Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Gravel Needed?

I live in Seguin and just expanded my pond to approximately 3 acres. The soil is sand with a clay base. Is gravel needed to assist with fish habitat? If so, what kind is preferred?

Gravel makes great spawning beds, particularly for brim, but is not absolutely necessary. Most ponds and lakes do not have a gravel bed.

early this spring, i spent two days with my son adding gravel and making "spawning beds". i'm thinking it was a waste of time. the bluegill and red ear seem perfectly happy to spawn on the portions of the lake that have a natural sandy bottom. i built a few beds in areas where it was just clay, and it hasn't appeared to attract any bluegill to those "new" locations to spawn. if you have just clay, i believe adding gravel would both attract the fish and help with the success of the spawns. -jb

Bream alot of times will spawn in the Northwest corner of the pond. That is the area that I add sand and gravel for the bream beds.

I would put down some type of rocks for structure. I've made rock beds out of flat cuts of sandstone that seems to be holding up well. Most of the rock pieces are 10-12" in rough diameter with some smaller and a few larger.

For me, they seem to serve two purposes: 1) Great habitat for crayfish; and 2) Keep weeds down.

If you're eventually getting or already have bass, they love the crayfish.

After putting in my rock beds, I started to catch a lot more bass with crayfish in their gullets.