Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Building a dam My new spring fed pond. With pics.

If there is already water in the pond how will I accomplish this? Will i have to pump it? I really would hate to lose the water I have.... Are you not a fan of solar powered units? Just curious..

Will I most likey need to aerate in the summer months since the spring is just a fast trickle?

Trench an airline in the ground above the water from where the compressor is to the pond edge. At the edge of the pond goes a remote valve box, then self-sink airline in the pond itself that just lays on the pond bottom.

If the line isn't trenched in, then it's easily chewed on by squirrels, etc.

For the $$ that solar systems cost, you are $$ ahead if you can run it from the grid.

OK so I already screwed up I think. My dad and some of my nephews caught like 25 Bluegill all pretty good size out of the neighbors pond and transplanted them into my new pond.....ugh... So, what do I need to do? I want SMB and YP? Will the 25 BL be a problem. Should I catch them all somehow before putting YP and SMB in pond?

I knew I should have told dad my plans....oh well

Nuke the pond and start over.

Here is the pond currently. One foot from being full. Its 8' deep next to the vertical standpipe.

how do I nuke the pond? lol

Or what would be the best method to catch all 27 Bluegill?

You know how many are in there. IF, IF you can fish them out before any spawn it might work. Get your dad and nephews to come back pronto and get busy fishing. Use primarily live bait, worms, crickets wax worms on small hooks. Put a bounty on the fish of $1.00 to $2.00 ea providing they can catch all 27; $0 if they don't get at least 26. Then we will see how good of anglers they are! You have to get them BG out before they build a nest and spawn. Otherwise nuking the full pond will cost about $200-300/acre to kill it with rotenone - license required. Other option is to pump or siphon out the water and treat the last 4"-8" with a heavy dose of hydrated lime or chlorine. I don't like the chlorine method due to creation of trihalomethanes.

Why do you say no weeds? Or is this a novice question

Jnarronecu, I think Bill Cody meant "no weeds" to help reduce egg hatching. YP lay ribbons of eggs on submerged plants and branches, so oxygenated water can circulate freely around the eggs. No weeds means laying ribbons on the pond bottom, where silt and little oxygen will greatly reduce any viable eggs survival.

Cody Note: "No weeds" was meant to minimize or eliminate the cover and refuge areas for perch. A lot of this proper weed cover depends on the specie and number of predators when it comes to managing yellow perch and many other panfish. Only a few weeds are too much cover for an only yellow perch pond, thus with weed cover they can easily get overpopulated. Amount of weed cover is very important to maintain fishery balance in a predator prey combination.

how fast do the BG spawn this time of yr. I wont have a chance to fish them out until two weeks from today....

Am I sh__t out of luck?? i cant believe this..I'm so pissed.

I hand dug a new shallow cove 10 days ago- specifically for BG spawning grounds. Dug it out knee deep, then put 8-10" of gravel back in. Within a week it was full of BG nests.

BG spawn multiple times when water gets above 70F, so you're surely there. Fry hatch in 5-7 days, stay in the nest a few days, then swim off.

I would think most middle TN ponds, the BG will want to spawn now unless they are still adjusting to new habitat.

Larger adult bluegill will be in spawning condition in June-July esp in TN. Two weeks and for sure three weeks after introduction into a new pond there will be bluegill fry swimming around. You have to make some decisions / options.

Option 1. Since the pond is only 0.25 ac it can chemically treated at full pool at fairly low cost compared to a large pond. Your pond is 0.25 ac depth 8 ft with close to 325,850 gallons (one acre foot). To chemically renovate it for just bluegill present it will take 1.0 to 1.5 quart (maybe 2qt) of rotenone to produce 1.0 to 1.5 ppm. BG can be killed with 1ppm rotenone. Find an aquatic license pesticide applicator to kill off the pond. Some will buy the chemical and then you put it in; most will require they do it. Use bottom aeration to make sure the chemical is completely mixed throughout - top to bottom. Ask your dad and nephew to pay for it since they put in the fish. Good luck with that.

Option 2. Drain the pond down to just a puddle by renting a trash pump. Treat the remaining water with a very high dose of hydrated lime to kill the bluegill.

Option 3. Switch your stocking plans to include bass-bluegill. Add some bass LMbass fingerlings (1.5"-4") to right away begin eating BG fry. Add extra bass fingerlings (100-150/ac; 25-37 your pond size) to eat/remove lots of BG fry and then remove some bass later at 7"-9" to get it back into a balanced situation.

Option 4. Use SMB and/or HSB as the predator/s. Use pellet trained fish to get optimum predator growth with BG control. Note - LMB will live with HSB okay; SMB-LMB do not "like" to live together. Manage the pond with this LMB or LMB-HSB combination, manually remove BG when necessary until you decide you need a change and then kill it or drain it and start over. It is just 0.25 ac (325K gal, a mini-pond) and not a lot of expense or effort anytime you do it.

5. I would somehow make sure the "bluegill" that were added were not green sunfish (GSF) nor hybrid BG (HBG). Options will change if some or all of the added fish were GSF-HBG. Many casual anglers just think they know the difference between GSF, HBG and pure strain BG. Not! Once someone that really knows the difference between these fish species starts quizzing the angler who says "they were bluegill" the story changes to "now I'm not really sure". I would catch a few of the adults to be positive. Note green sunfish require more rotenone than 1ppm to kill them.

I noticed the title says "spring fed," at what rate (gpm) does the spring feed the pond? Being only 325,850 gallons is it possible the temp has not reached 70F? Pictures show lots of trees around the pond which may limit sun exposure helping limit heating. Never dealt with a spring fed pond so maybe I am being a little too optimistic, but a thought nonetheless.

Love this statement. So innocent on the surface, and yet so ripe for a full fledged thread devoted only to why in the world the GSF requires more rotenone, and how much more, and what makes them so hardy, and how that survival advantage can truly be turned to a pondowner's advantage (a good title, The Prepper's Sunfish)

I too wonder how many 'BG' that others have caught (or bucket stocked in my pond) will turn out to be GSF under closer scrutiny?