I have a nice swimming pond, and trust me, you will want fish for skeeter control. It is the only place on our property with low mosquitoes thanks to the fish. The dragonflies would have to be very thick to even put a dent in them, and for the most part they only go after bugs actively in flight. Mosquitoes for the most part are sitting on plants, whereas the larva are great moving targets to the fish.

I would put in yellow perch to control snails and leeches, fat head minnows to help with mosquitoes and feed the perch, and perhaps some walleye to keep the perch and FHM in check. The advantage is the WE shouldn't breed in a normal pond, so you wont have much management to do on the fishing numbers. Buy feed-trained perch, and they make good pond and fishing companions but stay out of the way when swimming.

Any sunfish will like to take adventurous nibbles on interesting exposed body parts if you sit still in the water long enough. They can be a little annoying, but fun when they come up to you.

Also think how cool it is to snorkel and see your living aquarium! When our water was ridiculously clear this summer, I sat for quite some time with my face mask and snorkel on watching my fish come up to me and check me out. Pretty cool!


Last edited by liquidsquid; 08/28/14 03:39 PM.