Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Selecting a site Quarry Contest 2010

i think yer right dave. i think there might be two things going on w/ the groundwater. you have the unconfined water table, and the "springs" which are probably best termed as "upwelling groundwater" emanating through the fractured limestone (as ewest indicated) from a confined aquifer below.

brief hijack....couppe, probably what most folks do, as a shoot from the hip, is estimate the cross-sectional area of the channel entering the pond, and build spillway significantly larger than this (over build for safety). when you estimate the area, make sure to consider the higest flood line possible.

DIED correctly identifies all of the springs. Isn't it amazing that the springs are identifiable by sattelite???!!!!!??? Each dark area on the map is exactly correlated with a thin, clear, cracked spot that we can find on the ice currently. Evidently the water that is rising up from the limestone as ground water is clearer (probably absent algae) than the surrounding water and shows up different colored from the sky. These "springs" were also the last areas to freeze up this fall, actually by over a week. Five points for DIED.

Really an outstanding and well thought out assessment. I'm going to grant 5 points for this one as well.

DIED = 17 1/4
Todd3138 = 10 1/2
ewest = 7 1/2
DD1 = 5
Greg Grimes = 4
Dwight = 2.1
Burgermeister = 2
blair5002 = 2
CJBS = 2
Omaha = 2
Youngblood = 1
essup = 1
JHAP = 7/8
Yolkie = 1/2

Question #5.

Along Nebraska's Interstate-80, there are a series of "borrow pits" that were created when the interstate was being built. Evidently there was fill material needed for highway construction, and it was "borrowed" from nearby areas. These borrow pits support viable populations of redear sunfish, that can reproduce and sometimes exceed 1 pound in weight. Generally speaking, most Nebraska waters are not as hospitable to shellcrackers. Local biologists believe that these borrow pits, which DO NOT receive the majority of their water through surface runoff have a certain characteristic which helps supports redears. This characteristic is also shared by the quarry lake. What characteristic do the borrow pits and the quarry lake share that could lead to improved overall conditions for redear sunfish? Two points for all correct answers, except a bonus point will be given for first answer, and any other creative suggestions regarding stocking and maintaining viable redear sunfish populations in the quarry lake.

I am guessing the borrow pits and quarry have very deep areas meaning their is a lot of water volume that is harder to warm or cool. This fact means the temperature of these water bodies does not change as rapidly as a shallower pond would. This means RES which are more sensitive to this do better. Also, I think the waters have higher alkalinity levels supporting more diverse and larger numbers of molluscs like snails and clams and crustaceans like shrimp and crayfish which RES love to eat.

I know nothing about RES temp tolerance. I think Travis may be right about the water chemistry not changing as rapidly due to lack of runoff. Assuming that it is the same aquifer type area (There is probably a six bit word for that.) it should also stay a little warmer due to lack of snow melt inflow allowing for longer growing/feeding seasons.

A non changing water quality and temp will allow for more forage. I'm not sure about the mollusks and crustaceans. I figure RES will eat anything whether it is preferred or not.

BTW, is there a difference in protein levels between finned forage as versus bivalves and crustaceans?

What he said. With regards to stocking the gravel quarry, I think if you could use a block-off net to raise a goodly number (i.e. 200 or so per acre) of RES to maturity and release them into the pond at the same time. I don't know if a smaller amount of fish released into the pond will ensure a naturally reproducing population. Since RES don't readily take to pellets, I'd look into blocking off an area very early after ice-out and concentrate on improving the habitat in that area to make it very habitable to forage that RES will target, then boost that area with shrimp, crayfish and snails.

If that wasn't an option, and I had a forage pond available, I'd run a test for a year trying to cage raise RES using FHM and shrimp based pellets. With your contacts, you should be able to find someone who has the pellets in a commercial sized bag. They are made for aquarium raised tropical fish.

cj beat me to it. I agree- more groundwater equals warmer temps and high alk and rock substrate= more mollusks where res can use their crushers to their advantage.

question 5 sounds pretty well answered. my left coast wording would sound somthing like this:
groundwater is basically the same temperature all year round (there is some variation but it is insulated). groundwater fed lakes therefore have more stable temps and are warmer in winter and cooler in summer than surface water fed lakes. add a rocky substrate which freshwater mollusks and crustaceans love, and you have a great RES crib

As DIED said, the answer is probably already covered, but my inclination was going to be to go with warmer temps in general from the aquifer water source leading to better growing conditions and a longer growing season for the fish. Unfortunately, I'm still enough of a novice to not have made a connection to snails/mollusks being able to thrive better, but I did know that RES like to eat 'em!

Thanks!

Allow me to make a general observation here, Bruce - I am really enjoying this quiz thread! I don't know much about ponds yet, being brand new to ownership, but this has been a blast and I've thoroughly enjoyed the mental exercise of really thinking about the questions and learning a lot from the answers being provided. It's giving me a lot of great idea of things to learn about my own ponds as I enter into spring and start really trying to dig into what makes them tick and learn about the seasonal changes and "moods" they take on.

