Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Selecting a site Ponds of the Pacific Northwest

Hello all! I'm new around here but I've been lurking for a while. You seem to be a wealth of information here and I was hoping to share in the wealth.

Me and the misses are getting preparing to close on a 5 acre parcel on whidbey island (a bit north of seattle) The land has no surface water currently other than a few 2 foot deep stretches of wet area. Most of the island tends to be very heavy clay soil and we have a pretty shallow water table (our well is about 80 feet deep) We get plenty of rain to fill and keep a pond at a good level up to about a quarter acre.

I'm having some issue with depth and fish species, We are obviously in the planning stages but I have to have somewhere to start. Typical fish species up here tends to be Yellow Perch with some smallie and largemouth. Trout do OK here but I have noticed that the flavor of the fish is never quite as good when they are taken from non flowing water.

We have very mild winter and summers, usually 70 to 80 over the summer, and 40 to 50 in the winter. We do have a few freeze overs but its odd to see it last more than a week.

That being said what species do you think would thrive in that environment. I'm hoping for game fish to supplement the food we bring in from the garden and orchard.

Thanks in advance!

The biggest thing would be to check what is legal to stock. Washington State is very strict about the species that can be imported and stocked into the state. Is your main goal a food pond, angling a combination or something more?

Food and angling mainly, I was hoping to have some cats and bluegill but I'm not sure they will winter over or be stunted by the low summer temps. I know the native species around here pretty well. According to the state I should be able to stock anything native to the state, plus some other approved sterile fish. There is zero chance for fish to escape as we have no fish bearing streams on the island and the nearest BOW is the ocean..

I know we have a variety of crayfish that lives in some very cool streams in the area, but after hearing the horror stories Im a bit frightened off. It would be nice to have my own crawdad boil

Well, smallmouth and largemouth bass, yellow perch, bluegills and most other common pond species are not native to the Pacific Northwest. Most are native to the Mississippi and or Atlantic drainages. Some species like largemouth bass may already be naturalized in the Pacific Northwest and therefore are not restricted for stocking into a pond there. This is something you'll have to research to see what species are and are not restricted...

There are not many species of fish available that are sterile. Those that would be certified sterile would be quite costly. Fo example, grass carp are easy to produce, sterile grass carp are not. The price between the two is very different. Add in that most states require sterile grass carp to be stocked this lowers the price, most states don't require most other species to be sterile so even sourcing most species if they need to be sterile could be difficult or impossible.

The fact that you are on an island may reduce the demands the state puts on you in what fish you are and aren't allowed to import and/or stock for your pond.

Native fish to consider: rainbow trout, cutthroat trout, peamouth, squawfish, burbot, lake chub, redside shiner and threespine stickleback. Not much to choose from... Unfortunately, the Pacific Northwest is not blessed with a diverse native freshwater fish community.

Research those species I listed and see if any are of interest to you. If native fish are not your interest, then you will have to check with the state to see what species are allowed and then a stock plan could be formulated.

I would love to raise burbot, there is also a sunfish in eastern washington called a pumpkin seed I would love to raise. I thought that burbot were a deep water fish. I'll check it out. Thanks for the info!

You are correct, burbot do prefer very deep waters but can tolerate shallower water is the water is cool enough and has high DO levels.

There are pumpkinseed sunfish, but they are not native to the Pacific Northwest. They are native to the east and upper Midwest. The only sunfish species native to the west coast is the Sacramento perch, but as its name indicates, it is only native to parts of California.

It seems that you will have to apply for a fish stocking permit from the State, and also have a state biologist inspect your pond. For a more detailed explination see this .

Hello and welcome to Pond Boss.

You've probably already read through this information but just in case you haven't here is a link to the stocking regulations for the state of Washington. Looks like you have to apply for a permit and have an on-site evaluation before any stocking can occur.

It might be helpful to have a biologist from the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife visit your site prior to any digging just to see the feasibility of having your potential pond approved for stocking.


Further proof that brilliant minds think alike.

I was in the process of writing my post when esshup made his post.

JHAP:

You just gotta type faster!!

I can type fairly fast.

It's the speed of my thinking that needs to improve.

From the looks of some of the posts, I believe you think a LOT quicker than I do!

Thank you all, I have read about the permitting requirement for the state. It is pretty sad how little diversity we have with native fish in our fresh water in this state. It seems like Yellow Perch are everywhere. I haven't come across a pond of any size that isn't full of them.

I'll take your advised and talk with the state before any digging starts.

If, however, I'm not limited on fish choice by the state (due to having such a low risk of contamination) What would you recommend for pond depth and species?

For the pond, I'd make the sides no steeper than 3:1 slope for walking in/out. If the pond water level wouldn't fluctuate more than a foot or so, then once past 3' water depth I'd increase the slope, getting to 8'-10' relatively quickly, even going deeper if I thought that I would have sediment build-up or erosion problems.

I have CC in my pond, and I'm having a hard time catching them. That problem may be self induced, because I've caught a number of them not too long after stocking and released them back into the pond. I think they learn from their mistakes pretty quickly.

If the State will allow it, for your goals, I'd look into the "traditional" pond, BG/LMB/CC. With that mix, you will have to keep an eye on the LMB, taking them out for food as well. In my year on this forum, I've heard of more LMB stunted ponds than BG stunted ponds. I'm not sure just how quickly YP will populate a pond. YP and Crappie are hard to manage in small ponds.

I'm not real clear how the YP get in, but my dad has a pond down the road with YP and LMB and it was down to nothing, only about a 2' x 4' pool and withing 3 years the YP were back. No LMB but the YP seem to show up before any other fish.

When I get back home I throw up an aerial of the property, the topography is very flat so I'll be digging where ever I go. Let me know anything I need to mark out (well area, septic and the like) and tell me if you have any good ideas, I'm very flexible.

[img]http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4006499&id=702870442[/img]

So the red is the septic, yellow is proposed 100 meter rifle and handgun range. Blue is current depression with approx 2' of standing water. The property was logged of about 80 years ago so all the trees are very large. Topo maps of the area show a very slight slop to the south (right side of the pictures) I havent been through the backside of the property (those woods are thick and the dog got stuck) But the south side property line I walked showed little elevation change. Property is 440x660 and I would like to see the pond from he house. Any recommendations on size, location, shape would be a great help. I dont know if it makes a difference but the trees are all doug fir and cedar. No alder or other hard wood is on the property