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#437157 02/08/16 12:46 PM
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Hi everyone. After months of trying to find someone to dig our pond we finally found a company that we are more than pleased to work with. Goals for the pond are a swimming area for the kids and then perch for fish frys each year. Would like to stock red ears, perch, small mouth, walleye and hybrid striped bass. Put and take on striped bass and walleye. I am running power to the pond for a diffuser and talked to another member that I feel good about ordering from when the time comes. What I am still looking for suggestions are structure (I grabbed some pine trees this winter), forage sourcing. If anyone sells diverse forage base please let me know. I have a creek at the current house that I could get native species as well at my parents lake but I don't know enough about identification. And also where I should get the fish to stock, how many, and time schedule. Attached is a shot of the 1 acre pond. Thanks!



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Last edited by Hoosierguy86; 02/08/16 12:48 PM.
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IMO you have way too much shallow water. All your weed problems will be in shallow water (2-5ft) not the deeper water. Digging deeper will cost more due to more dirt removed. But IMO smaller and deeper is better than larger and shallower. A larger area to treat chemically and manually will also cost more in time and money than a smaller area. Find out how many cubic yards of dirt is moved in the current 1 ac and then recalculate areas of some smaller ponds with deeper close to shore areas.

For a swimming pond remember that after 4-6yrs the beach sediment area will almost always develop black septic sediments usually after the kids quit rough-housing in the beach and prefer to swim from a raft. Then to keep the beach area less black it will need to be regularly raked and or sediments mixed and oxygenated. That can be a lot of work for grandparents with kids not willing to help. I recommend minimal swimming, wading sized areas that can be raked and mixed in 15-30 min. See my post below for a link to sediment management ideas.

Also do not place the beach in a downwind area that will accumulate wind blown organic materials. Beaches on the upwind zones of ponds stay cleanest longer.

Last edited by Bill Cody; 02/08/16 08:57 PM.

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Hey Hoosierguy, welcome to the forum [a little late]. Love your direction on fishery species, you should consider contacting Hoosier Pond Pros - Scott has significant experience with those species and can help create a stocking strategy and fishery management plan for you. Scott can help your source various minnow, shiner, and crayfish species which I'd recommend for your cool water fishery. He also provides feeders and can provide a promising new supplemental feed - Optimal. Yes, he also does windows and will drop off dry cleaning for you when he's in the area.

http://www.hoosierpondpros.com

Take all of Bill's advice above to heart - shallow ponds are far more management intensive - my advice also is to go deep and steep. Your cool water species fish will perform better with deeper water and access to cooler water in periods of extreme IN summer heat spells. For my clients I recommend at least 3:1 slopes, prefer 2:1, and get to 6'+ depths as soon as possible. Your max depth of 14' looks ok to me.

Good luck and let us know your progress.


Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. ~ Henry David Thoreau

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Howdy Hoosierguy86!! To add to what has been said, unless you know exactly what you are getting from your creek, I would suggest NOTHING from the creek be put in your pond. First, most fish thriving in a flowing creek, do poorly in the calm waters of a pond. Second, you will probably transfer only "trash fish" you do NOT want in a pond you intend to stock and manage for certain species like you listed wanting...



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See this thread about dealing with bottom sediments.
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=437196#Post437196


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Hi everyone! Thanks for the input. Interesting read on the muck! I probably should mention I am 29 and have a newborn and 3 year old that really likes playing in sand and shallow water at my parents lake. So if I have to rake to keep things nice that's OK at this point in my life. However, it doesn't hurt to implement best practice strategies to minimize muck in the first place. I talked to Scott at Hoosier pond pros and will be getting my aeration system through him. Didn't realize he had fish and forage too!

Thank you! Really appreciate the help and suggestions.

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You are fortunate that in Indiana, you can use Tilapia to keep beach sand cleaned, but you would likely have to rake the nests the tilapia will build... laugh



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Bill Cody is the real expert here so I would always listen to what he has to say first.

I have a shallow one acre pond that I have played with and let it morph into different kinds of ponds. The latest morph pond it letting it grow naturally for my photograph of nature. A shallow pond grows lots of plants because sunlight reaches the bottom of the pond. So you have to control plants and algae. Some use chemicals to do this, (expensive), some use dye to shade the sun from penetrating the water and growing plants. and some use fish etc. to do the job.

