Hey everyone, I figured after a few weeks of reading, it's time for me to join up and introduce myself and start getting advice from all those here with so much knowledge and experience. This will be long so bear with me.
A little background....I'm from Deep East TX, in northern Nacogdoches Co. In December of '13 my dad decided he was going to have a pond built right below he and and my mom's house in their pasture. Their house is on a high ridge and the spot was extremely logical for a pond between two ridges with a spring fed creek running between them. He hired a large company who had extensive experience building ponds around the area and they went to work in late January '14 since it was surprisingly dry. The lake was completed by mid March. Besides the large spring fed creek feeding it and the creek also gets several hundred acres of run off. Even at that, it was estimated to take the pond many months to fill up, especially since we were going into the spring and summer and you never know what the weather is going to do.
To everyone's great surprise, 60 days after the stand pipe was raised, the 3.75 surface acre pond was 100% full and running over. The pond averages 10-12ft in the big open area around the dam, it's 18+ ft deep in the creek channel and gently slopes all the way up to some nice shallow areas. It has areas in the 4-8ft depth and it has about 1/2 acre of standing timber where the creek backed up in the woods. The diverse underwater terrain is really great. My dad put a ton of structure in the lake while it was being built including tires, gravel inside of tires, cedars, lots of man made (plastic) structure and several sharp elevation changes and large underwater earth shelves/points. He did it right.
During this process my dad was having some extremely severe back and leg pain and by the time the pond was completed he was in bed 22 hours a day and on large doses of pain meds. He'd been seeing a back specialist and they were considering surgery to try and alleviate some of the pain but in the first week of June the doctors found that cancer had returned from a previous bought he had successfully fought a couple years prior. They found cancer in his spine (cause of the back and leg pain), liver, lungs and kidneys. The prognosis was obvious and the doctors said the treatment would likely kill him as quickly as the cancer. Being the great man of faith in Christ that he was, my dad said that God was totally sovereign and He might not heal him on this side of Heaven but he believed God would use his cancer and death in a positive way. My dad passed away 3.5 months later in September.
The pond was my dad's last official act on their farm and it has been one of the best gifts he ever gave to my mom. She loves the pond and the view from their house so much. My dad had been on this forum and done some reading and had he been feeling better he'd have been on here asking questions. As a lifelong dedicated fisherman this pond would have been his pet project for sure.
With that all being said, I feel it is now my duty to take on this project and do my best to take care of the pond so my kids and my niece and nephews have a place to fish and play for years to come.
The pond was stocked last spring and summer and I'm looking for my Dad's notes on exactly what was stocked and in what quantities. I've seen it but can't find it right now. I know that baitfish and the perch were stocked first and it included fathead minnows, coppernose, hybrid bluegill and maybe something else? Florida bass and channel cats were stocked a few months later. I've just got to find the invoices or my dad's notes to see exactly what quantities were stocked.
Sorry for the long intro, just wanted to give the back story of why this pond means so much to our family and I wanted to say hello.
You are very welcome here, Jason! My own dad is getting very frail now, and every time I see him I wonder if it will be the last time. Sure sounds that, like me, you were blessed with a great dad.
There are tons of experts here, of which I'm definitely not. But I'm pretty sure they'll advise you to test the alkalinity of your water before doing anything else. Your water chemistry is step one before anything else.
I'm building a pond just west of Marshall, but it has been on hold for two months now due to excessive rain!
Jason, Deepest sympathies for your loss. Your father built a beautiful place...what a legacy!!! I just love those E.Texas sunrises and sunsets. Did your dad ever post on the pond boss forum? If so, what was his handle? If he did, that might give some insight to what he stocked in his pond. Again, sorry for your loss. God Bless,
Thanks guys. And yes I was blessed with an amazing father, so glad to have him in my life for 36 years.
Originally Posted By: stickem'
Jason, Deepest sympathies for your loss. Your father built a beautiful place...what a legacy!!! I just love those E.Texas sunrises and sunsets. Did your dad ever post on the pond boss forum? If so, what was his handle? If he did, that might give some insight to what he stocked in his pond. Again, sorry for your loss. God Bless,
I actually thought he might have registered here but I tried the "lost password" on all his email addresses and none were found. I know he was on here though because I saw him reading the forums a couple times and he had mentioned things he'd read a few times too.
Originally Posted By: Flame
Welcome Jason from deep east Texas. Beautiful pond!! We are almost neighbors.
Thanks! Where are you located?
As for the water testing, I guess that's something I need to get done. I'm actually fighting some problems right now with the pond and I'm not 100% sure what to do, even after reading a lot on the forum.
I can start a thread in the appropriate forums but right now my 2 biggest issues (that I know of) is the water is like chocolate milk after all these winter rains. It has been this way since the fall rains started. It was muddy when it filled up, quickly cleared and was gorgeous all summer and early fall. But now....it looks like a mud hole and I'm not sure if it's going to clear or not? Shortly after the rains stop the creek feeding it clears up but it seems to have no affect on the pond, it says nasty brown. Then again.....it's been raining for weeks!
The other problem is filamentous algae. I have Cutrine Plus and I plan on spraying a section of the bank today to see how it performs. Today is sunny and the rest of the week is supposed to be raining (again) and the directions said that sunny days were best.
The biggest concern is this muddy water. I'm afraid this might be a deal where I have to use the alum method but I don't really want to spend that much money knowing I might have to do it every year.
Ok quick update, I found a receipt and some notes of my dad's. On 4/4/14 he had 800 hybrid bluegill, 1,200 coppernose, 800 redear and 40lbs of fathead minnows stocked. Then on 7/30/14 he stocked 900 4" channel cats and an (at this time uncertain) number of 1.5-2" Florida bass but my mom and I both think it was 500. There might have been more minnows stocked then but until I find the receipt, I'm not sure.
