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Joined: Mar 2005
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Eddie, have you noticed any difference in the visibility - it looks like its clearing? Hard to tell on the last pictures duw to the reflection.
gator
- Smoke 'em if you got 'em
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Gator,
Yes, it's clearing up a fair amount. The water is a totally diferent color now and I can see down into the water along the shoreline. There are eggs along the shore that I'm sure are from frogs. A month ago, it was all thick coco colored.
Eddie
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We finaly got a decent picture of some wood ducks. They are all over the lake and creek, but they are also extremly wary. We see them as they take off and fly away, but until now, we've never been able to get a picture of one. We walked right up to a pair that were swiming along the shorline. Steph got a few quick pictures before they spotted us and took off. Then while we were smiling and talking about how cool that was, we heard another pair calling. They have the wierdest call of any bird, and it's kind of spooky. That pair kept on flying, but another pair landed in the middle of the lake. They swam up to this log and sat there for a few pictures. We were there to take some pictures of a Little Blue Heron that I'd seen during the week, but couldn't get any good pictures of it. She has the good Cannon S2 camera with a 12x optical zoom. Great camera!!! And she loves to take pics of the birds with it, so this is allot of fun for us. We didn't find the Little Blue Heron, but we did see this bird. It was pretty far away, so they are fuzzy, but we can't figure out what it is. The colors and shape look like it could be a Plover, Sanderling or Sandpiper. We just can't find any pictures of anything that match the pictures she took. It might be the way the lighting is reflecting on it, or it could be imature. We just don't know. http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f40/okosongoro/UnknownShorebird2.jpg Eddie
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Joined: Oct 2005
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Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
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Great pics, Eddie...thanks. Yeah, wood ducks are not human friendly. I fear that even if we get activity in the nesting boxes, their human-skittish behavior will kick in whenever we visit the pondsite.
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The small bird is a Kill-deer.
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My wife took some better pictures of that mystery bird with her better camera. They are not great pics, but this one shows the markings that were missing from my pictures of it. Once we saw the spots on it's chest, it was allot easier to identify. They yellow/orange beak was what was really making it dificult for us identify. Thanks, Eddie
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Joined: Sep 2005
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I found momma wood duck dead at the edge of our pond yesterday. No sign of any injury. I checked the nesting box and sure enough there were 11 eggs, but they were cold. There were a bunch of long sticks in the box, I suspect the work of a starling. The only thing I can figure is a long stick got wedged in such a way that it blocked the entrance and she exhausted herself trying to get in. My son said he heard alot of splashing in the water shortly after sunset. We're sick about it!
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It's been a wet week here and things are really impoving at my lake. The water is up and I'm 6 1/2 inche from being full!! My bermuda grass is finally starting to sprout and look like something. I've been worried that I put the seed out too late last fall and the winter freeze killed it off. This is almost as exiting as the water level rising. Of course, I need to do some mowing. Eddie
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Eddie, as soon as that bermuda gets established, stops the mud from the construction from settling in, you're going to have a beautiful clear lake...with big fish. Your story is fun to watch !
Just fyi...mine looked the same way, I jumpstarted the process by adding alum...100 lbs to start, then stacked 6 50lb. bags in near the watershed to simply feed as the rain fell. It worked great, but my PH was high to begin with.
Looking forward to seeing the progress.
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...glad ya checked in, Eddie. Yep, you're gonna kick my butt all the way to the spillway. I'm slippin' backwards a little; stuck at 30" short of the spillway. Didn't you have some killer rains late Winter that took you all the way up to the spillway?
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Eastland,
A few weeks ago, I could see about a foot into the water. Now it's all muddy again, but the runoff has been pretty extreme. We had another inch of rain yesterday and we're expecting at least that much today, with more expected this week.
Brettski,
In January, we had 8 inches of rain in five days if I remember corectly and I was 8 1/2 inches from being full. Since then, the water level droped abotu an inch a week except for the rains we had that from time to time. Mostly it was a slow drop that had me down about a foot from my highest point.
Right now I'm at an all time high, so that's exiting. I keep thinking of Meadowlarks words about the special feeling I'll have the first time the water flows over the spillway. I'm really looking forward to that day!!!!
