Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Walleye spawn in pond

I have been planning a 3rd pond and am hoping for something different. I do not think that getting a pond going with chain pickerel is likely to happen in central Indiana due to sourcing fish. Are there things that can be done during pond construction and development that will favor getting walleye to breed in a pond under 1 acre? The new pond will be constructed in a woods and fed by a small ditch that is fed most of the year from a field tile. Would deepening the ditch and adding stone to its bottom help?

Walleyes don't care for their eggs, so anything you can do to prevent silt from covering the rocky areas where they lay their eggs will help. Do whatever you can to ensure that there is oxygenated water movement over the eggs.

They pull off spawns in larger lakes due to wave action, and migrate up streams and rivers that feed the lakes to lay their eggs. I think it will be very hard to have the correct spawning conditions for them in a pond to have a sustainable fishery, but don't let me stop you. How else will we know for sure whether it will work or not if nobody tries it?

Thanks. Maybe it will work some years if the ditch flow is enough to keep the rocks clean and not so strong as to wash away the eggs. I could see how it looks as I wait for forage to develop.

Rah, I like your idea of trying to get Walleye to spawn in a pond. Ive had this idea floating around in my head about my pond as well and was thinking of installing a large water fall in hopes that it may supply the missing ingredients. I just wonder how consistently all the stars would line up for Walleye recruitment to be a realistic possibility? It seems that if success could be had in this scenario that it would be fairly limited and therefore be more manageable. Who would really mind having to fish hard for eating size walleye!

Keeping the pond strictly as a put and take fishery would make the management way less complicated, but there is something a little more exciting about a self sustaining pond!

I'm interested to see where this thread goes and get some opinions from the guys that may have some experience with this.

Jamie, if I had the coin and room I'd build a small deep pond with one side havin a gentle slope. I'd layer the gentle slope with different size gravel at different locations. Bruce Condello posted about aerating a pond with high pressure horizontal water flow. I think that set up may enable WE to procreate. This idea may be way out in left field but surely no more that some of JKBs posts (wish I could put the smiley face icon in right here: ). Sure I'll get criticized for my wacko thoughts but so be it.
Of course I know it couldn't/wouldn't be so easy but I have a simple mind and therefore simple dreams.

Rah, how deep are you planning to make the ditch?

Can you use ladder stocking of intermediate size WE and not worry about reproduction?

If the stream had some depth 2ft and runs relatively clear or clear right after ice out 40-44F (spawn) and until 3 weeks later, a spawn and hatch could occur in the incoming ditch. Line the stream bottom with coarse gravel and or rocks up to 3"-6" dia. You want larger rocks so the eggs drop down among the rocks for protection. Broken hard dark gray quarry limestone could work but harder gravel would be better since it will grow less periphyton on it. Dense attached algae on the stream rocks could inhibit egg hatch. The pond surrounded by woods could get too many leaves in it and cause significant DO drops for a few hours per year and result in walleye deaths.

Knowing it should be at least 2-feet deep is valuable. I guess that I should shoot for maybe 3 feet to be sure.

Slightly deeper will be a benefit during low flow stream conditions during a dry spring. I think it would be good to create some riffles or rapids in the stream that widen or deepen into pool areas. Flow rate and or current may be a problem depending on slope of the stream. Elmer Hedland in WI created a walleye spawning stream flowing out and back into his small lake using a large air lift tube aerator similar to the design in this Pond Boss thread by Cecil Baird.
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=360135

A temporary air lift in the stream could create improved flow rate in certain areas during walleye egg hatch.

I am managing a lot of land, so I am trying to keep things sustaining without a lot of management beyond the initial design. When I say managing, I mean doing all the work. I admit that it is based on philosophy rather than science, but science is the base. I am having fun and am hoping that the forage base takes off in my SMB pond so that I can actually add the SMB!

I thank whoever added the funny faces to my post.

I know it is possible. Up in Northern Ontario there is quite a few small lakes and ponds that have very little inflow from black muck swamps and the walleye still manage to populate. How well and how often I don't know. I do know most of the time we can only get to these lakes in the winter with snowmobile. The bush way to thick with out 60"s of snow to get there.

Bob I would think you would want your rocky shore to be on the receiving end of your prevailing winds for the best wave action.

We added our water fall with the hopes to have walleye recruitment in our pond some day. We are trying to get our minnows and perch rolling fist. As soon as I know for sure our perch have had a full spawn then we will add walleye to the mix.

Our pond is 16 feet deep on one end and 14 feet on the other with a five/eight foot ridge in the middle of the two ends. This is where we have a pea stone and chips mix spread with 3/4 stone spread even over the ridge. We have our apple tree brush pile and lily pads very close to our feeder on one end of this ridge. Water fall on the other side of this ridge. Water fall built with granite stone with beach stone granite at the bottom of the falls going from 18"s to 8 feet deep. Beach stone is 4-6" piled on our rubber membrane so the water flow will not undermine the falls. Falls is 5 feet wide at the top to 8 feet wide and six feet tall with 15000 gallons per hour flowing over when all the pumps are on. 9000 gallons that are run on a float to fill the pond and 6000 gallons per hour water fall pump that I run in the day to warm the pond spring and fall and at night in the summer to help cool the pond. All the shore is 4" crushed recycled concrete 12 feet in length and 8 feet of depth.

Now all we need is time and let nature take her course.

Cheers Don.

One limiting factor is predation of the fry and YOY. Even if they do pull off a successful SD spawn, the likelihood of the fry surviving predation from other fish is low under most pond conditions.

Our pond will likely have a large wetland area where the ditch runs in, so hopefully that will supply some cover.