Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Mini Forage Pond

The only reason I would want to over winter forage pond is if forage hasn't grown to the size you need to escape immediate predation and you need a few more months of Spring/Summer to achieve sizes. Otherwise I'd dump in the Fall and save some adult brood fish for next cycle and refill and restock with those brood fish. If brood fish are easily replaced [depending on species] you can drain in Fall and allow the pond to go dry all Winter. This can help with vegetation management and allows you to perform any work necessary to the pond over the Winter. I've done both, depended on my goals/needs at the time.

Depth of forage pond depends on a few factors, like forage type, do you have supplemental irrigation to keep it full during droughts, will you aerate? I think you forage pond probably only needs to be 5-6' if you aren't overwintering - but I've overwintered SMB, YP, and GSH in 5' ponds in NE and never had fish kills. Deeper buys you more margin for error, but it's also more expensive to construct.