Half-acre pond renovation that started a few weeks ago. Will I have enough structure after adding four or five small vertical brush piles this weekend? Plan is to apply four tons of lime Friday per Bob Lusk's recommendation and pray for rain. Have I missed anything?


I also plan on stuffing the culvert ends with galvenized wire panels to prevent CC spawnning.

Nice job, FamTrad.

Please tell us again which fish species you plan on introducing other than CC?

LMB, RES and BG.The CC will only be a small stocking of only 50 to grow and eat. My dozer man is now in the process of cleaning out a small hole just above the main pond that will spill into it. I love the article by you, Cecil and Bill on Managing Behemoth Male Bluegills. Plan on trying this in the upstream hole, question is where can I find the sexed BG. Can Overton help me out as I plans to use them for my stocking source this fall and then stock the LMB next summer. I divorced the wife and kept the in-laws.

If you're feeding in the main pond you can get your bluegill from there. That first year class will grow fast and a good number of them should adapt to the pellets. You could select the very best fish for an upstream relocation. That's what I do. Design the upper pond to maximize your ability to seine and you can manage it even more tightly. When it rains will water come through the little pond really hard?

P.S. Overton can probably help with anything. He knows his stuff.

I don't think so, the watershed splits three ways when it comes off the hill and the small hole catches the least amount. The rest goes in the main pond and down a gully behind the main dam. I didn’t have the budget to push the old dam back and catch the other gully, just clean out the old ponds and rebuild dams, 4,500 vs. 15,000 dollars. How do you sex the BG? I plan on using coppernose.

Well, you're going to need to read the last three issues closely. Practice would help. Start easy by only stocking spawners. If you take some of your brightly colored males off of the beds in your primary pond you should be safe to stock in the little pond. If you make an error you can design the pond for an easy restart. You'll still have really good fish even if you make an error during your early learning stages.

Good job FT . You should think about some shore line woody cover like dead trees or brush piles or even pallets near shore in 3 ft or less of water. I see no woody cover at all. If you have any sand or gravel you could spread it in 2-3 ft of water in a hard clay area where no water runs in for BG and LMB spawning beds.

I agree with Ewest. Most of your cover appears to be in deeper water. You need some fluffy stuff for small fish to hide in, mostly in shallower water near spawning areas.

Blocking the tile ends with wire panels should help prevent CC entry - but they could possibly manage a spawn in the crevices in your block/stone piles (I have a recently invigorated respect for the sex lives of channel catfish).

Here is what I consider a classic forum thread on sexing BG: Differentiating male and female BG

Keep in mind, Family Tradition, that catfish may spawn..."where there's a will, there's a way," but fry survival in most ponds with sunfish and bass is next to 0%.

We can sex some quality stock bluegill for you. Timing of your purchase of male stock is critical, especially if you purchase 3"-5" bluegill. We would feel more comfortable sexing these intermediate sizes during the warm months. However, should you choose to stock adult males (5"-7"), and provided we have some on the farm, you can purchase them in the fall.

Let me know if you have other special requests. As long as we have the time, we like fulfilling special orders like this one.

Your structure looks good. Follow good advise and add some shoreline structure and/or native emergent vegetation like arrowhead or pickeral weed.

Added more fluffy cover, lime and seeded all bare ground above the water line with oats, wheat and ryegrass. Last two pictures are of the small pond in the upper watershed and its spillway into the main pond watershed. If it doesn’t catch too much water this week I'll try to add a gravel bed. Any last minute suggestions? From the looks of the radar tonight it may be too late.

My dozer guy rolled some large rocks out of the pasture for me while the equipment was handy. I positioned half a dozen of the big ones on the north bank for a place to sit in the evening and enjoy a cold beverage while feeding the fish. Here's a picture of the biggest one that has a large fossilized palm leaf.

Neat!

It's gonna be awesome!

Great job Family Tradition !! I like the rocks especially the palm fossil. I wonder if those are common in your location. George might be able to id exactly what it is. If there are more you might have some serious $ worth of rocks.

Did your pond catch some water yet, Family Tradition?

Todd, I caught a little from a 1.6 inch rain last week. Most of it was sucked up by the pasture, from the looks of the radar last night I wouldn’t be surprised if it filled all the way up. I'll know by noon and keep you informed (may need stockers this week!).

Ewest, I have one more big rock with lots of interesting stuff and smaller ones with plant material. I'll include a picture of the other big one that may have some fish fins (it's hard for me to tell, might be plant leaves) later in the week when I'm back at my computer. It would be great if we have a member that could help me ID some of it. It also nice to see someone else appreciates nature’s way of recording its own history.

