Pond Boss Forums INTRO New Forum Member Introduction Hello From Manitoba Canada

Hi,
Recently came into ownership of a rather large gravel pit that I hope is ripe for a fish pond, so decided I need to research everything there is to know about the subject and figured I would introduce myself.

The gravel pit itself has a lot of potential. Some gravel and sand still to be mined and with some work could become something.

Few issues with our area. First off the weather. -30 C in the winter, however the pit does not freeze all the way down. The depth varies, from 5' in some areas, to 30' + in other areas. We will dig it out a little deeper in other areas as we use the gravel.

Attached is an image of what we own.

https://imgur.com/a/knOh1wJ

As you can see there are 3 sections. The one on the far left is mostly finished in terms of getting gravel out, but is also the deepest and cleanest spot. We are thinking of keeping that primarily as a swimming spot. The section in the middle is the dirtiest in terms of algae and weed growth, plus the depth doesn't go much beyond 10' to 15' in MOST areas however there are some deeper sections. This area has a LOT of smaller minnow type fish, however I'm not entirely exactly sure what it is. Because of this I am thinking of working on this area as the fish pond. The section on the right is where a lot of gravel excavation is going to be done still, so nothing here immediately.

I do not know much about fish ponds, however bass come to mind in terms of something I would want to place in the future, however conditions may not allow. I am open to suggestions and would love to post here with progress and more pictures as we make the journey. Hoping for some advice and help of where to start and what I should do right out of the gate.

Thanks!

Whoa, I love the potential of those pits. How far north are you? I'd think 30 ft deep would allow you to have a fine fishery. Walleye, perch, smb, tiger muskie..... Whatever it is, keep us updated.

Attached is an image showing my location.

https://imgur.com/a/9AW5liH

I do not think it will be a full 30' depth in every area. I will have to spend some time plotting it out.

My biggest questions is the oxygenation levels of the water, what is best for forage/food, and what will happen in the winter when everything freezes over.

I'll take some pictures of the actual location and start an album.

I'm by no means an expert here, but I doubt seriously that 10-15 feet depth will ever freeze completely to the bottom. With aeration set 3-4 feet deep in winter in a couple of spots, you'd be able to keep the ice open and allow noxious gases to escape, which would be your primary concern during ice over conditions.

That's a great looking BOW from your pictures and I think you've got an open opportunity to make it anything you want it to be. LMB, SMB, RBT, Muskie, BG, YP, WE....whatever!!

Definitely let us follow your progress!!!

I say make it a trout lake!!

I have a buddy that has a 10 acre perch pond that was a gravel pit and they are not removing more gravel from it making it bigger.

I would start with yellow perch let them over populate and then add walleye. Bass as the last resort. You can go to bass later quite easy from perch and walleye.

One issue I have is actually getting the fishlings to put in. RBT are easy enough to get, however any kind of Bass will be a bit of a challenge. Will have to look around.

So we went and did a depth check on everything.

https://imgur.com/3ORMrln

Hard to make out the numbers, but on the pit on the left side, the deepest section is around 25', and everything else averages out from 8' to 10' deep.

On the pit in the middle, the deepest section is over 15', and everything else averages out from 8' to 14'. Was actually pleasantly surprised how deep it was in some areas.

More pictures here.
https://imgur.com/a/t8mJZED

What we also found is that there are millions (literally) of minnows inside both sections, but especially in the middle section. They just swarm all over the place when we make the water move.

There are also a lot of crayfish in the section on the left, and not many in the middle section. I know that bass will eat a lot of crayfish, so not quite sure what to do with these. We do want to introduce bass at some point, however our first fish will likely be trout or walleye. From what I've read it isn't wise to introduce bass so early into a pond's life.

My plan till the fall is as such. (I am open to advice, seriously as most of my plan is just based on internet reading)

Get cover into the water. We have a lot of trees to clean up around the gravel pit and I want to get them into the water.

We also happen to have a lot of concrete lying around that I'll try to get in there as well. Will be a bit tougher to get them in now, but I'm thinking in the winter right before the ice melts I'll get them on top of the ice.

After that because of the massive amount of minnows I want to start booking fingerlings to put in. Like I said in an earlier post getting rainbow trout fingerlings seem easy, however I would also want to at least put in some walleye right away? What about bass?

Thanks!

Where would one go to actually get the yellow perch to put in?

Sounds like a good idea.

If you put Brook Trout in they could possibly reproduce on their own. They frequently reproduce in ponds and lakes. They do not need flowing water like RBT. Not to mention Brook Trout taste 100x better than RBT.

You are also located very close to the best Brook Trout genetics in the world!

Yeah I've been reading about that as well.

Will keep looking. Definately thinking about walleye, RBT, brook trout & yellow perch right away.

Bass maybe next year or the year after depending on how everything goes.

So I may have a chance to put in about 300-500 6-8" RBT in the fall.

I do not have any aeration setup and lots of people in our area with ponds have really recommended it. Key point being they have a pond whereas I have a 5 million gallon, 3 acre, half mile long gravel pit that is fed by a natural aquifer.

Knowing all that, what does everyone think about the chances of survival for those RBT with winterkill and all that?

Thanks.

