Pond Boss Forums INTRO New Forum Member Introduction At least 6 months away but have a lot of questions

Hi,

I've been reading as much as I can from you all and books. Appreciate the informative knowledge and also bringing my attention to things to worry about. I live in SoCal and have fished my whole life. I have always wanted my own land(15-20+ acres) with a decent sized fishing pond (4-5 acre). Obviously that will never happen here. Too many laws, too little water and beyond expensive. I plan on selling my place sometime after Christmas and hope to find a place in Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, or Arkansas in the Spring. I do have a lot of questions about what to look for.

1. For the best fishing pond one could make, would it be better to find land with an existing pond to fix up (drain, dredge and expand)? Or start from scratch? I'm leaning towards having one built. But it will depend on the pricing. Would be nice to find land with an existing pond, while building a new one.

2. Is it better to look for land with springs, creek or water shed? Or does it matter?

3. I know it differs a lot. But could someone guesstimate pricing on building a 4-5 acre pond, 15-20ft. deep in certain areas, and a solid aeration system? I just want to have an idea of a rough cost to see how it will fit my budget. Also, what do you think annual maintenance would cost?

4. I know I'm getting ahead of myself. But will definitely want LMB, BG, RES and CC. Would like YP(or HCP) as well but that might be too many species and stunt one another. I really want to avoid stunting to my best ability. I like catching big LMB and big RES.

5. Forage fish - Out here ponds and lakes are usually full of TFS. Would they and crawdads be enough for forage to grow large fish eventually? Or would you add in something like FHM?

6. Once established, does pellet feeding help? I'm not opposed to it at all. Just curious about it.


Any info would be appreciated to my planning. Thanks.