Questions at bottom..
My current situation is that I have a 3/4 acre pond (oval/rounded rectangle shape) that has a maximum depth of 12-14 feet. It's been an established ecosystem since it's creation in the 70's and last year had been dredged/dug out to its current depth. It has plentiful frog, newt (rare in our area), and minnow populations. The reason we dug it was to support fish year round as we find they die out yearly. We've added a 2HP fountain to run year round.
Plan: Per what I've heard/researched, it's recommended to avoid LMB/SMB as they eat everything and you more so have to dedicate a pond to them. On top of this, we are more interested in panfish for fishing/eating purposes.
Perch, Hybrid bluegills, flathead minnows, and a few channel catfish are the current plan for stocking. I'm hoping to maintain the frog population by creating a shallow weedy area by digging it out and back. I was told Hybrid bluegill are best and it's recommended to create a breeding area (sand/gravel combo) with a cinder block barrier to hold in the gravel, along with this have a line of "Fish Trees" approx. 30 ft out.
What am I missing and what could you suggest? What else is critical? I've been catching critters all my life but never owned my own pond and surrounding acreage that I could turn into something awesome. Goal is to create the most abundant ecosystem.
QUESTIONS:
- What plant-life should I plant if any?
- Turtle raft, any recommended easy builds?
- Where and at what depths should I put fish trees?
- How many: Hybrid bluegill, Perch, Channel catfish, and minnows should I stock? I was told a few hundred HBG/Perch, 6-8 Cats, and 1k minnows..
- SNAILS! What kind? I keep seeing that they are excellent additions and I have none in my pond. I plan on buying some, breeding, then planting them.
- Crayfish! I want to catch and plant these.. Yes or no?
- Minnow Breeding area - Cinderblocks with pallets? What area should I prioritize putting these and at what depth?
- Do I want ducks? Duckweed spreads like nuts so I'd probabably want to avoid it but it there something else to attract them?
