Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Enlarge original pond or build another?

We own 25 acres in the southerntier of WNY. A few years ago we put a pond in which is about 1/3 acre. It is a continuing work in progress and I am always doing stuff every year. This year I am planning on putting some nice Red Osier dogwoods and white dogwoods around the front and the sides(nowhere near the back dam area for obvious reasons). Here is my question. As you look at the right side of the pond you see a huge 20+acre field. My wife and I plan on buying that from a local farmer in a few years as we get closer to retiring and moving to our property full time. I love ponds and when we do get to buy the extra land and have some extra money, what would be the better way to go. Add a 1 acre size pond onto this existing one moving from the right side over, or separate them all together and build the next 1-1.5 acre pond a short distance away from it. I am looking for a vision and for planning purposes but I do not know the logistics of adding onto an existing pond as opposed to having another built. Before I even think of talking to my pond builder I would like to hear some suggestions from experience and do's/dont's of enlarging ponds. Ultimately the reason why would be once retired I want to fish+hunt the rest of my days and the bigger the pond, the more fishing area. Obviously I want to avoid any pitfalls and mistakes along the way. I have already learned some tuff lessons before finding this site years ago. Thanks. Here is a pic of the current pond a few years ago.

[img:center] IMAG0793 by jhaug37, on Flickr[/img]

Wow Savannah, that's a nice place. Financially, it's usually cheaper/easier to build another. Lots of people on this forum like multiple smaller ponds. I have a small mini pond and a 4 acre bow. Do you want lots of different types of fish that may not play nice together? Two or more smaller ponds can be nice if you want a variety of fish. Lots of people here really pushing capacity of smaller bows with feeding and aeration too. Sounds like you have a little time before you have to make a decision, scan the archives and keep us up to date on your thinking.

CMM

Thank you sir, we have put a lot of blood sweat and tears into our place. Bill Cody has been so much help with a lot I have done already. Last year I was able to successfully get aeration going in the pond. We also had a smaller 1/8 acre pond put in last year too. This one is just for Yellow Perch. It got a few thousand FHM and GS last year. This spring the YP are going in. Here are some pics of it next to the bigger one. And then like I said, the plan is to either make the bigger one and acre plus bigger, or add a 1+ acre pond next to it.

[img:center] IMAG1101 by jhaug37, on Flickr[/img]

[img:center] IMAG1102 by jhaug37, on Flickr[/img]

[img:center] IMAG0972 by jhaug37, on Flickr[/img]

[img:center] IMG_0019 by jhaug37, on Flickr[/img]

[img:center] IMG_0018 by jhaug37, on Flickr[/img]

Dual aeration going. One in the deep end and one in the shallow end. And you can see the sprinkler system set up for the kids to jump through off the dock and into the water.

I remember some of those pictures from a thread you posted quite a while back. I think when you were planning on creating your smaller pond. What a beautiful place.

Here are the pros and cons as I think of them (not necessarily in any logical order)

Just from a fishing standpoint:

Multiple smaller ponds, as you have already witnessed and enjoyed, give you lots more options than one big pond.

BUT......... if your heart is set on multiple 10# trophy LMB, it might be harder to do in small ponds. Although TJ and some others on here might show me to be completely wrong in that assessment. So maybe......... it depends?

If you join your current pond with another, it is going to make any additional stocking more of a challenge. Can't put a bunch or 3" BG stockers in and expect them to survive your current bass population. So additional stocking is going to require large size fish - $$$$ or a place to source them from (like your small pond???) So again........ it depends.

I can't help but believe if you join waters you are going to mess up your current fishing hole at least some for some amount of time. Your current pond is so nice. Do you really want to mess up the fishing in it as the two BOW's join and you struggle to get the new single BOW up to your fishing goals?

If you are into boating or fishing from a boat, multiple BOW's mean moving the boat from one pond to another. Or owning multiple boats. Also pleasure Kayaking is going to be more fun on a big pond than several small ponds. So from a non-fishing recreation point bigger might be better.

Bigger just looks nice. A one acre pond looks great but a 5 acre pond looks greaterer (sp)

I think it all gets back to 1.personal preference and 2. how much money you have to spend.

If you can afford it, leave the two ponds as is, and build a new pond the size you propose to make from adding to the current one. Go for the gold! In reality, you may find it costs no more to build the size you want compared to adding to the current pond to make the size you want. New construction is always more fun and easier than refurbishing. At least in my experience, and I have renovated 3 ponds and built 3 new ones.

Just my 2 cents.

Edit: one other thing. Location, location, location. If you have some ideal building site and the pond needs to sit just so-so to have the perfect look you want............ you might not have a choice. You might have to add to the current pond. But if it was my money and I could, I would go for an additional completely new pond if possible.

Savannah412

An old thread with some info you might find helpful.

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=117340

Bill D

Is that a heart shaped pond?

Multiple BOWs equals multiple maintenance, but also multiple opportunities to divide fish species, and not all eggs in one basket (if one pond poohs the bed and a fish kill you've got 1 or 2 other ponds unaffected (potentially)).

I fish a pond that is about 0.8 of an acre, and it has plenty of toads in it. I've landed two 8+ largemouth bass, a buddy landed a 9+, I've landed a dozen 4+ pounders, and two other folks landed 10+ bass. The key to this pond is food. These bass are fed minnows on average twice per day six days per week. All minnows are shot out through a PVC pipe 4" in diameter. The bass just hear that water hitting the pond and they move in to feast. The boil is fun to watch, and more fun to fish. So you can grow heavy toads in smaller bodies of water if that is a goal of yours.

Thanks for the comments and the links guys I really appreciate it. My wife is very leary of messing with the original pond in fear it might not turn out as planned and possibly hurt it. I am also leaning towards a 3rd and final pond. I read your posts and the link and this is all great information. Breaking into the wall of the original and seeing all the mud churn it up again would seem like such a step back in the progress and the beauty it has become. And basslover- when we were building the pond originally the operator did the deep end in a circle. when he was done he asked how I would like the shallow end to taper off. I said just curve it around in like an L shape. One day my friend was looking at it on google earth and says, "dude, your pond looks like a heart shape." Well it was finished the day after my wife and my 10yr anniversary. So I immediately jumped on that and tell her and everyone else it was a 10yr anniversary present!!!

Love the heart shaped pond. Very cool.

If I had the resources I would invest in multiple bodies of water versus a single body.

A third pond provides the opportunity to have a third different type of fishery.

Another vote for a 3rd pond. More diversity in species without competition from present occupants.