Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Building a dam Building our pond in NE Missouri.

Looks like great times SetterGuy!

Thanks Bob. Not much educational value in the post, but it clearly demonstrates why we build them.

I'm still hoping for more rain.

Jeff

Looks like the kids are having fun and the dog wants to go for a swim.

It's been a good year for the pond. A lot less $$ than putting in a pool, but with a lot more fun things to do.

Good job, looks like they are having a good time and they will remember it all. the first pic of the little girl, she looks serious and I bet she will always be a fisherwoman for the rest of her life because of what you have done. You did good!

Her mother. (I posted this elsewhere, so I didn't include it here. This lady is an intense fisher person. Then had me take a pic, so she could send it to her husband, in order to rub it in.. ha!

Daughter back up with the 3 yr old twins. Fished w worm and bobber for a day. Caught a few HBG, several GSH, but mostly YP. Only kept YP, just two of the larger ones, I’m assuming females. Also kept 20 of the smaller YP, I’m assuming males. Looks like my YP population is ok, despite not seeing many egg ribbons this spring.
You can see my pond is still down 3’. With only a few inches of rain since last Oct, I’m amazed I am only down 3’.

Not to say I told you so....oh Bull...Told you so!!! cost is very relative, my friend!

Rainman and SetterGuy, I'm having some serious perch envy over here. Your 'package' is way better than most and there is a lot of envy going on. I don't know who supplies your perch but the genetics, environment and stocking all add up to getting a great thing going! That is one seriously fat and happy momma perch!

Great work! Now if you would only share some of those secret recipe ghost shrimp maybe us other pondmeisters would have a fair chance at growing some jumbo YP as well...

Canyon,
I think he's growing yellow perch just inside their usual southern limit, so his growing season is much longer than Michigan. Maybe that's the key?

I haven't heard of even trying to grow them here. The Lonoke hatcheries don't stock them.

SetterGuy did you get the feeder working and is that part of the equation? lots of good quality feed? I know you have lots of forage which helps. That perch, if female, certainly dropped eggs already so it would have been fun to catch when loaded with eggs.

The perch are surprisingly hardy even in our warm humid summers in a relatively shallow pond here in MI, I bet if the local fish farms just dug a pond a little deeper to preserve some cold water areas or had access to some natural spring water to help offset summer heat and got some pellet trained perch they could get a lot of pond owners excited about this very versatile fish. It also is very good eating and is highly sought after in restaurants even in the great lakes area where there is a fairly good supply and they can be caught by private anglers fairly easily.

Jeff,glad to see you and the family having fun at the pond!

Setterguy wanted SMB and Yellow Perch. He had already stocked FHM, so I suggested a very heavy stocking of YP...1200 originally...along with (I think) 20 pounds of Golden Shiners and some Hybrid Striped Bass.

Sadly, the day before delivering the SMB and YP, a water change using well water hit a lot of the YP....The well water was very high in Hydrogen Sulfide and YP instantly reacted to the poison....the vast majority survived, but there is no way to estimate just how many. Then, a lot of Golden Shiners committed suicide in some straw netting under water that setterguy had laid around the pond to prevent erosion...so again, no way to know just how many lived, but obviously, more than enough YP are there for fun angling and great table fare, and plenty of GSH are fattening the YP and SMB! There were some HBG added also along the way....I've stocked the SMB/YP/GSH/HSB/FHM combo in other ponds...as far south as central GA and best pond I have seen has YP/WE and monster SMB in it just west of Nashville, TN

Rainman, great work. Keep spreading the word around to the southern pond owners that your stocking strategy works and hopefully more will try YP in their ponds

Haha! Thx Rex. I didn’t like taking the female YP, but when the daughter or grandkids catch them.. Well.. I must have a million GSH. I hooked one and threw him out in the middle for a hour or two. A few feet below a bobber. Thought I might see the ever elusive HSB.. (nope)

CC, I wouldn’t let anyone take any YP this year until they were done spawning. I’m just not 100% sure I have “that many”. The feeder worked great last year, but is having issues again this year. I need to get a full battery in it to see if that won’t get the top wheel spinning. I feed Optima BG and Bass feeds mixed together. But I don’t feed really heavy, even when it’s working.
By the dock there are schools of smaller fish. Still lots of very small HBG. When caught they become turtle food.
When I hand throw the feed, there are some very large swirls of fish feeding. I’m thinking SMB, but they could be the invisible HSB.

Thanks Bob. It’s prettier, and larger when full, but I can’t do anything about the lack of rain.. looked like big storms coming in yesterday. We got .2”.. So it held its own for a day.

The storm made a lot of noise and had a lot of wind but .2" is all I got too.I can't believe how dry it's been this spring!

Best ways to catch feed trained HSB--Fly rod with a small brown pellet imitation (brown egg fly), or soak some pellets in a plastic bag with water then mold around small hook below a float.

Thank you. I’ve tried a lot of different techniques for catching HSB, but not this. Just need to find a brown pellet imitation. My 5wt is up there, might need to replace the leader though. If I get one of my HSB to hit, I’d like to be able to bring him in.
Thx

Rain! It came up a sudden thunderstorm a little over an hour ago and we already have almost two inches. Still more to come, but maybe not as quickly. Creek will be flooding shortly!

Edit: We received 2.06" total! Creek went a little out of banks, new pond lipping spillway, older pond (leaker) only 5" low.

Wish a few drops would come up this way. Glad you got some rain!

I'll look around and see what I have in my fly box. PM your address and I'll send you some if I have any. If not, I'll have to find some time at the vise. BTW, I have a pond in southeast Iowa with a similar stocking plan as yours.

Caught this SMB yesterday. Biggest one so far. Released right away. I thought for sure I had caught one of my mysterious HSB. What a fighter. Cleared the water by 2’.
I had gone early and walked to the pond. Left my scale and tape back in the barn. So it’s only my opinion, but she felt huge.

Jeff,thats a nice looking fish!