Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat Marine biologist created pond habitat

Hey there pond enthusiasts! Guess there's a forum for just about everything out there. And ponds really "float my boat" (pun intended), so I had to post something.

Being a marine biologist with North Carolina, I became the default "biological engineer" for my parents new pond. The site started out as an abandoned hog house and waste lagoon. But with state assistance, the solid and liquid waste was removed to fertilize a nearby field. Since I've always wanted a nice sized pond to manage (hence the name "Mesocosm"), the folks decided to expand the hog lagoon into a 1 acre fish pond. Of course, Mesocosm thinks a pond is like a tiny little ocean. ~lol

The first picture below shows the empty pond basin overgrown in vegetation. A 3' deep shelf occupies the foreground and covers about 25% of the pond area. The rest of the pond slopes down to 6' deep (recommended depth for our area). The pond is current filled with well water and stocked with the standard largemouth bass (50), bluegill (350), redear (150), and channel catfish (50) fishery. I intent to plant native littoral zone plants (including select aquatic plants) on the shelf area this coming spring. The piles of block fragments should serve as refuge for young catfish coming out of the spawning cavities. Btw, the rocks came from the old hog house foundation. I expect the grass to grow out to the block reefs, where resident crayfish can eat in relative safety (in theory).

The patches of cedar tree logs are part of what I call "bass condominiums." Each patch has a 4x4' sheet of wooden lattice attached to the top middle. The subsurface platforms are for shading the bass, while also discouraging wading bird activity. The shade platforms are about 1-2' deep. And attached to the top of each platform are several fake lily pads. The lily pads provide another layer of shade while also outlining the structure for fishing. When the bass are all grown up I plan on exploring the sites with my underwater video camera. Btw, visibility in the pond has been 2-3 feet.

The light house was my folks idea. It's a 1/2 scale replica of the Roanoke River lighthouse. It actually has a draw bridge and paddleboat bay underneath. The picture was taken near a small dock along the shoreline. There's a lot more to this story, but this is probably enough. As you can probably tell, I'm pretty exciting about the project and how it evolves.

Cheers
SC

Cheers back atcha, Mesocosm. Welcome to Pond Boss.

That's a great first post. I hope you're here for a lengthy stay. I'm sure that your second photo is going to start a little excitement.

Please be patient if you encounter any difficulty posting on the forum the next couple of days. It's been a little slow at times lately.

Bruce

As if planned to be all-inclusive, we get something for the pond-nutz, human habitat nutz, and heavy equipment nutz. Well done! I'm buzzin' on the first 2.
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Ditto on the Welcome, Mesocosm. Great project...looking forward to more input. Bruce already knows that I'm gonna point you to our Human Habitat thread and request more pics and details on the trippin' Lighthouse.

Welcome to the PB Forum ! Neat project. We can use another biologist on here to add to the knowledge base.

Thanks for the welcome everyone. I've been checking out this forum off and on for several months now. And it really helps to see what others have tried re: ponds. I've collected all I could on pond management and I've been involved in two other pond projects. The other projects were a learning experience. One very important lesson: don't put your pond in the drainage of a field that receives hog waste "irrigation" on a regular basis. Those were some pretty little bass... floating on the surface. *sigh*

I'll post some more light house pictures when I can. It's really a neat little pad. Although some of the locals call it, "the love shack." But let's just say it could have many uses. ~ ;^)

Later
SC

I got me a Chrysler as big as a whale.

WOW! Just WOW!