Of couse, I'm a little diferent then most, and the grass around the water has me more more exited then the water level. For me, the beauty of the lake is much more important then the fishablity of it. It's the same to make it fishable with lots of structure as not, so I went overboard on that part of it, but in the end, it's all about how it looks for me.
My favorite thing to do is take a walk around it. I love to see the trees and how everyting ties together and how amazing it all looks.
I have a six foot bush hog that I've used to mow it and my place, but Saturday I bought a used 7 foot finish mower that I'm looking forward to mowing around the shoreline and dam. Once I get the grass in, it will be allot easier to maintain with the finish mower.
Thanks, Eddie
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Lake Marabou has been full for a few weeks, but it hasn't been overflowing. Friday night we had a storm come through that dropped 2 1/2 inches of rain!!! Today was the first time I've seen water overflowing the spillway. It's only half an inch deep, but it's been flowing for a day and a half and there's no telling how much water it's had flow through it. One of my concerns was erosion, and if I'd have enough grass growing to hold the soil together when this happened. It looks like I got lucky, and it's all working better then I'd hoped. Eddie
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Joined: Jun 2005
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One of my concerns was erosion, and if I'd have enough grass growing to hold the soil together when this happened. It looks like I got lucky, and it's all working better then I'd hoped. Eddie, That probably due to good planning and precise leveling of the spillway. If the water were spilling over in 1 narrow choke point, it would wash it out, grass and all!
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I was in the area of Tyler Fish Farms today, so I decided it was time to buy some fish. I told the owner that I've been catching fish from my small pond and letting them go in the lake for about four months now with good results. My estimates are around 30 channel catfish in the one to two pound range, 200 coppernose bluegill and close to a thousand fathead minnows. I also explained to him that I wanted to create a food base for bass, but didn't want to put bass in until next year.
He said that I have enough catfish already and all they are going to do it eat the forage fish, so I didn't need any more of them. He also said they will try to spawn next year, but it might take another year for that to actually happen.
He sugeested that I add another 2,000 1-3 inch copper nose bluegill, to the pond, and 3,000 fathead minnows. The bluegill cost $100 per thousand and the minnows are $30 per thousand.
He figured out how many there are per weight, then added some to give me quite a few extras. I have no idea how many I actually got, but I'm sure I did pretty well.
We'll keep adding fish from the small pond to the lake just because it's fun, but as of now, I really don't need any more.
Eddie
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Eddie, You are in great hands with Bob. It will be interesting to hear your thoughts in about three years on the catfish in the big lake...it all depends on your objectives, but I've found that objectives can change with time...and with a huge LMB exploding on a top-water plug in two feet of water.
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ML a very good point. Peoples' goals/objectives can change over time and often do. That is why it is so important to learn as much as possible about all aspects of ponds including biology and systems and the different fish one might use. Then as goals change it is easier to transition from one set to another. Planning ahead for this is a real plus down the road.
Eddie sounds like you are off to a good start. Good luck and keep us up to date on your progress.
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I'm not sure I understand your comments on the catfish?
I started out with 200 of them in my small pond and we feed them every day. They are allot of fun to watch and real easy to catch. After we catch them, we bring them down to the lake and let them go.
Bob said the catfish might spawn at two years of age, but that three is more realistic. He said that by adding allot of catfish now will just mean they will eat more of the other fish.
With what I'm doing, I'll have enough mature fish in there when they begin to spawn to have a good supply of them down the road.
My goal is a pretty looking pond, fishing is secondary, but while I'm at it, I figure I might as well do what I can to make it a good fishing hole too. Around here, it seems most people like black crappie more then anything. At least, that's what I keep getting asked. I'm not going that route, so bass will be my main game fish with bluegill second and catfish third.
What I'm realy exited about is that there are now a few areas that have grass growing from the waters edge all the way over the dam!!!! There's still lots of exposed dirt, but the bermuda is thick and lush where it's well established and in the open areas, it's taking over rather quickly!!!!
My biggest problem has been keeping the tractor out of the lake. I drive as close as I think I can while mowing, but seem to end each day with it buried in mud. I did it again yesterday in a new spring that I didn't know I had.
