Pond Boss Forums INTRO New Forum Member Introduction Howdy friends and neighbors...

Hello,
I just found out about this site today, and I'm tickled pink about it. I can't wait to glean a few pearls of wisdom from the sages here.
To start with, I live in NW Georgia and have had a love of fishing ponds from an early age. My fondest memories are of sit'n with my Dad or Granddad beside the pond that now sits behind my house and learning what it was like to feel a tight line at the end of a rod. I was hooked then and still am. I spent from 1983 till just a few years ago traveling the world, working for my "Uncle" and didn't get in as much time with a reel in my hand as I would have liked. All the while wish'n that I was at home on the pond, sip'n on something cool and drowning some bait.
Some how, while I was gone, no one did any thing with the pond except to cut the grass around it. So, I returned to an over stocked, under fished mud hole. The bream were in the 2-3 finger size and you could catch 10"-12" LMB's on chicken liver every cast. The channel cats and brown bull heads were non existent. Luck has it that a friend of mine had just dug out and rebuilt his Granddad's pond so that his Grand kids could have a little place to learn what he and I had at their age. He needed fish, I had too many. Problem almost solved. I spent the last couple of years pulling bass and bream out of my lake and putting them in his. Not a problem since they both drain into the same stream. Now I also moved a few LMB's, bream, and channel cats from a few other places that I found access to. I even brought some red bellys from the creek that these ponds feed into. Trying to mix up the blood lines so to speak.
Good news is, his boys have had a ball this year playing with the stunted bass in his pond. Even better, the bream and bass in my pond have started growing and even spawning this year, with the channel cats growing at a good rate also. The big problem that I'm having right now, and I know that this is a big thorn in a lot of folk's sides all over this country, but for some reason bull heads have become extinct all around this area with out a clue as to why. Yeah, for most of Ya'll, this would be welcome news, but not for me. That's the middle fish in the lot, the one that no matter your age or fishability, can be at least hung and with just a tad of skill, landed. They taste pretty good to. If, by chance, any one knows where I can find some of them, semi close by, or a hatchery that admits to carrying them that delivers some where close, let me know. And I'll take any advice on my work so far, or for the future of my pond. Thank in advance, and it's great to meet Ya'll.
Tight Lines,

Taz

Thanks for your service to our Uncle, Taz. I have fond memories of my granddad at the farm pond. What size is your pond?

Taz, it's really hard to know where to begin. What would you like your pond to become again? Bullheads are notoriously difficult to control in small impoundments, like crappie, not to mention how muddy they can make a pond, but hey, it's your pond. I personally like catching BH also, but do it from many streams instead.

Perhaps the first place to start is as you did, sizing up what is in the water and correcting balances as best as you can. I don't think I would add anything yet, and adult fish, or stream fish do not usually fare all that well when moved to new ponds.

Any Pictures of the pond? Where does it get filled from? Any chance of it getting flooded?

Hey sawheeler,
The pond is 2.3-2.5 acs. at full pool and goes from 2'-8' deep. Of coarse it's only 8' at the down pipe, it averages about 4'over the most of the area.

Hey Rainman,
I too would rather catch BHs from streams rather than from my pond, but they have completely disappeared from every where around here. I can't find them and any one that I talk to doesn't have a clue as to where any are or what happened to them. They used to thick as hairs on a dogs back in every mud hole you could find, but not any more. I know that this sounds good to most folks, but for some reason, I'm just not as sane as most.
As far as what I want from my pond, just to get it back to where it was when I was a kid. A place that any one with any skill level can sit down and catch a fish or two. I've got the PFs,LMs, and the CCs well on there way. My neighbor kid had a ball on hand size BGs and SCs yesterday, with a few red bellys also. I'm just missing that middle fish that's a little harder to deal with than PFs. That's where the BHs come in. It's a run off pond with nothing but rain water to fill it and generally stays just bellow full. The only time that it flooded was when we had that "1000 Years Flood" here a few years ago. It rained every day for 2 weeks and then poured down 1"-2" an hour for 24 hrs. I was told that the pond went over the spill way for the first time then, but heck, most folks around here were looking for an old guy in a big wooden boat and some animals to come floating down the street about then.So I would say that the chances are slim that it would ever again, but then anything is poss. And as far as the BHs muddy'n up the place, it really can use it. Most of the time the water is too clear. If you can see them, then they can see you. I've loaded a few pics in "Photo Gallery", but can't figure out how to move them over here yet, so you can see them there. Thanks for the interest.
Mike

Abbreviation list.

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=92442#Post92442

Sorry, I thought that I had them all right. The PF is for pan fish, and SC is for shell cracker or what I think some call a red ear sun fish. I'll do better next time.

No need to apologize. There is so much stuff on this site, its hard to find, even when you know its there.

Yeah, there is a lot on here to take in. If I'm not careful, it'll cut in to my bank and boat time.

I don't think it will just be the time it will cut into. It will also diminish any funds you have in the bank that supports your boat time.

On the bright side, that is alright. There is nothing like improving the fishing hole, making it beautiful, and fishing in your own pond with the kids, grandkids and close friends.

Yeesh! I hate acronyms and abbreviations.

During Viet Nam I worked closely with a very crotchety and crusty old Navy Captain -- who I really liked.

A dude about two thirds of the way down the conference table from the Captain started to speak one day during a meeting. No real words. Mostly just acronyms and abbreviations.

The old Captain slammed his fist down hard enough on the wardroom table to disrupt the coffee cups. In very loud and uncertain terms, he exclaimed "F**k the alphabet soup! Speak English!"

Our meetings became a lot more understandable after that episode.

IMO, it only takes a few extra keystrokes to make things very clear.

Hey Cat,
I think he had a little brother who was a Lt. General in NSA. I heard him say almost the same thing ( a few more expletives ) every time we got sitrep from a new spook.

I C what u did there.