Burger, I'll check with my dad and see where he gets his catfish from in Pricedale/Tylertown area. I know he has had blues in the past.

FamilyTradition, Where is your pond located?
Not knowing the geographic area of your pond, my comments are only a WAG...

Petrified palm tree trunk fossils are very common in Tertiary/Wilcox geologic formation in E. Central Texas, but palm leaf fossils are not found in these unconsolidated sands and clays.

The rocks in the photo appear to be limestone, certainly not indigenous to Deer Park, Texas. They appear to be a Cretaceous limestone, outcropping in the Texas Hill Country along the Balcones fault zone?

The oak trees in the photo do not appear to be live oak, so my WAG may be incorrect?

Various palm trees were numerous and prolific during Jurassic and Cretaceous geologic periods, continuing to present day.

More info - more photos - maybe I can help.
ewest is more than complimentary of my geologic skills - had to "spell-check" paleontology

George, I'm in Shiro, right in the heart of Grimes County. Headed that way in just a few minutes to see how much it rained and try some hog eradication. Will take some close-ups of various things and post. Thanks for the reply and hope my location narrows things down a little.

while waiting for the pics to download on my hopefully soon to change dial-up, i was prepared to see a cycad leaf. lots of folks mistake palms for cycads, but that's definitely a palm, of coarse ya didnt need this geologist to tell you that....i have virtually no knowledge of TX geology, and am interested to hear more from Mr. George

George, the rock looked like a silt/mud stone to me, maybe a calcareous silt?

Well, I got the state right anyway.

My first guess, being the Tertiary geologic period, and the best guess - believe it or not, based on the trees in the photograph – not the rock.

The trees in the photograph appeared to me to be Post Oaks, indigenous to the Post Oak Savannah of Texas, generally confined within the outcropping Tertiary rocks, not Live Oaks generally associated with the older Cretaceous rocks to the west, denoted as Blackland Prairie, and the Piney Woods geographical zone east of the Trinity River.

This rules out a Cretaceous limestone as D.I.E.D suggest.

Here’s a link to a starting point for Tertiary fossils ID:
http://www.paleoportal.org/time_space/state.php?state_id=42&period_id=8
http://www.paleoportal.org/fossil_gallery/search.php?taxon_id=&period_id=8

Make sure what you have before dozing to much. See pg. 10 of George's second link for Sabalites sp. then see below.

Palm frond: 7 feet tall, almost 4 feet wide
Matrix: 8 feet tall, over 4 feet wide

This beautiful palm frond was discovered in the famous Green River fish beds of southwestern Wyoming. Fifty million years ago this area was a tropical forest surrounding a large lake, with huge palm trees, alligators and tropical birds.

The specimen includes custom built stands for either horizontal or vertical display. It is also engineered so that the stands can be removed and the palm can be attached directly to a wall. Restoration is less than 15%.

This palm is an outstanding decorator specimen and would make a wonderful addition to the decor of a corporate office or home!

#2596

ECONOMICALLY PRICED -- $1,000's LESS than comparable specimens!

Click Here for additional photos & information.

http://www.paleosearch.com/2596.asp

Had 4.75 inches of rain last night and both ponds caught a large amount of runoff. The trees on the bank by the rocks are blackjack oaks. My place is in a transition area, not quite the post oak savanah and just west of the piney woods so I have a mixture of everything. George, sorry but the closeups of the other fossils did'nt come out good enough to post.







Oh well here's the one that looks like a fish fin.

ahhhh....rain, i wonder what thats like...

the rock containing the palm frond resembles a silt/mud stone, the rock above with the possible fish scale really looks like a limestone (resembles some limestone breccias i've seen)....its hard to tell from pic if the angular areas of different colors are individual rock fragments, or just varying colors due to compositional changes. if its a breccia, it might explain how fish died....some type of subaqueous landslide?

thanks for showing the the pics FT....now let the master chime in...afterall i was a hardrocker not a sedimentologist

Both ponds have been full for a couple of months and I just now got around to taking some pictures on Monday.

Family Tradition they look great. Can I use a pic in the slide show? I like the one that contains both ponds, Palm Frond 1 and Upper Limestone. Just kidding on the pond names. It is sure neat to have your own fossil rock chairs to sit and enjoy the beauty and quiet.

Ewest, I would be greatly honored!