Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations EMERGENCY question about stocking

Hi ALL,

So I'm scheduled for initial stocking of ALL feeder fish *ie RES, BG, FHM TODAY.

I've got a newer pond.

We've had 5 inches of rain and proposed to get 5 more possible for the weekend.

Am I ok to proceed with the stocking???

Thanks so much for any Wisdom!

How new is this pond? Have the dam, spillpipe and emergency spillways been tested with a rain event of this caliber before? Are the banks seeded and established, or will there be a lot of mud washed in? Be a shame to add fish only to see them flow over the top?

So far so good, so the only risk would be overflow? I think, i'll be ok with that

I suppose the recent heavy rain could've stirred up the water column significantly, but you said the pond was new, so that may not be an issue.

If it were me, I'd hold off doing anything, except maybe drawing the pond way down.

We have a home near the mouth of the Cape Fear River, on Oak Island (Caswell). So, I've been watching the weather here in WV and there in NC rather intently.

WECT TV in Wilmington reported this morning that they've already started drawing down Boiling Springs Lakes between Wilmington and Southport, which could get up to 12 inches of rain. The Weather Channel was predicting the area around Clemson could get as much as 12 to 24 inches of rain.

Here in the WV mountains, they say we could get possibly 6-12 inches more rain between now and Tuesday. We've already gotten about 5-1/2 inches of rain in the about the last week, and it is raining again today. My ponds are still just above full pool, but that puts them 4-8 inches above where they were a few days ago, after about six weeks without much rain.

This is a scary storm because it seems to be so unpredictable. It doesn't sound like it will be like Floyd or Hugo, but I'd be very wary of stocking any new fish in a pond until this storm passes.

We can hope that the forecasters are sensationalizing this, and that it will just refill some of the low reservoirs.

Oh, and welcome to Pond Boss.

Ken

I was concerned about that earlier this week. But, because we've been quite dry for the last several weeks, the ground absorbed a lot of the rain we've gotten. The ground was still warm when the rain started, so the rain that did flow into the ponds was probably about the median temperature of the pond water.

The approximate 5 inches of rain our area got in the last week or so, may have been a real blessing for our ponds. If I had a turnover, it was modest and slow. So far I've not seen any affects of a turnover. Two weeks ago my water at 24 inches below the surface was about 77 F degrees. It was 71 late yesterday afternoon.

Only my uppermost pond, and one of my forage grow-out ponds has gone above full-pool, and only by a little bit. I think that this prelude has tempered the water temperature over enough days to prevent turnover tragedies in in the southeast US.

Thanks everyone!!