Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations big darn fish

Good day all I recently moved into NY my father passed and we took over his estate. Myself and 3 sons moved in fourth of July weekend the property has an 14 acre lake that was an old quarry with two ponds above that feed into a water fall also tubes come out of these ponds with wooden dams that are very small.
The lake is 40 foot at its deepest it has two pump houses that my caretaker thinks they circulates the water this was all built 6 years ago. I do not know how any of this works but dad spent allot I remember the cost of $200,000.00.

I sent the boys down to fish and they came back with broken poles and no line.I walked down to see the problem and there was so many huge fish. I called my neighbor he told me you have a WALLEYE lake the top two ponds are feeder ponds with smaller fish for feeding. I havent the slightest clue what to do John our new caretaker just started to work with us.

Where should I start, inside the pump houses are the company who built everything should I start there. John has fished up in Canada most of his life and he was amazed at the size and how many.

Thankyou for any response or advice M Cris

Post some pics.. of the pump houses and pumps and stuff..

Welcome to the forum!

Yes, I would call the company that built everything and tell them that you now own the property but you don't have any documentation on how the ponds are supposed to work. They should be able to fill you in on the details.

Thankyou for the advise the gentleman who built everything came out today and what a lecture and fish experience we received.
He showed us how to work the bubblers on the upper ponds and how to release feeder fish for the big boys down in the main lake.

The buildings that are caretaker thought were pump houses were circulating and massive bubblers that made each side of the lake come alive. He had a spackle bucket of small fish went to the end of the dock and told the boys to keep both eyes on the water those little fish did not stand a chance fish came from all over to feed on them .

He did tell us to only let family and friends fish or others will abuse the lake leave garbage and not respect our property.
I will be logging in the future to gain more knowledge on our new great hobby. I never saw a 3 foot fish in person but now we have a bunch.

Thanks to all Mel Cris

That's great news! Before you stock any fish into the pond from another source, I'd make sure that the species you are stocking are compatible with your goals. If the pond is picture perfect in your eyes, then I'd talk to the same guy and get his recommendations on what fish to remove and to stock on a yearly basis. It's good to have a population of fish in a pond made up of different age groups.

I took your advice and called Scott he advised us that the upper ponds provide a complete cycle of feeder fish perch and I think he called the other ones pumpkin seeds which the kids caught the other day which were all different sizes. The upper ponds have different size grating which the fish pass through.
Would you think its best to get a maintance plan for the year and let them take care of everything.

What would be a fair price for this service.

Thanks a bunch Mel Cris

Depends on you and your interest really.. and the depth of the pocketbook. Many of the people here get hooked on tending their own ecosystem and we want to do it. Some of the folks here make their living by tending ponds. If learning about all the interactions between fish, the food chain, water chemistry, aeration, pond vegetation, etc is interesting to you and you have time to carry out your plans, then by all means learn and do it yourself. If you don't have time or that interest, then look at how much you can afford to put into having it managed. Several folks here would kill for the opportunity you have to manage multiple nice bodies of water with a healthy population.

big_pond

Not that it's any of my buisness but your dad had all that and you have no clue about the fish or how to run it??? Your boys have never fished it before with thier grandpa? For that I am sorry for you and your kids.

It sounds like he has left you a fricken awesome place!! Wow is all I can say! I hope you all enjoy it now!!

RC

We need pictures!!

Thankyou for your replies the reason the kids never fished there was my place of employment was overseas which my father came over frequently and took the boys fishing for the last 10 years.
I took your advice and hired the man who developed and built the lakes and ponds I was given several other clients to call and each one was positive. He came back out today and went through all the basics and gave me a cost of $2500.00 to maintain everything and winterize the pump and blower buildings.

I do have an interest but I want do do this properly and save for the future for the rest of the family to enjoy for years to come. There was one other gentleman that wanted to take care of everything but he thought the fish were pickrel. We hired Scott at Catskillpond the builder I felt comfortable with the past relationship with my dad.

Thanks again I will post a pic. Mel

I think you made the right choice. You'd be spending way more than that to rebuild the fishery, and I think that Scott has a very good handle on how the fishery should be managed.

Absolutely my exact first thought..