Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Trout coming

I have trout coming in a few days, rainbows. I've had the aerator going for 9 days so far and it will be 2 weeks when the trout arrive. I'm a little concerned about one thing, the water clarity.

The temp is fine at 59 degrees through the entire water column but the water is ugly. I have pollen, or what looks like pollen, floating around on the top. The water is brown with clay. Every time it rains my pond goes brown from clay as the grass just hasn't got established well enough yet.

Do you all think my ugly water is going savage my gorgeous, all beautiful, top of the fish kingdom, trout?

I'm not a trout expert, but I don't think you will have a problem. I've had winter trout for a number of years. They really bring a lot of fun and life to a pond when every other fish is taking their long winter naps. My ponds get muddy during heavy rain, and are always somewhat muddy because of my catfish. The trout always prosper.

I prefer golden trout over rainbow because of the color and clarity of my water. They are just much easier to watch when your water is not trout stream clear.

Look in the muddy water section for threads titled like "Alum kicks clays butt".

Unfortunately John doesn't have Goldens this year.

If it's bad enough and persistent enough it can irritate their gills. However in the wild streams get muddy once in a while and as long as it's not an on going thing the trout are O.K.

I had this problem when I first put my pond in. My contractor was supposed to put the pond in in early spring but didn't show up until September. Anyway not enough time to get grass established well, and even with straw I had a gully washer and chocolate brown water that stayed that way for a few weeks. Some of my brook trout had gill covers permanently fused in the open position due to infection.

I read that thread, I think I read it twice. Frankly the thread gave me more questions then it answered. What I took away from that thread is that the Alum was a temporary fix. New rain and the clay it creates, simply clouds the water again.

I am heading up to Imlay city fish farm this afternoon cannot wait. I am hoping I can keep them year round........time will tell. My pond is just shy of 1/4 acre and maybe 8-9 feet deep but I have a 30 gpm well I can run durning the heat of summer hopefully it is enough to keep the temp around 70. My neighbor and I will both be pulling our irrigation water out of the pond so just to keep up with that i am thinking the well will need to introduce 15,000 gallons a day into a pond that is maybe 350,000 gallons.

Make sure you pull off the warmer surface water for irrigation in the summer which is where my overflow is. 1/4 acre is 4 times the size of my trout pond which gets 45 gpm 24/7. I could probably get by with less flow as the pond is 60 F. below 1 foot all the way to the bottom even with day time air temps in the 90's. Hopefully that will be enough for you.

You really want 55 to 65 for trout. I wouldn't wany to go higher than 65 myself.

Post Pictures!

Of what?

The trout when you stock them.

Once you get the banks and other incoming water sources stabilized, the alum will capture much of the remaining suspended particles.

I have an 18 month old pond that I've had problems stabilizing with vegetation on its rather steep and wet banks. I have a couple of settling ponds that feed this pond, and several settling ponds below it that feed my main pond. The settling incoming and outgoing settling ponds have extremely clear water.

I just put down a bunch more seed and straw in the last couple of weeks on the banks of this pond. I'm going to wait at least until next season before I put in alum, or a commercial solution based on alum.

Not at you Tim, but BigB as he was getting some from Imlay today!

I think they should delete that generic reply to option on threads so everyone is properly addressed.

Just like you, you were confused and didn't know WT? was up!

Hey Big, if you have some pic's, please feel free to share them.

It's actually mandatory now!

See now, I feel better.

Wait till ya get the bill

I forgot my phone but I think my brother may have gotten some. I went with 25 adult rainbows (I am guessing 2-3 lb range) 5 golden, 10 browns, 5 brook and 25 jumbo perch. They put them in plastic bags with oxygen and I did not loose a single one. So far so good even caught a couple yesterday on a mister twister. Will try to get some pictures up.

How long did you haul them?

Yah, how long did you haul them? My guys told me no to the three hour drive in bags.