Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations First post from new guy

Hello! I have been reading and soaking up as much as possible for the last couple of weeks so I thought I'd register and get a little more specific with my situation. We had a old filled in pond, very small, in our lower field which is in a 100year wooded flood plain, right on the upper edge. anyways, our neighbor was getting some dozer work done so we hired the guy for a day and he turned it into a 50ft diameter 12ft pit. We want to make it bigger when the water gets low this year so that is one issue. Everythings seems to be going fine other than the size. the water has started to green and I put about 150 bluegills from a local pond. maybe 20 of those were over 5 inches then several small ones with my minnow trap. I'm sure of atleast a 95% bluegill so I may have to sein some greenies some day. Today i took more bluegill and seeded and plowed around the pond with grass closest then millet milo and black oil sunflowers from about 15ft off the perimeter for my little dovlies, that's right, dovlies. So, here are some questions if you gentlemen would be so kind. A, Do I add any plants like of the aquatic variety, B, should I add more bluegill? Bigger ones? I figured that would be enough small ones. I'd say of the small ones, 40 over 3 inches so I think there will be plenty of breeders in there. I want to make it a big bluegill pond so I will need to add some bass, no cats, maybe some hybrid strippers some day but that's a ways off. C, when should I add the bass and how big? This is all taking place in the northeast corner of colling county in north texas in the true blackland prairie. With the pond greening up so nice should I fertilize? Many cows upland with very fertile water filling it. I did throw in two scoops of miracle grow bloom formula last week but that was only like 1/4 cup and i think its nice and green with about the 18inch visibility i've heard you all speak of. That's about the whole situation, no water testing or anything. I guess these would be my questions in the order of timeline importance. Oh, final point, when it was a pond that dried up every year there were allways perch bones and crawfish shells in the bottom so like I said, I don't think I can keep out the greenies. Its a huge watershed system around pilot grove creek in Blueridge. Thank you so much fellas and I hope I can contribute to this message board.

Sincerely,

Keith Wolfe

Keith, welcome aboard ! Don't worry about plants, you will be fighting weeds soon enough. First, you have enough bgill in there. good start. The general guideline is 30 adults (5" or larger) per acre, 60 max in fertile areas. Since the bgill are breeding size, I see no reason why you can't accellerate your LMB stocking plan as well. Just wait until the Bgill spawn before you introduce bass, or plan on having access to bgill to suppliment what they eat. I would introduce LMB ranging from 9" up to 2 or 3 pounds. 1) keep good records of what you put in, and what you take out. 2) It's a small pond, so you should be able to put and take fish to keep it in balance. 3) get a Relative Weight calculator for both LMB & BG...send me a PM, I'll forward the one I have. The RW chart will tell you when to add Bgill, or harvest bass.

If you really want to kick-start things, buy a fish feeder and throw the bgill some food

good luck im putting a pond in about that size i want a bullhead, BG pond so i will put a few larger bass in their to control the reproduction of the BG and bullhead. iv got a creek about 3/4 of a mile for smallies and can have my boat at a private couple hundred acre lake wothin 20 minutes for walleye, muskey, and LMB so i just want a little place to sit party with my friends and my parents want a little swimmin hole. its a pretty nice little hole. dont worry bout the size if u want BG iv seen 1 pounders in a 25' diameter drainage pond that has a 6' max depth. good luck and keep us posted.

Thanks!!!Ok, then I better hold off on more BG, I just want to catch ASAP. thought of cutting the hook off of a couple of flies to watch some hits anyways but don't want to hurt any;)I have started throwing a few handfulls of food three times a week but haven't noticed feeding. I got the smallest pond "bits" typically for coi and goldfish.

I did forget to also ask if anyone knows a good pond contractor that is also reasonable for the McKinney Texas area(10mi ne)??? We want to double the size when its low and want to hash out who we will use. I don't neccesarily need the most famous pond maker unless he happens to have regular prices;)We just need some help but the fish and errosion are taken care of for now. Thanks for the info on the bass!!! Cant wait til the bg spawn. On texas parks and wildlife they say they are cnbg in the pond I borrowed stock from.

Now this may be a real dumb question but can green sunfish be your predator? Just had the thought and wondered if anyone else had too.

final question, how many bg could I harvest from a pond this size once it gets going??? with irregular feeding and being very fertile. ok, probably not the final one.

Call the NRCS to ask about dozer guys. They will have a list but they're not all good ones.

I would use regular 32% protien floating fish food for your bluegills.

Green sunfish can be a predator but not an effective one.

I wouldn't mess with my big bluegill for a couple of years. They are your best breeders. Yeah, I know that isn't what your goal is but you will need to be kinda conservative on the bigger ones.

I just got thru building a pond in the pilot point area, and used Jim Strittmater, from pilot point. Very reasonable and very particular. I would recommend him.He is on the nrcs list.

do you have the link to the nrcs list. i found their site but couldn't find a list of contractors. Thanks you so much!!!

call the denton office, they have his contact info.

any idea how much i can expect to basically make another 50ft diameter 12ft pit and work it into the current pond to make an elongated circular shape?