Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations General question from a Newcomer

Hi All,
I bought a small farm with a pond on it that measures 125'x100' +- a foot. The deepest part is 6' and it moves up to about 1' where the springs feed it. It also apparently has a spring in the deep end, even in mid summer that water is cold. My question is, can a pond this size support enough fish to be more than just decorative? Nothing big, just fun for the family. It has established plant and wildlife, but aside from some feeder goldfish my wife and son threw in, no fish as of yet. I know this is very general, just want to know if I should continue to entertain these thought of stocking it. thanks in advance for any help, I've really enjoyed reading the posts here.

Your pond is a litle over a 1/4 acre. The easiest fish in that case would be channel catfish. They will not spawn in most cases and overrun the pond. I suggest up to 50 without feeding, and up to as many as 200 if provding a good pelleted food and you plan on harvesting some for the table when they reach a 1lb or so.

Thanks Greg,
Yes, definitely the idea is to take some out. Is there an advantage to stocking a single species, as opposed to a range of species. by a range I mean what I would imagine you would hope to find in a healthy ecosystem, bluegill, catfish, Bass. Or am I applying some misplaced assumptions to my thinking? Thanks for responding I'm excited to know I don'tjust have a huge garden pond. Just noticed today though the local Osprey got the biggest goldfish I've ever seen.

Just re-read your post, and you obviuosly say channel cats would be the easiest. so I'm guessing the others are a little more difficult.

You can raise bass & bluegills in your pond but you won't get lots of them. Possibly with feeding fish pellets yu might get 100 -120 total lbs of fish distributed over all sizes. Bass would only get to about 2 to maybe 3 lbs (15"-18"). You could raise abt 8 to 12 one to three lb bass and about 80 adult bgill 7"to9.5" long. Smaller bass and bgill would round out the fish community.
Depending on your location (numerous local spring seepages) your pond may not be spring fed just cause the water is cool below. It may be just the affects of stratification you are seeing. But again you may have a spring fed pond. A true spring fed pond if it has adequate spring water inflow, you could raise trout it that interests you.

Thanks Bill,
Yeah, after reading a few more things here I feel I need to determine exactly what I've got. The water coming out of the hill at the head of the pond appears to be what I've always thought would be considered a spring. but I'm not sure if a true spring would be affected by drought. I have wondered if opening up these "springs" would increase water flow, or just royally screw things up.
As for the stocking, I'd love catfish, bass or bluegill, and trout would be almost too much to ask for. I have a lot of research and book buying to do. just reading the posts here has given me a lot to think about.
Thanks again

A local hydrologist will be able to advise you on your spring situation. Locate him/her through the local offices of Univ extension office or the US Soil and Conservation Office. You ought to find out exactly what your water source is like or will be before choosing fish to stock.

Temperature and dissolved oxygen profiles of the water column in mid to late summer will provide lots of information about what fish will be best suited for our pond.

I'll get him back out here. When I bought the place 3 years ago, we had soil and water come out, It was required because we got a small farm loan through USDA. At the time he said it was a worthless "Sky Pond". He would never give me an answer about the water that was flowing out of the ground. On second thought, maybe I'll get a second opinion. I also have sandy soil so I may need to consider a sealer of some sort. the pond never gets to the top of the dam, but hey maybe it's not supposed to.

Thanks

Bill gave you some numbers for bluegill and bass that "can" be producded in the pond. The reason I did not sugest them is b/c it is more difficult than just channel cats. I manage ponds and see the problem "keeping a balance" in such a small environment. You can either have too many little bluegill or too many bass and they wipe out most bluegill. Educate yourselve and try them along with the catfish. If going this route I suggest stocking 250 fingerling bluegill. Make sure you see some reproduction from the bluegil before stokcing 25 fingelring laregmouth bass. You can stock the bluegill now and wait until next June before adding the bass and they would have tons of bluegill for forage. Hope this helps.

sullpond - Yes my numbers for fish production were based on feeding the fish pelleted food. Basically you are turning your pond into an aquaculture pond. Feeding fish in a captive situation for increased production. Fish numbers need to me monitored and adjusted according to your goals.

Get that second opinion reagarding your springs. The Soil & Water guy didn't give you an answer because he didn't know the answer. Get a person experienced with hydrology.

Thanks alot guys, I'm learning alot just going through the posts. I really appreciate the input. One of the things I was hoping to do was some sort of aquaculture project when we bought the place. Soil and water killed that for me with the negative review. We paid off our USDA loan now so I'm free to look at the possibilities.
I started with the basics yesterday. went down and placed a measuring stick so I can monitor water levels. Also cleared the springs of organic matter that had gathered in them. Oh yeah I discovered you can't identify snakes by hand. grabbed a nice handful of big water snake.
I'm looking at books too if anyone has suggestions. also will get the Pondboss subscription.
Thanks again
Sully

Hi Sully, here is my situation. Small pond between 1/3 and 1/2 acre, 8 ft at deepest area average 4 ft. Use the well pump to keep the levels up year round. Aerate from April until October. Feed on a daily basis when water is of temp. Two years ago stocked bluegill and fathead minnows. Last year stocked 200 channel cats. Lost about 15 channel cats that I know of but am now catching channels over 2 pounds plan to remove 100 for eating this summer and then restock 100 in September. Both the bluegill and fatheads have spawned last year and are in the process this year. Put 50 3-5 in fingerling bass in this morning and 2 grass carp. You can see pictures of my pond at my website.

Bob

Hey Bob, that pond looks great. It looks like you got just what you wanted. I'm wondering about a well in case, mine needs it. You've got me wanting to stock, but I'll be patient.
I pulled the Pond guide from your site, as well as the fish weight guide. thanks for the small pond success story.

Sully

I was lucky the well was already here it used to supply the house in the 70's before the county brought water in but I found it was only 42 ft deep and I could drain it in about 2 minutes! I also found they had replaced the old well pump which was a 3 wire pump with a 2 wire pump almost zapped myself! I designed a controller that fills the casing to about 40 ft and then pumps down to about 6 ft. It runs about 20 percent of the time now and costs about 30 cents a day to pump about 4000 gallons to keep it topped off.

Bob

I've got an old well too but it's a 20' hand dug, brick lined, one. I could drain that sucker with the washing machine, and a shower. I think I'd hit water pretty quick if I put in one close, and I could irrigate with it too.