Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Why a Pond?

I�m interested - WHY????
There are many answers to this provocative question I am sure � maybe others want to know.

For me �our� ponds have been and continue to be a means to an end - to raise high quality sporting fish.
That�s it!
Otherwise a PITA!

Why a pond?

What else would we do with our money? Food, clothing, shelter? Naaah.

Aside from the obvious answer Sniper gave (love it!), I can say that I have for most of my adult life wanted land with a water feature on it because of my affinity for water. I have always loved swimming, fishing, paddling, etc. and having a pond just made sense. There is also nothing more relaxing to me than sitting by a pond and just doing nothing unless it might be siting by a fire by a pond doing nothing! When I go to our farm and piddle around, I shed every bit of stress and care that I have in my daily life for that little bit of time I'm there and come back refreshed and ready to tackle whatever is on my plate. The two ponds are key reasons for that - always something new to find and explore and just doggone pretty to look at!

Well said Todd. There is somthing about messing around with a pond that makes you feel a little bit like you did when you were a kid.

That sums it up for me. 54 year old kid when I'm around the pond...Love it!

Good answers - keep it up!

The question "Why a Pond?" has never entered my mind. Deep thought is not for me though deep water is another story.

Some of my fondest boyhood memories were cane pole fishing with my Mom and Dad. Neither one are with me any more but their memories are most vivid when I go down to my pond with a cane pole and a can of worms and see what I can catch. The years seem to shed away and I am almost a kid again.

I grew up spending my weekends on a lake. The question of "why" never entered my mind - I just knew that I had to have one.

It's a good stress reliever for me. (for the rare times)

Water is an essential part of life and I think it's in our nature to enjoy the site, sounds and smells that come with it. Water and fire both make you feel good I find.

I'm gonna tell you what.

Nothing like creating and being a good steward to a resource that will continue to thrive long after I am gone. Spread my ashes in my pond.

Because fish don't do well on dry land.
Believe me.
I've tried it.

"Why A Pond"

It is all about the kid inside you. If you grew up with something like this then it's better yet. My Grandpa had a farm with a pond on it and I fished it all the time (Good Old Days) He also had a cabin on a 30 acre lake/pond and loved it too! I not only enjoy it but want my 2 sons to be able to enjoy it as well and pass it along one day to my grand kids maybe!

Polish lake frontage....and you own every inch of it

Blood, sweat, and tears for all the above reasons�

This is exactly what I was going to type. Fondest memories of my brother and I walking out to my papa's farm pond after digging for worms behind the barn. Seems we always caught something. Being on (or beside) the water is very relaxing.

It's always been the way I am.

You never really appreciate your pond until you have a major fish kill, start over, and get it right!
It ain't relaxin' ....

Wow, I would love to be able to tell all of you the many ways my ponds have played major roles during my life thus far, but I fear it would be better suited to a blog somewhere, rather than George's thread.

Suffice it to say that I am 45 yrs old, and I have been around my ponds in one capacity or another, for 40 of those years. I walked these same banks while I held my mother's hand as a child. Now I take my kids fishing there, or better yet, watch her take my kids fishing there. To me, my ponds are a constant. Everything around me changes, yet my water remains essentially the same. They are a connection to who I am, and where I've come from.

Every night I visit my ponds, supposedly to feed the fish, or mow the banks, or check the spillpipes. And I do all those things. But those who know me are not fooled by my pretense of work. As I maintain my water, and my fish, they also maintain me. I believe that I return to the house a better person. More relaxed, ready for another day.

Every night my ponds speak to me, and I wait all day for the chance to just sit and listen.

When I was about 12 years old my Father decided that I needed some culturing. He sent me for golf lessons. After about a month, the Pro called Dad and told him that he didn't need to waste any more money on lessons for me. Evidently he figured that I was aiming for the water hazards so I could poke around in the shallows. I've never really changed.

I don't post often but wanted to weigh in here. For me it�s like this; I grew up playing at the two ponds that are now part of my 8 acre property. (1/4 acre and 3/4 acre) They are on the west end of what was my grandparents 40 acre farm, and as soon as I was old enough, and knew how to swim well enough for mom and dad to trust I wouldn�t drown, I would spend my spring/summer days, alone or with friends, at the "Back lakes" (the name my mother gave the ponds because they were a few hundred yards behind my parents house). I had told my parents since I was old enough to talk that I would build my house at the Back Lakes, which I did about 16 years ago. I have always had a fascination with bodies of water and as many here have said, that feeling doesn�t go away with age. Every time I pull into my driveway, which winds around the bigger pond, my workday stresses melt away and I�m a kid again.
After 43 years, I still marvel at the sight of a school of minnows darting about in the shallows, or watching a snapping turtle lumber its way from one pond to the other, or hearing the violent splash of a bass grabbing its fleeing dinner. It�s just, along with my wife and kids, a major source of happiness in my life
I�m actually not that much of a fisherman. (My wife, on the other hand is. That�s her thing and why she loves the ponds as much as I, if in a slightly different way). I do enjoy fishing, and fish my ponds quite a bit, but it�s not really a passion. To me it�s more like something to do as I absorb the tranquility of my ponds and enjoy a good meal to boot. (I am blessed with slab bluegill that can fill a skillet after mere minutes of fishing.)
I sometimes will drive by a property that boasts a big beautiful house with a couple brand new cars, plenty of acreage, and a pond-friendly layout and wonder how anyone with enough money and land could choose by their own free will not to have a pond. It�s a foreign concept to me. I guess us Pond Boss folk are just a bit of a different breed. Lucky for us.