Pond Boss Forums INTRO New Forum Member Introduction Advice for construction and stocking of small 1/4

OK guys, sorry in advance but I have about a million questions. Don't know where to start or even where to post this. So many questions that this should probably be multiple posts but here goes.
I bought my property about 20 years ago. Only about 4 acres of land with 1/8 acre pond. Was told 8 ft deep but discovered it has filled in with muck and was only about 4-5 feet deep.
I have limited space and resources to build large pond. My neighbor has a backhoe and we have drained most of the pond (down to 30" of water) added 8" overflow pipe and can only enlarge it to 1/4 acre. Will be working over summer. Probably can only raise dam to get about 9 feet water depth. Questions start now!
1) Need to limit amount of silt coming into pond, read about settling ponds on this site. Pond is fed by small spring but mainly runoff. Runoff is directed into one corner of pond. Again limited size but would a 3ft wide 8 ft long 3 foot deep catch pond with rocks wired together do anything to reduce silt. Probably have room to make two catch ponds before main pond. It's downhill to pond so I'm thinking tiered small ponds before main pond. Any links to designs?

Also read on here about aeration. I know 9 feet in Pennsylvania is not very deep. Also heard aeration helps with muck removal. 2) Is 9 ft deep enough to winter fish in Pennsylvania with aeration? I contacted vertex via email yesterday and will probably make investment if I'm not wasting my time with such small pond.

3) stocking. Always have had small 10" bass usually only about 5 or so. They have reproduced. Have seen fry swimming around in summer. Probably 30 or so adult bluegill. 4 large koi. Have stocked fatheads before and often see them in shallows. Obviously 4 feet of water in 1/8 acre didn't allow many to survive winter. I know the koi and some bluegill are still alive in the 30" of water in pond now. Feeding with pellets. What are my realistic stocking options?? I am close to Zett's fish farm and dreamed of their complete farm pond stocking kit for years now. Read some posts in this forum and now think that variety of fish will never fare well in my small pond. Want to have a place for grand kids to have a ball fishing and love to walk down and pellet feed fish each night. Like to fish it occasionally myself. Getting sold on hybrid stripe bass after reading forums. Considering stocking FHM again next spring. Hope the small group of bluegills will increase in size and won't need to stock more. Also thinking LMB will replenish slowly but wondering if I should buy 5 or so 6-7" bass. Like the idea of a few channel cats too but will pass if pond is too small. Wondering how many HSB would be recommended for my situation. And are HSB to fragile to catch regularly in summer. Will they survive catch and release and will they even bite lures if they are pellet fed. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Hi Mike,

Welcome to PBF! Lots of folks here that have experience that I'm sure will be helpful. Hopefully, one will be a long soon to help you with answers.

Again, welcome!

Bill D.

Thanks Bill.

For fish survival with 8'-9ft and aeration will depend on amount of and length of snow cover. PA has a wide range of amount of winter show cover. The heavier the snow cover the more hours of aeration you will need each day. Fish can survive winter snow cover with adequate aeration. If you are not swimming in the pond then consider hybrid bluegill for your goals. HBG will survive well with pure BG. Feeding the BG a high protein food (40%) and proper harvest of BG-HBG will produce large BG-HBG (9"-10.5").

LMbass may be your all-around better predator. You can easily fish out some when they become abundant. A pond 0.25 ac should produce 20-26LMB 13-15" when ample food is available. Generally the fewer bass you have the larger they become. Pellet trained LMB would be your best choice and options. They also tolerate well the summer angling.

If you plan to eat CCatfish then you could put&take around 6-12 of them. Remove them whenever they reach 15"-18". Try not to catch and release them because they will become hook smart and pellet hogs. Keep in mind that each CC will pretty much take the place of one bass; manage for whichever specie you prefer.

If you want the HSB, then with pellet feeding (again 40% protein) you could stock 24 in 0.25ac instead of LMB. Plan to harvest the ones you catch in mid-summer. HSB and LMB are compatible in a small pond. Manage their numbers so you have around 20-30 total. Fewer allows them to grow bigger sizes.

Thanks for the info Bill. sounds promising. Was starting to worry my size and depth wouldn't support fish. Though from what your describing sounds like I'd be safe with LMB and BG as long as I harvest regularly. Should I harvest 10-20 13"-15" LMB a year then? Might skip CC for a few years and just add 10 or so HSB to put and take so I don't crowd out LMB. Are you saying I need to keep any HSB that gets caught by accident? Saw someone on here had a resuscitation set up for ones they caught. Probably would want LMB to catch and release then. I had read somewhere that I shouldn't mix HBG in ponds with BG. Is that true? I don't think local hatchery has HBG. Would the bass keep BG in check without finding HBG? Also zetts talks about fertilizer and stocking daphnia. Do you recommend either?

If there is a heavy snow season I will be sure to run aerator longer. Will vertex help set up aeration time recommendations? Is 12 hours on 12 hours off the norm?

Your pond can do well without HBG. It is just HBG are a little more aggressive than BG and are somewhat easier to catch for kids. Harvest becomes more important when you feed the fish. Feeding makes more fish, bigger fish and more crowded fish thus one should harvest some to maintain a proper balance and amount of fish biomass in the pond. Too much fish biomass causes some water quality and fish problems.

Harvest of BG and LMB in 0.25 ac with pellet feeding. You can easily harvest too many in a 1/4ac. I would wait to harvest bass until the first bass spawned in the pond are 10" long and now spawning. Then you could remove 2-4 bass (14"-15") per year.

When BG reach 8"-8.5" then you could harvest some of the female BG (7"-8") each year maybe 10-15. This type of harvest for your small pond should keep it in a reasonable balance.
Recognizing male & female bluegill
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.ph...0&site_id=1

http://www.bobluskoutdoors.com/news-updates/want-grow-trophy-bluegill-2016-08-2975

http://www.pondboss.com/news/moderators-corner/bluegill-harvest-guidelines


Consider the HSB as put and take. Replace what are harvested every two years.

Thanks again Bill. Glad I asked about harvest. I was way off. Thanks for the info and links. Love this forum!