I am stocking my second pond thanks to everyone's help from pond boss! My first is a BG/RES/LMB pond. The next pond is a bit different. I have attached a picture. It is shallow and gently deepening from south to north. I believe the max depth is around 12-14 ft. This pond is about 2/3-3/4 acre with pleanty of shallow areas. There is about 25 acres that drain into this pond so it can turn over very rapidly or go a month with no input. In the summer it can get some FA on the surface. I am mostly worried about the water coming in so fast and running out of the 24" smooth wall overflow pipe. I was thinking about some BG and CC. I'm in Southern Indiana. What do you think?
I have a 1 acre pond with about a 20-acre watershed that is all tilled field. To improve conditions, do you have any way to divert runoff around the pond to where the water currently exits the pond to reduce input during flood events? A smaller culvert/pipe could restrict the flow into the pond from this area of the watershed. Can you build a small settling pond to reduce sediment getting in. I have a very small settling pond, maybe 20' by 35' and 4' deep. It is currently chocolate brown after heavy rain, while the main pond is quite clear. I am developing a SMB pond with YP, GSH, and RES. I also added a few LCS but do not know if they took. Also added 100 papershell crayfish near a rip rap jetty that I built. My first pond is also a LMB/RES/BG pond.
I also thought about stocking it with YP, RES, CC and a few HSB. But I do not know anything about YP or how well they do this far south. I have never seen them in a farm pond around here.
The dogma has been that YP are not good in farm ponds, but some on this forum have had good luck with them in combination with SMB. My YP seem to be reproducing, but time will tell how well I am able to keep them under control. Based on comments from my friends, I may not have a problem getting help fishing a bunch out if that becomes necessary. I had CC in my first pond but am glad they did not breed and eventually died out. If I put them in another pond, it will be as the main predator. They are sharks! If my SMB do not keep the YP under control, I may also add HSB to that pond.
Well that makes sense. I will probably just stay away from the YP then. I don't mind a little management but I would hate to make a mistake from the beginning. I will probably just stick with the RES, HBG and CC for now. I am in no big hurry on this pond so I will stock fairly low numbers and let them grow.
I also stocked small numbers in my second pond. I really enjoy the process and watching things unfold while nudging them in the direction that I want them to go. For me, the top priority is wildlife value.
