I am starting this post for a place to keep updates on my little pond. I had it built over 20 yrs ago. It started out about 1/2 acre and now I have got it up to an acre. I have added to the levee over the yrs with my Ford 1720 tractor, dirt scoop and a box blade. Where I live in east central Ark. we have good red clay soil under the topsoil. The watershed is about 20 acres out of a rice/soybean field plus whatever comes down the 5 acres of old pasture that the pond is on. The pond was built after all the cows were gone. I have let of go for years and it has got grown up with willow and other trees around it that I plan on removing as I can. I built a fish dock about 4 yrs ago and catch some fish from it.I just bucket stocked it over the yrs with BG, GSF, BH, CC, LMB and crappie. We have caught some crappie over the yrs but haven't caught any the past couple yrs. I have never caught a BH but have caught some nice BG, CC, GSF and LMB. My goals are just for a place to fish and catch fish especially since we have some grandkids. I am not trying to make it a big LMB or BG pond, just somewhere I can go and catch some fish. About 5 yrs ago I started working on it and fishing it more and that's when I realized that it was LMB overpopulated cause I caught a lot of skinny LMB and not any small BG or GSF. Also in yrs past while I would be bushhogging around the pond I would kill some of those horseflies bitting me and I would toss them in the pond to watch the little fish gobble em up. Well the past several yrs I noticed that there was not any little fish coming up the gobble those things up so I figured something was out of wack. Done a lot of reading and come to the conclusion that my pond must be LMB overpopulated by what was being caught. We have for the past couple yrs started taking out LMB and adding BG, GSF, BH and some more CC. I know that a lot of people don't like the bullheads or GSF but for my goals I think they will be just fine. I have eat BH before and they were just fine. I just do as the fish farmers do and put them in a vat for a day or so to purge the muddy taste out. One other fish I want to add is RES. I have noticed some mussel shells around the pond plus I would like to see some of those get on my hook. I will probably have to actually purchase the RES as I haven't found anywhere around here that I have caught any. I have made some pretty good brushpiles the past few yrs to help the small fish survive but I have started trying to clean up all the dead junk floating around the pond. I only want brush piles that I have made in there. I have made some spawning buckets for the CC and plan to make some more out of old tires. I plan on posting up some pictures of my pond and projects there as I figure out how and get some pictures of it.
