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#493424 07/07/18 09:18 PM
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A few weeks ago I stopped at a neighbor's house to inquire about a pile of brick I'd noticed out by the road. They'd been there long enough grass was growing up through the pile. The young lady I spoke to said she would have to ask, so I left my contact info and went on home. Well low and behold, she called today and said I could have them.

There was a lot more brick there than I thought. I ended taking 4 wheelbarrow loads out of the back of my truck down to the pond. I'm figuring they'll make a nice little rock pile out beyond the spawning ground. Unfortunately, I'll have to either carry them out a bucket at a time in my baby pontoon paddle wheel and just pour them in or just toss them into the same general location from the bank and hope my aim is good enough that they all pile up. The pond's sides are pretty steep so there's limited places I can put them that they wont just tumble into the abyss.

Any suggestions for placement I'm not considering?

For those steep sides, I've been able a get my hands on several poly pallets. My thoughts are to attach them in pairs, bottom to bottom as I've seen posted here, but instead of trying to get them to lay on the bottom, I'm going to take some 3" pvc pipe cut to 4'lengths and attach them as legs on two corners so they'll allow one end to be braced up off the bottom. This will provide cover inside as well as beneath each shelf. I'm thinking the legs should get enough bite in the sand/clay bottom to keep them in place. I've got enough to build 4 of these shelves and plan to space them out around the perimeter of this small pond so they are a couple feet under the full pool line. They're pretty heavy, and being poly, will never rot.

Can anyone tell me if I'll need to add weight to keep these down, or will they sink on their own?

Last edited by Mike Whatley; 07/07/18 09:22 PM.

.10 surface acre pond, 10.5 foot deep. SW LA. The epitome of a mutt pond. BG, LMB, GSF, RES, BH, Warmouth, Longear Sunfish, Gambusia,Mud Minnows, Crappie, and now shiners!!...I subscribe!!
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I would add weight if it were me. Maybe some bricks on top or something.

I put a number of plastic poultry drinkers on the bottom of the shallower part of my pond. Laid them on their side and put a pretty big rock inside the cupped portion to keep them down if they did happen to float.

Well a few years has went by and some of my CC and larger snapping turtles have gotten big enough to root them around and knock the rock out. Or at least I think that is what is happening. or maybe we have snagged them with a hook and moved them. Because about a half dozen out of about a hundred have now floated and the wind pushed them to the shore line where I got them out.

So my advice would be that anything that floats I would weight or secure down pretty well. Over do it.'

Of course one thing about things that float. The worst that will happen is they float to the surface and you will have to reinstall them.


John

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snrub #493460 07/08/18 02:48 PM
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Hey Snrub,
Yeah, I know it would just be a matter of putting them back where I want them if they float loose, but these things are pretty heavy duty, so I dont want to have to man handle them any more than necessary. I think I may have come up with something that will solve that problem and add another aspect to the whole setup.

I'm considering building some solid fencing around the perimeter, about 4" high, out of nylon door trim, putting some plastic or carpet inside to cover all the holes in the top surface, then filling it with a sand/gravel mix....top heavy ballast and additional spawning ground to suppliment my very limited existing area.

Whatcha think?


.10 surface acre pond, 10.5 foot deep. SW LA. The epitome of a mutt pond. BG, LMB, GSF, RES, BH, Warmouth, Longear Sunfish, Gambusia,Mud Minnows, Crappie, and now shiners!!...I subscribe!!
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I think it would work good.

I have contemplated something similar in my RES pond with a Kenworth conventional truck hood I have in the scrap pile but have never gotten past the "thinking" stage of the project.

Concrete blocks are heavy and pretty cheap for a source of ballast. Plus they have two holes handy to attach to something.


Last edited by snrub; 07/08/18 02:58 PM.

John

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I have a few of those laying around too that may get used instead. I have to give some thought to how often the sand/gravel surface may need to be replenished with rambunctious males fanning out beds. I'm sure some would get kicked out. I've got a couple beds now that are at least 6" deep and as big as a serving tray.


.10 surface acre pond, 10.5 foot deep. SW LA. The epitome of a mutt pond. BG, LMB, GSF, RES, BH, Warmouth, Longear Sunfish, Gambusia,Mud Minnows, Crappie, and now shiners!!...I subscribe!!
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This morning I decided to try building one of the pallet platforms I'd been thinking about.

I cut two legs, 4 foot long with points on one end out of 1.5 inch schedule 40 pvc and attached with galvanised lag screws on one end of the two pallets I tied together, bottom to bottom.

I figured this would help them bite in the soft bottom, except it ain't soft! Even after climbing on top of it, jumping on it, wiggling from side to side and beating on it with a sledge hammer, I was only able to get the legs a few inches in. Never figured the bottom would be that hard.

It's still not level like I want it, but it's in. Guess I'll pull it up later and shorten the legs about 6 inches to get it flatter to the surface. Had to put a solid cinder block on the shallow end to keep it down.

I set it on a bank that keeps shade on it much of the morning, so placement may not be optimum. It's about 20 ft from the spawning area, but it's not real hard to relocate if I decide to. Now let's see if they use it.


.10 surface acre pond, 10.5 foot deep. SW LA. The epitome of a mutt pond. BG, LMB, GSF, RES, BH, Warmouth, Longear Sunfish, Gambusia,Mud Minnows, Crappie, and now shiners!!...I subscribe!!
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Wow, Mike. I've got some 8 foot long pointed tomato garden stakes that I planned to hammer into the lake bottom a couple of feet to anchor cover, but now I'm not so confident that will work.


7ac 2015 CNBG RES FHM 2016 TP FLMB 2017 NLMB GSH L 2018 TP & 70 HSB PK 2019 TP RBT 2020 TFS TP 25 HSB 250 F1,L,RBT -206 2021 TFS TP GSH L,-312 2022 GSH TP CR TFS RBT -234, 2023 BG TP TFS NLMB, -160




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Originally Posted By: anthropic
Wow, Mike. I've got some 8 foot long pointed tomato garden stakes that I planned to hammer into the lake bottom a couple of feet to anchor cover, but now I'm not so confident that will work.


I'd be surprised if I got them down more than 4-5 inches to be honest and they're planted in about about 3 foot of water. The platform is still about 6 inches higher over the deep end than the end that rests on the bottom. Problem was that it was all under water and the sledge was just splashing water everywhere and not making much impact. If I had left the pvc longer above the top I might have been able to get my post driver on them and make quick work of it. If you've got access to one, you should be ok. (I'm wondering now if I'm gonna be able to set 4x4s for my dock tho.)

The top is only about 6 inches or so under water right now, so the bottom is about 18 inches under water. I've gotta do something to level it out.

On a side note...it only took a few minutes before fish were using it!!!😁😁

Last edited by Mike Whatley; 07/14/18 04:51 PM.

.10 surface acre pond, 10.5 foot deep. SW LA. The epitome of a mutt pond. BG, LMB, GSF, RES, BH, Warmouth, Longear Sunfish, Gambusia,Mud Minnows, Crappie, and now shiners!!...I subscribe!!
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Mike, here's how I handled pallets. I just drove a t post in the ground, and covered it with galvanized pipe so the pallets could seek their own level.



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Last edited by FireIsHot; 07/17/18 05:01 PM.

AL

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This is my winter project.
https://i.imgur.com/G4mMHQx.jpg


The people who say I can't do it can just sit the @^#% down and watch me. Friends call me Rusto I also subscribe to pond boss mag. http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=504716#Post504716

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