Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Renovating a Pond or Lake? digging out and old farm pond

I used the muck out of the pond to build up the back side of the dam; the pond will end up being 15-18ft deep and about 175 ft across. I am using 15 tons of 12lb rip rap for erosion control. I also put in 18tons of 3inch limestone washed gravel. I planted 1 pallet of Bermuda Sod and planted 25lbs of Rye seed, 50lbs of fescue and 20lbs of 10-20-10 fertilizer. Any other suggestions?

Are there any fish in the little bit of water that remains? If no fish exist, be patient and stock it correctly... It will pay off in the long run.

Any ideas on what species you want in your pond and the goals for your pond?

My goal is to have a good all around fishing pond. I would like to have Crappie since that is what we like to eat, but from what I have read the pond will be to small. My plans are to stock it fist with about 5 lbs of minnows until it get more water in it. It is a spring feed pond that is getting about a ¼ to a ½ inch of water ever day with no rain at all. There is about 80 acres that drain into to it so with a little rain it should fill up fairly quickly, and at that time I am looking at putting 200 Channel Catfish 100 4-6” and 100 6-8” since this is what we will probably harvest more often. Then 100 Bass 1-3”, 5lbs more minnows, 100 Copper nose Bluegill 1-3”, 100 Redear 1-3”. I was told that I could add these all at once, not sure if this part is correct or not? I have a small aerator that I will be placing in the pond and I plan on feeding up to a couple of pounds of food daily.

Correction, it is about 235 feet across.

Looks great

The trackhoe and dozer look like they did a good job. Did you do the work yourself or did you get help.

I hired a guy out Tulsa that had the track hoe and dozer, I ran one part of the time and he ran the other for about 3 days. We probably spent 1 day just digging out stuck equipment, since it is spring feed and I didn’t know prior to starting there was a lot more mud than I thought. Then I used a small front end loader and box blade to finish smoothing it out. If anyone is in the Tulsa area I would recommend the person that I used that had the equipment, he was very reasonable and reliable.

It looked like he knew what he was doing.

Man, that is awesome...gives me some ideas

My pond filled up really fast and it took a couple of weeks before I could get fish until last Thursday. The pond already had a lot of baby crawfish, tadpoles and a bunch of frog eggs. I am hoping the fish with eat the growing food supply. I stocked 75 bass, 300 catfish, 350 bluegill and 10 lbs of minnows. Since Monday their have been 5 ducks in the pond, should I run them off or are they able to help control the frogs and catfish with a limited amount of fish before moving on.

Good job.

Great Pics!!!

Is that rock or concrete?

My favorite picture is of the excavator and dozer. The dozer looks so small in there pushing that mud. Did he get stuck? Nice how a pair of operators work as a team. One pushing the dirt to the other so they keep moving and making progress together. Kind of like a dance!!!

Eddie

At what water temp do you cut back or stop feeding

Most people say 55 degrees around here but my CNBG from Overtons were eating before that.