The forage pond is/was a small 1/8 acre (approx) pond that is about 6 ft deep. It is old and silted in with no structure. I stocked with 100 2 to 3 inch bluegills and one pound of fathead minnows. Within one year, I had a DO crash and minor dieoff from biomass problems. We seined a couple of times but then I couldn't get anyone on the other end of the seine so I let it go. They kept spawning and fouled the water. It turned dark green and nasty looking. Almost everything died. Later it dried up and has now refilled. However, weeds grew in it during the drought and upon refilling, the water turned black. I've put 25 more bluegills in and they have nested but I really haven't seen any indication of the eggs hatching. In the spring, I'll restock with fatheads and bluegills just to see what happens. I have learned that forage ponds cannot be ignored with losing everything. Bluegills and fatheads are just too prolific. I put some in a small 20 x 30 water hole to control mosquito larvae. I put about 20 in and must have seined 500 or more out before it dried up.

I'm going to try some more stuff next year. I know of a guy that has way too many bullfrogs. I'm going to buy eggs from him and try to get them established. We have none in North Texas. He said that he started out with some eggs 3 or 4 years ago and now frogs abound for miles around. I'm also going to retry crawdads but try to find a supplier other than the grocery store.