I think any guess with this limited info would be mostly speculation. I can tell you my lake is 22' deep at 10,000' in the mountains. I am guessing you and I probably see fairly similar Winter conditions. Our lake Winter killed every year for the last two decades as far as I know. I installed aeration in Summer 2017 and this past Winter was the first year I ever had fish survive the Winter. If you could get some current DO and Temp data it would go a long ways towards a more definitive answer to your question.

How big of an aeration system would it need though for a 3-4 acre pond? I don't have power there now, so that plus an aeration system would be pretty costly.

How deep is the gravel pit for most of the 1/2 mile length?
Do you know if the wind keeps ice areas with snow blown off or is most of the pit sheltered by trees from the wind?

Duration of snow cover, water depth, amount of weed cover going into fall-winter, and depth of snow cover determines likelihood of oxygen loss and fish kill.

The natural aquifer winter input could reduce the chance of significant oxygen loss that would kill trout. Do you know if the incoming aquifer water contains dissolved oxygen?

10' average, 16' at the deepest. Most of it is 10'.

Winters are really different around here. Cold sure, but every year we have different amounts of snowfall. The ice was not packed full of snow last year, but the trees really keep the wind from 'cleaning' the ice, so we always have a couple inches.

I am in the process of getting tests done on the water.

End of the day I need aeration I would think, but I might test it this winter without. Poor fish.

Your ice should be thick during winter so after snow falls I would do some snow plowing to remove the snow in strips to let light into the pond. Ice is usually clear enough to let sunlight into the pond if you can get some snow off the ice. Its has worked well to maintain good DO for other Canadian pond owners with trout.

When I calculate the average width of the 4 ac pond and 1/2 mile long (43560x4ac = 174240sqft / 2640ft long) it comes to about 66ft wide. If you can remove strip of snow 10ft wide the length of the pond after snow falls when snow gets 4"+ deep that should provide enough light penetration and oxygen production to keep fish alive all winter.

Just wanted to say welcome to the forum Azure. You are way far north for me to be of any value in giving advice and I have no experience with deep gravel pits but it sure sounds like an interesting pond to have.

Good luck and welcome.

Actually, I kind of assumed that the pond was 4 acres, but turns out according to Google Maps, it is around 12-14 acres in size. Not sure if that changes anything.

Definitely sounds like a good idea though.

Right now in order to install proper aeration, I would have to run power, and that is going to be a longer-term task. I believe I can get around 300 6-8" trout that I will put in and try to see how everything works out. In spring I will know more.

The other thing is with 14 acres pond surface size, obviously I need quite a bit of aeration. Most units are made for 3-4 acres at most, so I would need to double up.

Also, should I just keep the updates here or start a new thread? Maybe this one could be moved to somewhere I can get more traffic? Thanks!

Thank you!

Something like this has been a dream of mine for years now. Never thought I would ever get the chance.

12 acres means 3 to 4 times more snow removal compared to 3 acres. Using an ATV, small tractor or old pickup could work okay on thick ice that forms in Manitoba. Most of your ice should freeze clear so adequate amounts of sunlight should penetrate thick clear ice up to 2-3ft thick. Your aquifer could supply some needed oxygen? See it you can get the DO checked in aquifer water.

Working on getting both the gravel pit water and the aquifer water tested.

You are right clearing the ice will be more time consuming than just shoveling off a pond. However, with a body of water that big, it would also mean that the water should retain more oxygen throughout the winter?

What keeps a big lake like Lake Winnipeg from losing so much oxygen in the water that the fish all die? The lake is completely frozen all winter long.

Azure

It is all about the Biological Oxygen Demand. That is EVERYTHING in the lake that is consuming oxygen. From the bacteria to the fish and everything in between. As soon as enough snow covers the ice and no sunlight gets in the plants start consuming oxygen. USUALLY, the shallower the lake you have, the more plants, algae, etc you have and the higher your BOD is and the sooner your fish will run out of oxygen. Every lake is different and for guys like us every Winter is different.

I will say this. Our cold water is a huge advantage!! Bill C has given me a ton of information over the last couple years and one thing he talked about is how much easier/farther colder water mixes. I was able to fully aerate 7 acres with a small fraction of the system guys originally thought I was going to need. I can't say what size system you will need as I am still learning myself. I'm just going to guess it will be less than you think you need.

Last Winter we did not have much snow cover on the lake at all and our ice got really thick. I know for a fact it was 24" the last time it was measured and it was not clear ice at all. The surface of the ice kind of looked like snow. I don't know what causes that kind of ice, but I would guess clearing the snow off of ice like that isn't going to help as much.

Another interesting thing to consider...

Last Winter while we were aerating our water temp got down to 34F top to bottom. VERY cold! I would imagine once you start aerating you will have extremely cold water too. Of all the trout Brook Trout prefer the coldest water. I read a synopsis of a study that indicated Brook Trout have developed special adaptations that help them deal with cold water. (I could not access the entire study without an expensive membership.)
I have no idea if water temps that low would be hard on other fish or not. I only mention that because you indicated a couple times you'd like to stock bass.

Cold water fish such as trout who need high DO concentrations are able to survive lakes with hard winters because of water depth compared to surface area (surface to volume ratio is low). The higher the ratio the quicker the DO will be consumed usually by bacterial action and lack of sunlight penetration and low or no photosynthesis.

If trout do not survive your winters I would stock cool water fish yellow perch and smallmouth bass. They tolerate lower oxygen than trout.