Pond Boss Forums INTRO New Forum Member Introduction New member - new pond owner in NE Tennessee

Hey all:

I have been checking out the forum for info for some time. I bought a place in Jonesborough, TN in November. We have a 1/4 acre pond on the property. I'm from Long Island so I have been a saltwater guy my whole life. I have been learning the freshwater ropes.

We have enjoyed the pond tremendously. We had little trouble catching fish as the pond had not been fished in several years. During the dog days of summer the bite became very sporadic and eventually disappeared.

I had Dave Beasley at Solitude electrofish it for us and provide an evaluation. We have LMB, BG, RES and BH (black). The LMB population is good given the limited forage base but stunted and consists almost entirely of adults 12-14 inches. The BG population overall is low and consists entirely of adults and YOY with no juveniles. The RES population is also very low. The pond is 5 feet deep and the oxygen levels were horrible. In fact, Dave indicated he would be surprised if there was not a total fish kill in the few days after the electrofishing. We did have a fish kill but based upon the projections Dave gave me on the fish population it was likely only about 25% of the fish.

The goal for the pond is to have a bass population of good sized fish and but still enough bluegill for the kids to be able to catch fish without being discouraged.

So Dave has recommended a total reset of the pond, which I intent to pursue. Dave gave me recommend stocking rates. However, we discussed renovating the pond before restocking. I would like to expand the pond. I think we can get it up to a 1/2 acre. Larger would be a problem because the part of the property where the pond is situated is bordered on one side by the driveway and road and on the other by a creek that I think is actually a storm water creek for runoff that comes down from higher elevations. I also want to make the pond deeper. At least 10 feet deep. Add aeration and an automatic feeder.

I need a pond builder in NE TE to do the renovation. I do not want to just hire any old earthmover in light of many horor stories I have seen.

I have already been in touch with Michael Gray but he is too far in western TN to help me and could not recommend someone in my area.

Walt Forman from Trophy Pond already reached out through the forum to offer his services with stocking and aeration, etc. but I am also too far in eastern TN for him to do the build.

So I am tossing out a Hail Mary in hopes someone can give me a reference for a builder.

Thanks,
Brian

Welcome. You have located some good advisors. Great start. When you rebuild the pond consider the 11-12 ft depth which will help during low water periods and to help maintain better water quality long term. Get a quote for a 10ft depth and 12ft depth. The extra 2 ft in the bottom or V bottom belly is not that much extra dirt to be moved and is cheap compared to the added benefit of 2 extra feet of depth over the 50-100 yr life of the pond. If the original pond was 12ft deep you would not be considering a rebuild at this point in its life.

It is to early to be thinking of fish for the new pond but seriously consider either pellet trained LMB or HSB. Both can get large in the 1/2 ac pond. Beasley writes for PB magazine and specializes in growing big fish for ponds.

Thanks Bill.

Your advice on the depth of the pond makes a lot of sense to me and I intend to pursue it. Dave and I did discuss putting a sump pump in the creek to "steal" water for the pond during dry periods. Other than a couple of weeks when we had absolutely no rain, it had pretty good water flow all year.

Dave did discuss pellet fed LMB with me. I understand the benefit of both accelerating and increasing the growth. I am not sold, yet, but continue to research.

As to HSB, I just don't love the idea of basically having to harvest any that are caught in the hot TN weather because they will likely die if released. I realize they can be restocked, but there is just something about it. I may obviously have a rookie's inaccurate understanding of this issue for sure. It would be fun to haul HSB from my pond since I have pulled so many Striped Bass out from the surf on Long Island. Keeping an open mind.

Thanks a lot for the advice.

Pile it on folks. I am a strong believer that you can never have enough input from qualified people.

Brian

Hi Peon,

Welcome to PBF!

Pretty sure I am not "qualified people" but perhaps some food for thought...FWIW when I dug my pond, and later expanded it, I used the excuse that we needed the fill dirt on the property, and we did (thankfully!). Do you have a way to use the substantial amount of dirt you will be removing? If you have to have it hauled away at your expense the dollars rack up really fast! Spreading it on site is not nearly as expensive.

Just my 2 cents...

Again, welcome to PBF!

Bill D.

Thanks for the welcome and the input Bill.

I do indeed have a plan for the fill. The pond runs about 2/3 of the way across the property. The creek that is next to the pond runs all the way across the property. There is about 15 yards between the two. When the pond was originally built they built up the creek bank on the pond side to both build the pond but also make it difficult for either the creek or the pond to overflow into the other.

I intend to use the expansion fill to build up the pond side creek bank the rest of the way across the property to have the same separation all the way across once the pond is expanded. I also plan to use the expansion fill to build up the opposite side creek bank to the same height all the way across. This will prevent the creek from overflowing the lower height side bank, which can happen a bit if we get a bad flash flood rain. I have someone checking to see if I need a TVA permit to do the creek work.

If there is any material left, the property is old, flat farmland and we would use it to enhance the landscape.

Appreciate the thoughts.

Peon, welcome to the forum.

Search here for George1 posts. He made an oxygenated livewell to put HSB in before returning them to the pond during the Texas heat. Or, any that you catch during the summer could be kept and eaten, restocking them in the fall.

PM sent.

Cody Note: a description of George1's oxygenated live well is in the archive section in the HSB topic.

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=92630#Post92630