I am new to the site as far as posting and signing up although I have actually been looking at stuff on here since 2008-ish.
I finally have my own house where I can dig a small pond for my friends and family. Currently I don't have any massive goals with the pond other then to have a fun place for people to come fish and each some tasty treats every now and again. Looking for some advice on where to go from here. The pond is quite deep, I did this for more then one reason, my wife and I like to scuba dive. With that having a nice deep hole in the center will provide a good way to practice our skills. I live in Essex County Ontario so this may help with my fish selection. Currently the 3 species I have selected to narrow down are Yellow Perch, Trout, Blue Gill / Sunfish or Black Crappy. I have read through 100s of posts but I still find myself unsure of what direction I should go. Here are some pictures of the dig. We can start here and lets see where this end up.
More pictures, Note that after I added steps all the way around the back side for plants. I would like to keep most plants in big pots. I have allot like 100 big tree pots that are like 3 foot diameter by 2 feet deep.
Plan on aerating the pond with a rocking piston type pump. Rotary vane will not do it for your depth. If you don't aerate it, it will have water quality problems for diving.
IMO SMbass will work a lot better with YP than trout. Plus trout may not live year round in your pond despite it being deep. I would check for 2-3yrs for survival first before adding YP in with trout.
Welcome as an official member. We need more member experiences from pond owners in Canada.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 03/02/1504:53 PM.
aka Pond Doctor & Dr. Perca Read Pond Boss Magazine - America's Journal of Pond Management
I would avoid crappie like the plague if I were you. Lots of posts on here on how they really don't do well in small ponds due to overpopulation and stunting.