Hello, I am new here (for actually creating a post.) I have followed this site for years and appreciate all I’ve learned from reading others posts. I live in western NY, and own 3 ponds. We have cold snowy winters and warm summers. I have drained a small bullhead pond and removed all the bullheads. This week we are redigging the pond. If it goes as planned it will be a 1.3 acre pond. The plan is to make it 15 foot deep max with the appropriate 1:3 slope for about an acre and then a smaller section that will be shallower. I plan on adding artificial structure, possibly lean some logs up along some slopes and put in rocks and pea gravel. I will do fathead minnows, golden shiners, crayfish and bluegills. Question I have, will smallmouth bass and channel catfish do well together? If so, I will add them after the pond gets established. One of my other small ponds have largemouth and channels. I just like catching smallmouth bass over largemouths. They put up a better fight and I love catching channel cats. My daughter and I fish a lot and we are getting channel cats close to 10lbs. That pond is only 1/3 acre, 9 foot deep and is aerated 24/7. We also supplement feed. I plan on doing the same for the new pond.
Also, my land has a lot of clay and the ponds tend to stay turbid due to clay particles suspending throughout the summer. Those ponds are also very old. Will a new pond have less particles stirred up in the water? I’m really excited about this build and what’s to come!
I also plan on taking pics and showing the process for you all to see!
