Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations New member wanting to introduce myself

Hi, I have been enjoying everyones post&pic's. Like everyone here I have dreamed of building my on lake for years, I accomplished that in 1996 when we purchased 22 acres in hill county texas. The first thing I did even before building the house was the pond, not being satisfyed with the size I added a larger one a few years latter. here is the result http://www.rockytoppers.com/location.htm . Enjoy, I have learned alot from these two and plan to go even bigger with some new property I have purchased near buy as an investment. The new property has a topo and the can be seen on the realestate page on my website listed above. Based on the topo map and some rough surveying it appears the pond site will yield about a 4 acre pond. hope everyone enjoys and I would be glad to share any info I can from my experences.

That is (are) beautiful pond(s)!

I'd really like to hear a play-by-play of your permitting process. Hope yours is easier than mine!

Jersey, sorry I can't help. I live in texas and we don't require any permits on private property for lakes 200 acre feet and smaller, another words I can build a 200 acre lake 1 foot deep or 20 acre lake 10 feet deep with no type of permit required. God Bless Texas. Good luck to you, there are several other members I've seen here from your area that could shed more light on your problems.

rockytopper, your website and ponds look great. Thanks for the pictures.

I noticed a typo in the slogan on your website, using "your" instead of "you're" or "you are."

Welcome aboard.

Thanks for sharing. Looks nice from above. Are you managing the water? Stocked any fish? Let us know what you have done, and what the results are.

Bob, the first pond was built 1995 which is pictured next to the house. The second pond above the first was built in 1998. The lower pond was stocked with 200 channel cat,minnows and blue gill. The upper pond was stocked with 200 bass, 200 cats,minnows and blue gills. We placed rock habit in both ponds and the upper has the native willows growing in about 3 foot of water at spillway level with a 6 to 8 foot deep channel cut right beside them. The upper pond has yielded great bass fishing. The record is over 7 lb's thus far and catching 12 to 14 inchers is childs play. The lower pond has yielded 12 pound cats in just over four years from fingerlings. I also stocked both ponds with crapie after the first 2 years. The lower pond is currently over run with blue gill and the cat fishing has not been good in the past 2 years, these ponds are built on a 300 acre water shed which is to large for there size and I am sure I have lost many fish in the lower pond out the spillway. The blue gill have not grown as large as advertized perhaps I am over run. Also the lower pond now has bass in it from the upper one and a 6.57 lb was caught last spring off of the dock. Is the fact that the pond is over run with perch a sign of the cats being gone or the fishing's bad because they are constantly full from plenty of perch?

Either,or, maybe one, or both.
When a pond is overrun with sunfish, there's usually not enough appropriate predator fish to keep their numbers in check.
But, the fact you have abundant bluegill doesn't necessarily mean they have taken your catfish out of commission.
My first thoughts are...you should feed the fish, see what happens. Channel cat typically live 10-13 years...yours may be at the tail end of their lives.
If they come to feed, you can get a better picture of their status.