Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Building a dam Fish Screen for overflow pipe

Hello all. I have a question about how to keep my fish from going out of the overflow pipe.
I have a 4 year old 1 acre pond that I stocked with CC, LMB, HBG, and BG. I feed them twice daily and I havnt seen any thing but BG and Koi for several months.
Im not sure what where the fish have gone but I am suspecting a combination of them escaping through the overflow and an Otter I saw a few months ago.
Getting ready to stock 400 CC, 100 LMB, 400 HBG on Friday.
My overflow tube is a 24 inch dia steel pipe with just a steel gaurd over it with vertical metal strips. There is not an elbow on the pipe.
Should I put some hail screen over that or is there a better solution?
Thanks

Hog,

I'd be very careful in putting any type of obstructions on your overflow pipe, unless you have a really good emergency overflow system.

I don't have a real good answer, especially after I was picking lively trout and hybrid bluegill out of the bushes earlier this spring after we got four inches of rain in a few hours. They went out the three 10-inch standpipes of a 1/3 acre pond. The water just barely got to my emergency overflow on that pond.

I know that fish escape through the drains. I've caught hybrid bluegill in my lowest pond. They are only stocked in my uppermost pond, but have to go through two other smaller ponds to get to the lowest pond. All have to be at overflow level for this to happen -- but it does happen.

When we bought this property about 10 years ago, there was just one pond. At that time, the state required barriers to keep grass carp from escaping through emergency overflows. I almost had a major disaster after several days of heavy rain. The re-bar barrier that the previous owner installed became clogged with debris. Water was about to go over the dam, which would have breached the dam. The water current was too strong for me to attempt to clear the debris from the barrier. I used my tractor to pull the whole barrier out. It saved my dam. When it was all over, I still had all my grass carp too.

A few fish lost is better than a whole pond lost.

Regards,
Ken

Thanks Ken,
Boy can I relate to the flood thing. Woke up early one morning with that "God's telling you to go outside feeling" and my overflow was covered and the water was rushing over the dam. Didnt have my emergency spillway right. Didnt loose the pond but only by the grace of God!
Still cannot beleive I dont have a single CC left thought. I put in over 600 and cant catch or see a single one for almost a year.
I've got a ton of BG swimming around and a couple of LMB. Crazy

I have had a love/hate relationship with catfish for many years. I love to catch them. I love to eat them. But, they sure can be pests. I've got three poles out tonight on my main pond, each with medium sized bluegill on #4 circle hooks.

Good luck with those crazy things. They will try your patience like teenagers. But, you still gotta love them.

Ken

I agree with Catmandoo. It's better to lose a few fish than the whole pond.

The trick to a screened outlet is surface area. I built my dock over the outlet pipe (10'x10') and then screened it with pig panels covered with 1/2"x1" wire. I do not have clogging problems.