Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding My new feeder platform - pic heavy

Hey guys, I had nothing to do today so I built a new feeder platform. I got tired of the tripod and hanging style, so I decided to build a better one.

I left the posts long, so I can adjust it as needed. Hopefully, it will settle by summer.


























This is the base, 2X6 pressure treated lumber.





























This is the Moultrie I got on sale. Paid $150.00




























I added steel rods 18" from the bottom of the galvanized pipe, so the pipes can't sink any deeper than the rods.




























Here's the deck without the top.




























And here's the finished project.

It was a pain to get the platform up and level, but the next one will be easier. After cussing everyone in Rains County for two hours, I learned from my mistakes.

Al

That's a nice job Al, I guess you don't have bear problems down there.

Al,
Your body of water looks incredible! The feeder platform looks great! I just haven't had much luck with the moultrie feeders though. I had to seal all the seams inside and out with caulk on several of them to keep them from leaking. For $150 though definitely worth a shot, let me know in a month how it is working.

No bears, but the feral hogs are tasty.

I had Bob come out 6 years ago, when the lake first filled, and tried to follow his directions as best as money and time would allow. I caught my first #10 bass this winter, and it's loaded with 6 and 7's.

Now it's time for #2 bream.

Thanks, Al

n8ly, will do. I have the same concerns. But, with $350 going to Bob at Tyler Fish Farm for more bream, and $800 going to Boatcycle for my Tilapia, I had to compromise somewhere.

Momma screams when I get the Tilapia, but it's like Golden Corral for my bass in the Fall. And, I've been able to cut back on the spraying.

Looks good. Where are you in E Texas?

My farm/lake is just north of Lake Fork. We live in town, but spend a lot of time there.

The lake started out as a fun thing, but if work is fun, then I guess it still is.

Great job ! Looks a lot better than mine.

Welcome to posting.

Al,
You will be able to keep that feeder running for a couple seasons and totally get your moneys worth from it.

You might just have to tell us a bit more about your pond, especially if you had Bob come for a consulation and you caught a 10 lb bass from it.

I'd like to hear this to!

Al, looks great. How in the dickens do you keep the hogs off of that thing? They've been tearing them up around my area.

OK, here's the details of the lake. It was originally an old slew, that we had dug out and sold the hardwood to help defer the lake costs. The biggest expense was the damn, as it's 1,050' wide. We got heavy rains, as the lake filled in less than 9 months, and was a huge mud pit.


























I had called Bob about the clarity, and the emergence of Pennywart and Water Primrose which I was overly concerned with. He was making a loop, and came by while in route to another lake. When I saw him again several years ago at the Arlington PB Conference, he remembered the lake, and reinforced my opinion that his visit was the best money I spent on my lake. He is that good.



He walked the lake with me, and I got a whole issue of Pond Boss info during our face to face. I fought the weeds for several years after that, not ready to accept the fact that it was just the natural order of things here in Texas. Control, not removal was the answer.

























About 3 years ago, the silt just dropped, and I had a beautiful clear lake.


Then, the fun began. I immediately had weeds everywhere, and sprayed and fertilized heavily.

I started feeding the bream, and started selective spraying in sections. Never completely removing the weeds, because the fry and bream where in them everywhere. Now, I spray 3 times a year in sections, and never spray more than 100' sections. The payoff was immediate and positive.

Bob had explained to me that if you remove all weeds, something else will take it's place. He was absolutely on target with that. Currently Pennywart and American Lotus are my adversaries, and Bob had specifically warned me about the Pennywart. It is the most invasive weed I have dealt with, and I'm currently spraying it right now in late March.

The biggest things I learned from Bob, was to relax, get a good water test, and you can't fight nature. As I said, I've cut back spraying, and introduced Tilapia for FA control. I've felt no need for grass carp, and have dramatically cut back my chemical expenses.

I'm currently adding more structure, and I'll post those pics soon. Spoiler alert, you won't believe what you can do with coffee cans

Thanks for the positive comments, Al

Dave, hogs are in the Lake Fork bottom, 1/4 mile away, and have not yet crossed over onto our property. When they do, I'll put put a buffet sneeze guard around the feeder, and make my wife and fire station Bubbas very, very happy.

We have deer coming onto our property, and I have specifically avoided broadcast feeders for them. I use block stands, and have had no hog problems yet.

Hogs come and go on my place and right now they are here. 1/4 mile is a short distance for those guys and I expect they have at least visited your land. I think I would install some sort of chain link gate. If they smell the feed the bargain Moultrie is going to wind up getting real wet.

Two of my neighbors have had their fish feeders torn up. They turned over and destroyed 2 of my deer feeders. When I started using TPosts on the deer feeder legs, they no longer could dig them up and topple them.

T posts are exactly what we had to do at our deer lease. We left 2 uncaged for the hogs, and caged the rest of our feeders. If they show up, I'll put up hog panels and posts. We got plenty of them.

Unless you've seen them in action, I don't think most people realize the damage they do. I never thought I'd see the day when a game animal was fair game 24X7X365.

FireIsHot looks like you have a great place. My brother and I have a lot and dock on Lake Fork near Yantis. How many acres is your property and how many acres is your lake?

Farm is 100 acres and lake is around 15 acres. The best thing about the lake is that I've got about 80 acres of protected watershed. Any rain and it refills quickly.

The Emory, Yantis, and Mineola triangle is a wonderful area.

Couldn't he just make the end of his feeder dock near
the shore a shorter version of a "cattle guard" and
the hogs could not get to his feeder? Or could a
pig walk over a "cattle guard" ?

Yes it is. Wow a 15 acre lake is very nice. I had a lot on a 17 acre private lake near Mineola I just sold last month. I decided I want a place of my own with no other owners to deal with. Looks like you are doing just that. I am jealous!

I guess jealousy is relative, but thanks. I've got a guy I work with who's got 900 acres down by Eustace. It's got a 35 acre and a 13 acre lake.

There were 10 over #10 caught and released there last year. I'm jealous of him.

We are half-way between Sulphur Springs and Emory, just off Hwy 19. 7 acre pond and 53 acres of land.

Glad to have the warm weather here.

A friend of mine owns some land with some ponds down by Miller Grove. I'll be visiting him after the Conference.

If you're in Miller Grove, you got to eat at Stacey's.

I am looking for 20-40 wooded acres with 3-8 acre lake or potential to build a small lake. Utilities already there would be a plus. Prefer Wills Point/Edgewood/Terrell, Texas vicinty with Lake Fork vicinty as 2nd choice. Lemme know if any of ya'll hear of such available. Something kind of like the link below, but just a tad larger acreage.

Property For Sale - 19 Acres - About 1 Hour From Dallas

I did last year and it was good!