Thanks for the great thread!

This is definitely what I was looking for. Nebraska Game and Parks biologist Daryl Bauer told me that some areas of the borrow pits are extremely slow to ice over because of insulated ground water moving laterally through the pit.

I've noticed that the catfish I catch in the quarry lake will have crayfish antennae sticking out of their gullet on a regular basis. I'm hopeful that the redears will have plenty of shelled food to utilize.

To my surprise, I found that the quarry lake is actually not very deep. It drops off immediately to 8 feet, but the maximum I've found so far is 12.

Not to sidetrack, but what all have you caught in the lake so far?

DIED = 20 1/4
Todd3138 = 13 1/2
DD1 = 8
ewest = 7 1/2
Greg Grimes = 7
CJBS = 5
essup = 4
Dwight = 2.1
Burgermeister = 2
blair5002 = 2
Omaha = 2
Youngblood = 1
JHAP = 7/8
Yolkie = 1/2

Largemouth Bass
Bluegill
Bluegill X Green sunfish hybrids
Channel Catfish

Rumored to be in the lake: Big Black crappie

My man DIED! My left coast brother is taking no prisoners.

Plus I'm killing Yolkie.

Take that GSF haters!

Question #6.

I took scale samples, and weighed several largemouth bass. The bass that were between 5-10 inches had good body condition. The bass that were between 10-15 inches had poor body condition.

Interesting however, a couple of bass sampled that were 20 inches had excellent body condition.

Given what you see on the maps, and what we've learned about quarry systems, what might be some of the reasons that we see these variances. One point each (entirely at my discretion) for plausible answers. They don't have to be "right" answers. Just "plausible". Maximum of five points awarded.

I'm now revealing the prizes.

1st place. A weekend lodging at the new Conderosa, including meals, bait, float tube and expert fish guiding service. But you'll have to get your sorry ass over here. And a selection of Condello's special "wiper magic" jigs that can be used for live bait rigging, or attaching twister tails.


2nd place. A selection of Condello's special "wiper magic" jigs that can be used for live bait rigging, or attaching twister tails.

Randomly drawn participant gets donation made to Jesse West Foundation in their name.

All other participants: I will periodically use my powers as moderator to change your posts to make you look dumb. (Just kidding).

Jeez what a lousy rumor.

We can do better that that. I mean come on, picture two guys fishing and one guy leans into the other and says.. "Psssst, I heard a good rumor." The other guys says "Really, whad ya hear?" First guys says "There's black crappie in these here waters."

Come on where's the drama, where's the suspense, where's the fear factor. That's got to be one of the most lousy rumors I've ever heard. That won't keep children awake at night.

This is a much better rumor...

1st Fisherman: "Dude, I was fishing here last evening and I see Ted across the way over there trying out a new rod and reel combo."

2nd Fisherman: "Oh, how was he doing?"

1st Fisherman: "The usual he'd caught a couple and got a couple of bites but you wouldn't believe what happened next!"

2nd Fisherman: "So what happened."

1st Fisherman: "Well it looked like he got a huge strike when all of the sudden out of the Quarry comes this green slimy critter. I'm telling ya that thing had to have been 6 foot tall. It grabs Ted and drags him kicking and screaming into the quarry pond. There was blood every where it was horrible. The thing had huge claws, I'm telling ya it tore Ted to shreds.

2nd Fisherman: "Good lord so you saw it yourself?"

1st Fisherman: "Heck yea I saw it, I even snapped this photo of it on my cell phone, lookie here."


2nd Fisherman: "Jeez did ya call the cops after seeing the Quarry Creature?"

1st Fisherman: "Of course not, whatareya nuts? I don't want everyone knowing about our secret fishing hole."

2nd Fisherman: "Oh right, I almost forgot, Quarry Fishing Rule 7, subsection 3. NEVER, EVER tell anyone about the secret quarry fishing spot."

2nd Fisherman: "So what lure was he using?"

1st Fisherman: "Looked like an 1/8 ounce Roostertail."

2nd Fisherman: "Oh, great lure."

1st Fisherman: "Yup, great lure."

i better start sabotaging my answers, i dont want a sorry ass

but i'll answer this question as follows:

when they (the lmb) are young, they have food

when they are older, they dont have enough food.

a couple (very small %) of the young ones figure out how to keep eating as they get older, and they turn into nice fish.

hows that?

There are very limited habitat areas for LMB, and the larger LMB are hogging the good areas.

ah, so thats why they call them hogs.

also dynamics between bass growth and forage base. the quarry lake doesnt have sufficient or appropriate forage for adult lmb, but it can support a few hogs.

this lake has the makings to grow some huge GSF



dittos....but i'm not sure why i enjoy this, probably becuase i'm a sorry ass tard.