Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Help New Pond Owner - Advice

Hello All,

I have been searching the Internet for weeks now and I'm not sure how I just nOw stumbled on these site, it's a great one for information.

So after talking to myself about the pond for the past month reaching out to various pond management companies with no luck, I finally get to talk to someone (hopefully 🤗).

So I have an established 1 acre +- pond with BG and LMB and a good amount of FHM (to me it seems a good amount the shoreline has lots of movement when I walk up to it).

But I have a ton of slide type turtles I counted 15 one day, are turtles bad?

Last weekend I caught at least 30-40 small BG on hook and worm and 5 LMB ranging from 6" to 18".

I do have a cattail problem (can these be cut with an edger and blade) and I do have a green slimy grass issue.

How would y'all approach this pond?

CWD, Welcome to this forum. lots of answers to your questions here. Click on the forum list for many answers to your questions. And then if you want, just ask away. The Moderators here have tons of information when asked. And many here like me who have some limited experience who will help if they can. Some one will come along soon to answer your questions

Welcome CWD,

It's merely my opinion that turtles are an asset to a pond as they are typically part of the cleanup crew (like vultures) and they are fun to watch. Too many turtles is up to your opinion. If you have a lot of turtles, you have a preferred breeding habitat and/or lots of food for them to scavenge and will likely never rid yourself of them. I do realize that turtles can and will kill their prey, but I do not worry about it damaging any established fish populations. A few sliders here and there are nice to have. Opinions start to get challenged when you start talking about snapping turtles however. If they weren't so darned ugly (and mean), they'd have a better chance at being liked. I would personally remove large snappers if they took a liking to my pond and try to keep the slider population to about 20 per acre and once again target the larger ones. Bigger turtles can catch bigger fish. I suspect that your turtles are targeting the FHM should they be doing any substantial killing. Once your stock fish grow to the point of eating up all you minnows, your turtle population would likely decrease. I'm no turtle expert, I just pretend to be one on PB!

As far as your cattails and slimy grass issues, let's let the experts here help you out. I can't pretend that well .

It sounds like you have plenty of fish to catch, but you will need to supply more detailed information about the lengths, weights and types that you are catching and in what time period. When did you stock the fish and how big were they at that time? What is your goal with the pond, big BG, big Bass, etc.? Can you post some pics of your slimy grass and cattails? Do you feed your fish? Do you aerate the pond? These are just a few questions that I see asked here on a regular occasion that will help those with the knowledge teach those of us without the knowledge.

Like Noel, I'm not crazy about snapping turtles, but other than those I'm ok with them. I don't like to catch them on rod and reel because they always seem to swallow my hook.

[img][IMG]http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i22/cwd12345/IMG_65571.png[/img][/img]

just uploaded some pictures on that last post.

I have not moved into the property yet, its all fed by run off. no aeration but I am looking into it (i actually work for a pump company and I am looking into modifying a submersible pump to move air and water, thats going to be a whole other topic).

I do want to introduce some HGC to help with the vegetation, which I have read 5 per acre as well as 10-12 per acre.

I will add more FHM (5-10lbs) and I am thinking 35lbs of crawfish every 6 months or so. This pond was built in 2002 and I am unsure of the depth but will have more info once escrow closes in a few weeks.

Welcome to Pond Boss!

Turtles are a benefit. They are your cleanup crew. Red eared sliders eat very few fish.

Cattails can be sprayed, but you need a pond safe chemical. We have a section just for that.

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=postlist&Board=14&page=1

The slimy grass is likely FA or filamentous algae or FA It can be controlled with chemicals or with tilapia. But first you need to identify for sure what you have.

There is a lot of info here once you get the search function figured out. It is a little different.

Okay move in day is this Saturday.


I want to start tackling these cattails but I am concerned with spawning bass and fry, would it be a bad idea to get in there with a weed wacker and knocking these cattails down?

I have seen bass on beds, lots of FHM along the shore, and im sure the fry will be in there as well.

any thoughts?

My buddy was thinking of even bringing his Kubota over with a brushhog and hanging it over the edge of the shore and knocking down the cattails that way.

You can knock the cattails down but they will pop right back up due to their extensive root system. The quickest way is to use a pond approved herbicide with surfactant. If you don't want to go that route, you have to cut them below the water line, and when they pop up 6"-12" cut them back off again below the water line. After a year or two of doing that you *may* starve them out.....