So, for now I'm not really able to do anything about the silted in pond I talked about in a previous post. It's just not really in the landowner's best interest to spend the kind of time and money necessary to save it. So we'll just keep doing what we've been doing, using it as a so-so put-and-take LMB fishery until it finally fills in or otherwise peters out for good.
In the meantime, the same cousin that owns that one has another little hole about 300 yards behind my parents' house. It's small, probably somewhere around 1/8 acre, but I haven't measured. It is completely devoid of fish presently. I'm positive about that one, even without shocking or anything, observation and fishing attempts have turned up absolutely no fish. It held channel cats when I was a kid, but it leaked and went completely dry several times. The owner, for whatever reason, has done a bit of work on it and it's been staying at a pretty constant level for a number of years now. Not really sure why he took the trouble to seal it, as he has said he has no intentions of stocking it. However, he did say that if we wanted to stock, we could, and my dad is considering financing said operation.
So, the question is what to do with it. It's a bowl-shaped excavated pond, fed from runoff. It's in a crop field, so it's staying really muddy. I also am concerned about pesticides and such harming the fish. It does seem to be staying free of filamentous algae. I have seen a small amount of what I think is duckweed, and there are some grasses along the edges. Also, cattails on one side. Water is probably around 3 or 4' deep in the center. Not sure about temps, what would be typical of a pond that size with no tree cover in north middle TN?
My fear is that crop-related runoff, and the small size of the pond may keep it from sustaining a decent fishery for more than a couple or three years. With that said, it could be fun while it lasts. My inclination is channel cats only, but what for them to feed on? Too small to risk BG, I think. Should I just plan to pellet-feed? Also, as muddy as it is, should I instead try a non-typical pond fish, like bullheads instead? I realize that they would probably thrive and overpopulate, but it's probably gonna end up not lasting long enough to be anything but a P&T fishery with other species anyway.
I don't expect much from this pond, just want to have some fun with it, and give my girlfriend and I a convenient place to fish with my folks when we visit. But the beauty of not expecting the pond to sustain good fishing for very long is that I'm willing to try just about anything as far as species. In the name of a good experiment, I'd be willing to throw in about anything I could buy or transplant. But if there are any options that might work long-term, that would certainly be better. Just really not sure what direction to go with this one, any advice is appreciated!
