Pond Boss Forums INTRO New Forum Member Introduction Little Kid/grown man in a candy store

I am so pumped to have found such a great website full of information. I just purchased 10 acres of minnow ponds that I will be making one big lake out of. I will begin dirt work next month. They have some good depth to them already. I plan on making the depth right off the bank all the way around 4 feet and then drop to 10 feet with alot of ridges 4 foot in depth alot of places. Any advantage of having real deep water(deep for me.) like 15 foot? Or is this a waste of dirt work?

Arg!

First off, love your forum handle! Secondly - it's nice to welcome another Razorback into the Pond Boss family! Glad you found us!

Third - congrats on the recent acquisition...exciting times. I have a few questions for you:

1. What acreage of land do your minnow ponds encompass?
2. How many minnow ponds are there, and what's their average size?
3. What are your goals for your pond[s]?

Reason I ask is that many of us would LOVE the opportunity to have many micro pond environments in which we could develop experimental fisheries, have ponds dedicated to forage production, etc.

If I would have known then what I know now I would have personally created several 1 acre ponds instead of 3 .25 acre ponds and one 3.5 acre pond. More versatility. Anyhow, it's a consideration for you to make before you start playing in the dirt!

Again, welcome aboard!

Arrrrggghhhh! Welcome to Pond Boss, Arg! Maybe one of the local miscreants here will explain the whole pirate phenomenon to you.

Aw, heck, just read it for yerself here! No sense in waitin' on some other scallywag to enlighten' ye!

All that aside, sounds like a pretty awesome situation you've gotten yourself into and like some fun ideas could develop into a great fishery. As TJ suggested, consider some options as you embark on renovations and think about the merits of maintaining several ponds. From the sounds of it, you may well be able to still have one really big one along with several smaller ponds that would allow some great opportunities for raising different kinds of fish.

How about some pics of your place?

Again, welcome to Pond Boss!

Hey Arg -- Welcome to Pond Boss.

These are just my personal opinions -- and my ideas frequently don't fit under the normal bell curve. So, just average them in with other responses you will get.

First, I would have to agree with TJ and Todd about several smaller ponds vs. one big pond. Several smaller ponds would allow a lot of diversity in planning and managing. With several, maybe one pond could be for monster bass. Another for monster bluegill. One could be a grow-out pond, and yet another could be for put-and-take seasonal fish like trout or hybrid striped bass. It would be very difficult to manage for two types of trophie size species in the same pond. It is also nice to have a protected place to grow special fish when they would be vulnerable to being lunch in a regular pond.

The thought of a 4-foot dropoff right at the bank is kind of scary for me to think about. If you, someone else, or even a critter like a deer should fall in, a steep and deep bank like that would make it very difficult to get out. If it were mine, I'd make it a little more gradual -- like maybe four feet of depth at about six feet out from shore.

As for depth, again it will depend on the size of the pond(s). Ponds will stratify without aeration or other significant water movement. The lower depths of the pond will become oxygen deficient and useless to the fish. The larger the pond, the lower the stratification levels. So it is something to think about. But 15 feet is probably a reasonable depth.

Send pictures. We love new projects. And hopefully, we can help provide you with some ideas that will prove worthwhile in your great sounding place.

Regards,
Ken

Thanks so much for the welcome all. I do love the idea of breaking these up into a couple of 5 acre lakes. I am going to get alot of pics taken this next week and will post for your thoughts on which direction might be best to go. I love the old pirate post. That's funny. I love crappie/radear/hybird so much but I know the white crappie will take over lakes at times. I might try and go with black crappie. My dad loves to bass fish. The thought of making a bass/hybird and then a crappie/channel cat/red ear lake might work. Thanks again for your thoughts guys/girls. I'll post pics as soon as I can. Arg