Speaking of springs... When I started building this, there was one good spring that had water coming out of it year round. It's not allot of water, but anything is better then nothing. My shoreline was set to be just below this spring and to allow water to flow from it to the pond. With two years of drought, it just about dried up, but not quite. There was always a wet spot in the dirt, but the standing water disapeared awhile ago.
It's flowing right now, but not like a stream or anything like that. Just water oozing out of the ground and down to the shoreline. It's kind of like standing water after a rain, but on the side of my bank, if that makes any sense.
Thanks, Eddie
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Joined: Mar 2004
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Eddie,
To clarify...I know several guys around here who started out stocking both catfish and LMB and as time went on, came to the conclusion that they needed to remove all the catfish in order to optimize on the LMB. Not wanting to offend the catfish fans, there's probably also examples of guys wishing they could remove LMB in favor of catfish. My point was that it is sometimes good to go slow, at first, in stocking until you get a good feel for what works best for you in your situation.
I have springs just like you described. How's your trees doing that we looked at along the shoreline?
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Meadowlark,
I understand what you're saying. I'm pretty good with what ever happens as I honestly don't think there is a bad side to this. I have a pond that has fish in it. Everything else is just gravy!!!!!!!!
All the trees are doing great. I was a little worried over the winter when they were all dormant, but as spring arrived, they all came to life and are looking healthy. Of course, I don't know my trees very well, so it could be that I'm just clueless.
I did have one of my old oaks half die on me. I was careful of the roots around it and didn't cut any of them, but I did build up the dirt some to create a crown on the road that passes it.
That oak forks into two trunks. One side is fine, but the other side never sprouted any leaves. It's also droping branches on my road. Sometimes big branches that are well over a foot thick.
I'm really sad about that tree as it was an old one and pretty impressive. Obviously I put too much dirt on it's roots, too soon.
In a month or so, I'll post some pics of the dam with the grass all nicely mowed. I'll also post a few pics that show the trees so you can see how nice they look.
Thanks, Eddie
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Originally posted by eddie_walker: Meadowlark,
I understand what you're saying. I'm pretty good with what ever happens as I honestly don't think there is a bad side to this. Great attitude, Eddie, great!! It's all fun and the best part of it is the journey and enjoying it every day. p.s. keep an eye on those trees for me cause I love 'em too. I had some die two years after building one pond but it sounds like yours have made it.
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It's been over a year since I've updated everyone on how Lake Marabou is doing. The best part is that the grass is all in and it looks amazing. Nature has taken over and it's all up to her now as to what happens. We've seen deer, hogs and foxes on it, plus all sorts of birds, snakes and turtles. The best part of it is going down there and seeing what's out and about!!! The bass are a mystery since I'm taking Meadowlarks advice and not fishing for them for this year or next year. Then in 2010, we'll see what we have. I now think that I made a mistake by adding the channel catfish because they compete with the bass. I'm not sure how bad this will be, especially since some people prefer catfish to bass. It's done, so we'll just enjoy the catfish and hope for the best with the bass. We're trying to catch as many catfish as we can, but they've spawned and I we're not sure of how many the bass eat or how many survived. I have an old timer who's in his 80's come over a few times to fish for the catfish. He cought 18 of them one morning in the 3 to 5 pound range. Sorry,no pics, it's just what he told me since I wasn't here at the time. He said they fought really good and twice he had to go swimming for his second fishing pole. He'd be pulling one in and the other would get a bite, then pull the pole into the water. He gave up on two poles after his second trip into the pond to retrieve it!!! I did have a beaver issue that really annoyed us. We started seeing small trees that were eaten off that told us that they had found the pond. There is a creek next to the pond with trails coming and going from it, so it was just a matter of time until they found it. Then they took the bark off one of my bigger trees, and that was just too much. We started going down there at last light more often looking for them. I shot one that must have weighed around 50 to 60 pounds. We've kept an eye open for more, but there is no more sign of them. I think it's just a matter of time until the next one shows up. My brother brought his boat over and wanted to teach the kids how to drive it. They were very excited about this and we spent a fun afternoon playing around. Here are some recent pictures. Eddie
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Stunning, Eddie. Absolutely Stunning. Thanks for the update.
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Eddie, you are blessed with a great place and a good eye for photography.
"Live like you'll die tomorrow, but manage your grass like you'll live forever." -S. M. Stirling
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