Thanks for the replies guys.
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George - This is my first experience with being a pond owner but it's something I have wanted for quite a while.
............................................................... I was a bit surprised by your mentioning the aeration system. Is that mostly for the HSB or is it needed in general? I do plan to begin a feeding program. I was wondering if a single feeding station would be enough on this size pond? I have constructed a dock and was planning to feed from there.
Thanks,
Frank
Frank, your pond project has me all excited just thinking about starting a new pond and to avoid all the mistakes that I made in the learnng process.
One word of caution however.
Chris Steelman is an amateur - he hasn't killed 10 kazillion fish as yet..
...
I turned pro last summer ...
IMO opinion aeration is the most important piece of the pondmeister's arsenal, dependent upon the size and depth of a pond/Lake. There are some heavyweight aeration specialists that frequent this forum that will offer some good advise.
How deep is your pond?
As you know we have hot summers and low water/drought conditions in N.E. Texas, which make aeration important, as well as controling high nurient load which will come in time.
The second most important element to achieve your stated goals of trophy LMB and "fish on the grill" is an aggressive feeding program.
I have three automatic feeders on 2 acres, not so much to increase amount of feed but to avoid concentrating too many fish in one area.
Tilapia on the grill are going to be hard to come by.
Try HSB "on the half shell" for a year round treat.
Good luck and continue the pictures - they are great.
George
