Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Property Projects & Construction New SMB Reproduction Pond

Had a new SMB reproduction pond built last Fall - it's .05 ac maxium depth of 8'. I built the pond with 3 goals in mind:

1. Reduced size to allow for easier concentration of brood fish for removal and maximize my YOY population. In my larger SMB repro pond it was difficult to target all brood fish for removal, and they hammered my YOY population regardless of how many times I fed them. In my experience they develop a preference for cannibalism rather quickly and refused pellets as the Summer progressed. Eventually I removed all but 1 adult fish, but I know my YOY numbers suffered greatly.

2. Reduced size allows for easier concentration of YOY and feed training efforts. In the larger pond, the YOY SMB were scattered, and getting them to train on AM 400 was difficult as they were never concentrated and I had a lot of wasted food sink. The additional nutrients from wasted pellets lead to vegetation issues as the season progressed, forcing me to treat with Whitecap. I'm hopeful with a pond 80% smaller I'll have less wasted food, and will successfully pellet train more YOY SMB.

3. Simplified collection efforts. Seining ponds requires recruiting friends every Fall, and it's a lot of hard work for everyone involved pulling seines all day. Thanks to Omaha, Shorty, Bullhead and Bruce this last year was our most effective collection - but asking for a team of five to give up an afternoon every year makes me feel guilty. With the guidance of Cecil, Lusk and Otto, the new SMB pond was designed to allow me to collect YOY SMB solo with no seines required.

Here's a shot of the new pond to be:



Installing the 8" drain:





I didn't glue the 90 or the standpipe in order to allow me to use it to gradually fluctuate the depth by shifting the standpipe incrementally below the surface, maybe a foot at a time. The entire pond is sloped so the lowest point in the pond is located at the drain to facilitate easy draining and fish collection. More on this later.







On the backside I had a 10x10x5 hole dug to serve as my collection basin. I also installed a gate valve to enable me to control the flow or use in an emergency to stop the water. I can collect fish here in a couple ways. First, I can install netting on the backside of the basin to allow water to flow through, but prevent SMB from escaping and collect from the basin with nets when it's drained. I can also put a 45 elbow at the end of the drain and have it flow into a 5' diameter horse tank which I'd install in the basin. I'd cover the top with some heavy metal mesh, and on the backside of the horse tank screen a 8" drain to allow the water to flow through. The first method is cheaper, but I worry about trying to collect fish in a muddy and turbid collection basin full of water. I'll likely opt for the second option - I think 500-1,000 4-6" SMB will fit nicely in a 5' diameter x 3' deep horse tank without issues.





Here's the pond's first breath of water - I filled it so could check for leaks - she appears to hold tight all Fall.