Pond Boss Forums INTRO New Forum Member Introduction New from Maine

Hey just wanted to introduce my self, I'm Matt from Maine. We just bought a new house and I'm considering building a pond. I've been lurking for a while and have decided to join up.

Welcome Matt! Glad to have you.

Nice, welcome! Great forums, stick around. Not a lot of active folks from New England here. It would be nice to have another.

Hi Matt - Maine is beautiful country and I want to visit again soon. I agree with Squid we don't have enough representation from New England. We have lots to learn about your special N.E. opportunities and challenges, and hope to help you develop strategies to accomplish your goals. Welcome to the forum - now tell us more about your dream fishery.

I'm just in the early stages at this point haven't done much work on the grounds, but my ultimate goal is a small pond with Rainbow Trout, but if achieving the proper depth for that is not possible the back up would be largemouth bass. I'm not looking for trophy fish, just a nice place to catch a few when I go down there.
I have scouted the spot I want to put it a little at this point, it is slightly sloped where the far side is about 5-10 feet lower so a damn/retaining wall is probably a must. I'm not looking for a huge pond maybe 1/2 acre +/-. My first steps at this point is getting back there this weekend to check out the site, then if it looks good to have the state come out and take a look.

Cecil is a pro with the trout. He'll be able to help you out tremendously with them. From what I have learned from him, 1/2 acre is plenty for trout, and probably/might be better to go even smaller. Smaller ponds in warmer locations are a bit easier to keep cooler, so that may not be important for where you are. Might need to keep it deeper because of winter kills, and again with trout that may not even be so important. Probably aeration to help keep it from freezing over, and not so much the depth?

Welcome to PONDBOSS.

Thanks fish, my plan is to go 25 feet deep if I can, maybe even 30. I do plan on aeration to keep the pond from freezing over in the winter to avoid kills. Depth is really going to be dependent on what I hit as a I dig. That's good to hear that 1/2 acre is ok. I was concerned it would be to small but its about as much room as I have based on how the hill sits.

Just as a question on others here, will that deep in a 1/2 acre pond be unutilized thanks to thermocline? Will it make an aeration system work too hard to get air down that deep?

Aeration will be easy for 25-30 ft deep if you use a rocking piston compressor.

Matt, check with the fishery agency in Maine. It has very strict laws regarding stocking different species. Maine is one of the few states where LMB are not wide spread, depending on where you place is they may be illegal to stock. Also, I think LMB may be a poor choice for your neck of the woods. You may want to consider a species that will do better in cooler conditions, like WE, SMB, HSB, etc if legal.

Sorry, post was in the wrong spot

Thanks for the info CJB, Maine is very strict about what you can and cant' do. I will definitely have to consult with the state as there is a huge process through them to even get started. LMB do ok around here, they aren't widely distributed but as long as the pond doesn't dump into other water sources it shouldn't be a problem.

So would 20-30 feet be an ok depth for a pond that small?

The deeper the better for staying cooler in the summer providing:

1) You can get high enough O2 levels below the thermocline, or aerate to increase O2 levels without raising the water temp above 70�F.

2) Your ground will support that steep of a slope without sloughing off on itself. A 30' deep pond will require at least a 120' diameter and it really should be a bit larger than that to have less than 2:1 slope on the shoreline. In case someone goes into the water, it's pretty durn hard to walk up a slippery 2:1 slope.

Could water ever get too cold for trout?

Like if you have cold winters in a northern climates and aerate to keep the water open. And I should add if the pond was shallower.

Good question! I have my winter diffuser set about 3'-4' below the pond surface, in front of my feeder. The trout will feed all winter long on the floating pellets.

I suppose that if the water temp dropped below 32�F it might be too cold for the trout.....

All good information, Thanks