timber Stand Improvement project. The kids are young and we are breaking them in slowly. However, fishing is the one thing that kids of any age can enjoy. Having said that, we built this lake like we do any project.............we go all out and do it right. Our philosophy is that if you're going to take the time and spend the money, make it as prime as you possibly can. Ray Scott's video played a crucial role in how we went about designing this lake. We are stocking BG, RES, Channel Cat, LMB and Crappie. Because of the different needs of our fish we thought it would be a good idea to provide a good amount of cover for our forage fish as well as good spawning areas with plenty of drop offs for fish to escape to. The southern end of our lake is the deepest part(not pictured) and it has some long points with nice deep holes for our cats(make up about 2 acres). The north end of the lake ( 2.5 to 3 acres ) is made up the flat (4 ft deep) which has trenches that drop to 8 ft and they slowly get deeper until they end in the 3 big humps right across from the dam. These humps are at about 12 ft and they drop off into about 18 ft of water. We concreted in large hedge apple trees that should reach about 3 ft in depth. These will be great deep water structure in the summer as well as winter seasons (pic #2). We think we have created outstanding habitat that should provide excellent fishing for years to come and hopefully we will be able to land a trophy from time to time as well. Most of us will fish when we are up there working or hunting but our one concern is that we might not be able to keep up with removing the correct amount of fish per year. We have not run the numbers yet (it's only 50% filled and all we have stocked is minnows, BG & RES) but we have a book that we are going to keep to track what goes in and out. I will say one thing, we all love to walk around and catch LMB but trophy size crappie is something that we all are looking forward to. The occasional catfish when we are drinking a beer and panfish for the little ones so they have plenty of fun. Even though this is purely recreational, we all want to max out the potential. Any advice from the experts would be greatly appreciated and I hope you like what you see with our place. We are very proud of it..........but still open for suggestions or any advice.

You guys are doing it right; showing a lot of planning and foresight. The bois d'arc will outlive you.

Now, do one more thing. Read everything you can on this site regarding crappie in bodies of water less than 25 acres. It can be done. However, you might not be able to take as much time enjoying a beer as you would like.

Doc a great start. Those Ray Scott tapes are top notch.

It is often not easy to give good specific cover/structure advice without seeing the entire pond with compass directions (prevailing wind directions make a difference). It appears that you have a long dam that could be short on cover. It is the biggest structure you have and is the only one that gives fish a choice of all bottom depths in one location. It is also adjacent to the biggest area of unused water in the pond from which to draw fish. Below is a link from the archives with links to all types and uses of cover/structure including pics. In placing them I always think first of water depth/thermocline then highways , funnels/shoots , and ambush points for predators and protective cover for forage fish. Take pics when the cover project is finished and make a map for all to access and or use a marking system for the structures as they are hard to find when covered with water.

Structure , cover, etc types and methods
http://www.pondboss.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=22;t=000022


In regards to choices of fish and how to manage them here is a thread on what Dave suggested. With out jumping the gun on on you reading the link I note that you have no pelagic forage fish for the crappie to eat. Those minnows will not last long with LMB present and BG and RES are not real easy for crappie to eat (mouth size- gape limits). I strongly suggest you listen to Dave's advice and read the info on crappie.

Crappie Pond
http://www.pondboss.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=000461

The best suggestion I can make is learn all you can wrt pond management prior to making final choices of fish and management plans. Basic Pond Management is a book you can get from the PB office . It is easy to read , is concise ,not expensive and will really help . The RS tapes are not enough on the topic of fish and management. Take a look at the archives for the info on PB mag articles and you will see a lot on land management in addition to ponds. I suggest a subscription to the PB mag.

Last I add this idea for thought. Pond /fishing access is critical for enjoyment especially for kids (and sometimes times spouses). Things like docks , swimming , a beach, bank fishing ease and no-hang-up structures where they fish are needed. Also spawning areas and shade near those fishing areas are a big help. Small kids must be kept interested. This means short time periods with lots of action. When you take them fishing take multiple easy to use gear for them and you plan on not fishing.

Good luck , keep asking questions , let us know how things proceed and glad you posted.