Good day, found this site and have lots of questions and need advice. I live in northeast Wisconsin and dug a pond last fall. The pond is 200 ft long and about 190 wide. The ground around this area is entirely sand. The pond is being fed by several small springs, however with the lack of rain has dropped about 4 feet. The pond is around 26 ft deep and in the shallow end is 10 -12 ft deep. I just installed a windmill for aeration and have 3 defusers going. The water at the bottom is cold, need to drop a thermometer and find out exactly how cold. Very little if any vision at the bottom, water is almost black. I have hundreds of small green frogs that were tadpoles. I would like to ensure I am doing everything right for the pond to be sucessful. No plans for it other than stocking and occasional fishing.
I would like to stock the pond with some fish. I was just going to stock with some minnows this year and then next year I would like to stock trout and maybe bluegill but nothing else. Does this sound like the right approach? What type of minnows should I place and how many?
Second question, should I have the water tested?
Third question, the banks are sand. I want to get some sort of grass/ground cover on the banks to control erosion. What should I plan? Last fall I broadcast rye seed to just get some ground cover. The pond overflowed this spring so I am going to raise the banks 14 to 16 inches higher. There will be topsoil around it.
I want this pond to succeed but control what goes into it.
The pond sits on 40 acres and there are trees around it but 50 60 feet away. Should I place any type of debris in the water for fish cover? I have placed some rocks on one bank and down into the water to cover a PVC pipe that the defuser tubes run through. The bottom is bare sand. No signs of weed growth anywhere yet.
As I gather rocks I plan on placing them along the banks to help control erosion, but this process will take a few years.
Please chime in with suggestions, recommendations.
Thanks,
Ben
