Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Renovating a Pond or Lake? Reworking two old ponds

Yeah me to my wife left him in my hand while she did some girl stuff. So we went to the farm, caught some fish and got dirty.

Alright, so after you looked at my video of pond. Does anyone have any suggestions on ways to make it better. I WANT TO DO IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME! So please share your observations. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CvTMtobuTmI

First, I agree about your right hand man and his help. Great Kid and that's what it's all about.

It looks to be about 4 to 5 ft deep with the exception of the deeper holes. Is that right?

That's correct. About 60% of the pond is under 6 ' deep.

Would Threadfin survive in a Southern Georgia pond?

TFS/RES/YP/SMB would be pretty much ideal right? I would add some FHM and maybe GSH but from what I have read if the TFS will survive the winter they would be a perfect forage for smallmouth. Am I wrong?

In my non-profesional personal opinion

For SMB version of stocking

(wich would be awesome to try in a southern pond)
(I also think it has a good chance of working)


I think more depth would help.

Maybe a larger section/hole or deep end of some sort. If that is in the option for you at this point.

Rockville, I believe TFS do fine in that area of GA.

I agree with Bobby. However, sooner or later, it gets damn cold everywhere. Then you have to restock the TFS.

Bobby, AaronM successfully stocked smallies in Scottsdale, AZ. He even got some to cross and had Mean Mouth Bass. Bob Lusk did a magazine piece about the unique oasis in the desert!

That is why I would also stock GSH so in the event of a TFS die-off his SMB won't starve waiting for the next stocking of TFS. I really wish Threadfins would survive Virginia winters, they are the perfect SMB forage!

we are assuming he is going to stock SMB, He really was asking for Ideas on the pond. I think if Clint can get some more deep water that would help with any fish he ends up stocking.

He is located more south in GA than north so I think TFS will not have a die out especially if they have some deep water to get in when and if it gets too cold for them.

Rockville, You do bring up a good point, In the odd event the TFS would have a cold Kill having shiners would help.

However GSH might be a little large for SMB if that is what is stocked, Perhaps a smaller species of shiner might be best in this case, albeit they probably will not be as easy to source.

Cray,
We have both SMB and TFS in out 350 acre irrigation reservoir here on Oahu, HI. The TFS provide great forage for the LMB and peacock bass all over the lake. The SMB are mainly prevalent way up the main contributory that has rock beds and faster flowing cool water from the nearby mountains. But we just don't have the intense heat that south GA does.

THE STRUCTURE IS IN!! Well most of it. I have a few rock piles to go, but I will get them in this week. Here are a few pics. Also I am posting some pics of the next pond on the list for reworking.

Looks like you have been pouring the mess out of some concrete mix. Looks good though. What depth will those smaller bucket structures be located?

looks awesome! Looks like enough water to go ahead and add some FHM......

It has kept a few high school boy busy for the past week. The small buckets will be in about 5 feet of water.

And yes after I got the water siphoning out of the other pond I added some fat heads.

The fish stocking has been coming along. The few bg I put in pulled off a spawn or two before it cooled off. I see thousands of 1-5 inch bg when I feed.

A few weeks ago I got some smb, some grass shrimp and yp.

This weekend bobby came, helped me collect some sailfin mollies and mullet from the estuaries for additional forage.

I can say for sure that I have the only pond in the county with smb and yp.


Thanks bobby for all your help this weekend! "

Clint sure has a nice place, the Pecan orchards are beautiful and the ponds are awesome. The new pond is coming along nicely and once topped off will be a real neat pond with lots of built in contours and placed structure. He was found some real neat predators for that pond and it should make for something different than the norm in his part of the world.We got some sail fin mollies added as they reproduce nicely in ponds. Of coarse I had to add my two cents and suggest he keep adding minnows and crayfish to assure he has a bumper crop of babies this spring. He has access to lots of native crayfish and a few varieties of minnows locally. What good is a pond visit if you cant give a suggestion or two...LOL. we fed the bass around the main (older) pond with that's always fun.

Now, His Bass and BG grow out is something amazing. he feed trains his own bass and grows them out on auqmax at an astonishing rate. He showed me some BG that almost made me faint, I have never seen a nearly 13" BG that seemed to be 3-4 inches wide across its back ....Just amazing.

Sorry , No pictures