Tilapia may be an easier answer then I have but must be replaced every year in Indiana. What worked for me in a one acre shallow pond was 18 grass carp for weed control. 20 KOI & 6 Israeli Carp for algae control along with frogs which produce algae eating tadpoles, and snails that also eat algae. Then for water filter I had clams. My other fish were Bass, Bluegill, Channel catfish. Bill Cody also said that crawfish could denude a pond of plants and I am considering experimenting with them this year.


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John, since Hoosierguy86 wants to stock Smallmouth Bass, Walleye, Yellow Perch and Hybrid Striped Bass, your method of "controlling plant growth" through muddying the water, would ruin the fishery for those fish species, as all these species require excellent water clarity and quality to thrive and forage well.

Reducing sunlight penetration by stirring up bottom sediments into the water column also irritates the gills of many fish species, stressing them and reducing growth, or outright kills some.

It all depends on goals for the individual pond and owner, and while muddying the water may be an preferred way for some, it isn't a method that many would consider appropriate if wanting healthy fish and decent catch rates.

Cody Note: Keeping the water turbid with visibilities of 12"-16" to minimize algae growth will not make the pond appealing as a swimming pond which is one of the goals.

Last edited by Bill Cody; 02/09/16 05:09 PM.


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Rainman I don't disagree with your thoughts. It all comes down to pond management. Add something here and take away something there and get different results.

With the pond experiment with the fish combo I mentioned I had shallow pond, with weeds, but later became weedless because of the 18 grass carp. I had less clarity but exceptable. I had a sand beach and I swam and dove in the pond. My biggest worry was the carp overtaking the pond, KOI & Israeli but with the large mouth bass I never had any young survive and in the end of many years with this pond I still had 20 KOI and 6 Israeli and no more.

I had good sports fishing with my bass. I filed the barbs off my hooks so I could hook them but then they they could escape. Fun.


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Started putting structure in. Figured I would share some photos. Each rock pile is about 5,000lbs of different size chunks.

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Last edited by Hoosierguy86; 02/14/16 05:27 PM.
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Can you stack the rock so you get 3 to 4 ft of vertical height at some locations?
















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Absolutely! 3-4 ft should be no problem. I am also going to have some rip rap runs going from top to bottom in locations on the side. Thinking of adding a brush pile and then trying my hand at a few other structure pieces folks have posted on here. Please let me know if you have any suggestions for structure for the types of fish I am trying to stock and I will try to work it in!

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Update. Got my pine trees in as well as starting to get some SMB beds going. The bottom rock pile at 14'-10' is now covered. Guessing pond is about 18' at deepest. Would estimate pines start at 10' and stand up to 5' or so. Also guessing pallets are at 3' and 5'. I believe second rock pile is starting at 10' too. I only know how to measure depth once a BOW is full. Haha. Things have been too wet but I have dump trucks lined up to haul some major tonnage of rip rap to run down the corners once things dry out. Patio is getting busted up so I have 4' sections of concrete I am going to step down the sides coming off the point. Beach will be going on and hoping perimeter stone too. Those are the plans for now. Life happens, plans change but things are filling in quickly!

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Don't forget your swimming/fishing dock that is our far enough to dive from and fish from. Preferably end it in 7+ feet of deep water and no rocks at the end. Make it wide enough so that a bench may be added for sitting. Do this ASAP before it fills, or it becomes a MUCH larger and difficult task.

When your kiddos get older, playing on the beach will be old hat. It will suddenly become jumping, running, and pulling/pushing in friends. More often than not when the kids gets older, wading in at the beach will be too slow, and possess mushy properties which are not pleasant since any sand you add will be long gone by then. You want the bench on the end to play lifeguard when you get tired of getting pulled under and getting water crammed in your eyes by silly splash wars.

I wish my dock was wide enough for a bench, but I made it narrow since the pond is only 1/2 acre. I wanted to maintain the illusion the pond was larger by scaling other things smaller, but that was a silly mistake.

Also if you can, provide some extra features on the dock for rescue equipment, rafts, small boat hookups, and under the bench a spot for storing life-preservers. My rule is any guest kids out swimming MUST wear a life preserver. My training as a life guard is a tad outdated. I worry a lot less when they cannot sink.


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