What region of the country is it located?
Belleville IL Near Highway 15.
How old is it?
At least 26 years. My parents moved there when I was only 1 year old. I'm 26 now so I know it's at least that old.
How much did the project cost? Or did you buy the pond with the property?
I don't know because our family didn't build the pond.
How many acres is it?(what led to it being this size)
1.78 long acres. It's verry long and windy. It's not verry wide I can almost cast to a point on the other bank from my beach.
What's the maximum and average depth?(why these depths)
17 Feet deep. Average is probably 5-6 feet. I've never realy done a survey of the pond so that's a guess.
Is it near your house or is it a weekend get away?
It's my parents house so I used to live there. Now I just visit when I can. I live about 15 minutes away from the pond now.
Do you have a dock, boat ramp, any other features?
I don't have a dock. We have a beach in front of the house and other families that live on the pond have docks. If my wife and I decide to buy that house I would certainly build a dock.
Aeration, if so what system?
No aeration. Again, If I decide to buy the house that will be the first project. I would go with a bottom diffuser. I don't have a specific brand I'm looking for I just want good customer service and a dependable low maintenence pump.
Do you feed, if so what brand food, how much and how?
I acutaly got my mom interested in the pond. She has been living there for 26 years and realy never showed any interest in the pond. I asked her to start throwing some GFC out for the fish and after the first couple of weeks she realy started to enjoy it. She actualy looks forward to feeding the fish now. How could you not enjoy feeding the fish though, it's so relaxing.
Aquatic vegetation, species present, % of your pond covered, submergent/emergent/trees?
I don't know if Algea counts. but we get a little algea growth every year. probably less than 10% of the pond is ever covered with the stuff. We also have Cypress trees that are partialy in the water and partialy out of the water. The knees and roots make great cover for small fish.
What game fish species are present? Biggest of each caught, average size of each species?
We have LMB, CC, BG, RES, PS, GSF, HBG, and about 6 GC. The biggest CC I have ever weighed is 7.8 LBS. Largest LMB ever weighed 3 lbs. Largest BG ever weighed .78 lbs.
I'm not sure what the average size of LMB are right now. I have been culling the heck out of them the last couple of years so I'm sure it's better than it used to be. I don't have my LMB harvest log with me right now. I'll report back with average size some other day.
Do you have any forage fish species in your pond, if so are they naturally reproducing or do you stock them annually?
The only forage is BG, RES, GSF, and the few HBG remaining. I have been throwing the HBG and GSF on the beech for the last couple of years.
How many hours a week on average do you spend fishing/relaxing at/maintaining your pond?
If I'm lucky I get about 3-5. Some weeks I don't get to go over there at all. I have to stain my mom's deck here in the next couple of weeks so I'll get to enjoy the scenery for a good 8 hours a day those days.
Anything you wish you did different?
Yeah, Of course. I wish I started reading pond boss about 20 years ago (when was pond boss established?). I wish HBG would have never been stocked. I wish the stupid GC would have never been stocked. The GC were stocked to eat the FA which they won't eat. Now, they just Eat GFC. My neighbor stocked them. He just does whatever this greedy fish dealer tells him to do. I had a talk with him about that and I think he will at least consult me before he stocks anything else.
I wish we would have installed an aeration system before the pond even filled. I wish the Cypress trees would have been planted in the water instead of on land near the water. I wish structure would have been placed throughout the pond before it filled. I also wish I would have started culling LMB about 20 years ago.
Anything else you'd like to add about your pond(s)?
It's a great place and I love to fish there. If my wife and I decide not to buy the house it will be sad to have to sell it to someone else that may or may not appreciate the pond. Even so it has it's draw backs. Neighbors are a double edged sword. They are great to help with the costs of certain projects but they also stock some less than desireable fish and generaly have little knowledge of how to handle fish, stock fish, treat for algea, etc....... So my wife and I may be better off holding out for a pond of our own with a slightly smaller house. We'll just have to see where life leads us. My parents hous on the pond is huge. It is probably way more than we will ever need. So, that will have to factor in to our decision.
Either way the pond is a great place to relax and forget about the stresses of the real world (at least for a little while).
Obviously, if you don't want to answer a certain question for whatever reason, don't... This is meant to be entertaining and a learning experience for us all. I think it would be particularly invaluable for those of us who are still in the planning stages...
