Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Pond builder in west central Indiana

Is Mongo still diggin????

It's never too early to add fatties!!

Well the dam renovation (reshaping the cliff left by the previous contractor) and the raising of the dam to a safe level has been done. The new dam looks great and I did not need to provide any additional input during the work. I give Wharff Excavating a hand for a job well done and will call them again when my next pond project comes up. Matt Wharff not only oversaw great work but made suggestions that improved the project. I wish I had him in from the beginning of the project. Now I just need to get some silt fence intalled before Issac hits.

After this weekend's rains I am planning to stock FHM and golden shiners in the new pond. What ratio (in pounds) should I stock of these two species? It is intended to be a SMB pond. If I want to add RES, should I stock them later with the SMB or now with the forage fish? If now, how many per acre? Are these 4 species a good mix?

some pictures of the new pond which could get a lot more water today. I am hoping that the spawning bed shown in the 4th photo will work for SMB with fist-size rocks? The first picture shows the resloped dam which now is still almost 45-degrees!

I Like it. The shape of the pond is appealing, not just round. It will be fun to see the differece in appearance once its full. Like the trench that extends off. Good job, I'm jealous.

I was considering SMB, so I did alot of reading on it. The SMB beds that I seen here on this forum are similar to yours. I noticed on alot of the beds they have a large "iniator" rock that the bass like to hide near. I also read that they like wood nearby. Look into that. Maybe Bill Cody will see this and give you the ultimate suggestions. I will be curious as to what others have to say.

The pond shape matches the original contours of the ground. I put the SMB beds togther quickly in case the weather forcasters were right. It is not looking like we will get much rain though. This may give me time to add more or different SMB spawning beds if folks here think this would be good. The area where I built the ones in the pictures seems to be the only one suitable for the spawning beds. I am now thinking of just adding FHM this fall, SMB and RES maybe next fall or the following spring (depending on FHM reproduction), and maybe RES and GSH the following spring. I would like to get some SMB reproduction before adding the GSH, but this may be the wrong strategy since the larger SMB may not let the GSH grow large enough before wiping them out.

I'd put both FHM and GSH in at the same time and let them multiply. Granted, most of my experience has been with ponds that have LMB, but I've never seen a pond that sustains a population of GSH where the GSH were put in after the predators were stocked.

So in a new pond, what ratio of FHM to GSH (in pounds) would you recommend? Do you think that large GSH could substantially reduce SMB recruitment?

Good observation. An overabundance of large GSH will no doubt consume SMB swim-up fry. A ravenous group of large GSH attacking from numerous directions could decimate newly hatched fish fry even with male bass guarding. Numerous variables including density of GSH, food availability for adult GSH and amount of refuge will determine the extent of predation of GSH on smallie fry. By the time the SMB are large enought to spawn, the smallies could or should have the GSH densities reduced to "normal' concentrations. What is normal GSH density???

The main con of the pond above IMO would be the shape is not condusive to efficient aeration - thus requiring more diffusers requiring lots of cfm from maybe two compressors?. Also a pond shaped like that has lots of feet of shoreling compared to a round pond. More shoreline does grow a lot of fish food in the littoral areas, but it ALSO will grow lots more FA algae or weeds due to the extensive shoreline. Most all pond problems do not occur in the center, deeper areas but in the shallow shore line zone.

We'll have to see about the weeds. I have another similar shaped pond with no weed problems to speak of. This one may be different, but I planted domestic waterlilies in the shallow areas of the existing pond and plan the same for this one. I do not use any aeration in my old pond and plan none for this one. I do maintain a natural shoreline which may also contribute to pond health. Not sure why I don't have weed problems. I really had originally planned to add grass carp when the weeds started growing, but in never happended. P.S. It may be that the pond looks longer and thinner than it really is since the water level should be 6 to 8 feet higher when it fills, and this will all be in width.

What is the water clarity determined with something similar to a secchi disk of the existing pond? Water clarity contributes greatly to amount of all types of vegetation growth.

I do not have any kind of calibrated measure of clarity, but it does vary with time. Sometimes the clarity is very high, but other times it is much less clear. In general, I can see bottom at about 2 feet, but sometimes its more like 5 feet (not typical - usually during colder season). At other times, the water clarity can be very very low (heat of summer with little rain). I know that this is probably too vague to be of any use to you, but that's what I have in terms of info.

We got 4 inches of rain in 2 weeks after no rain all summer. The silt fence at the inlet got pushed over and formed a gully. Spent the last 2 days gathering and placing rockes in the gully. We palnted seed Friday morning before the last 2" rain. I hope it did not all wash away!