I've been reading this forum on and off for the last 2-3 years. This is my first post, but I'm planning on becoming an active participant. There is an incredible amount of well researched and observed information on this forum. So to start, thank you to all the contributors for the valuable insight.
It has always been a dream of mine to have a pond and fortunately that dream is fulfilling as we currently have a new 5.5 acre pond in northern IL that started filling in December of 2024. Our farm property has an incredible amount of water/springs - - to which the pond is fed by 5 of them. The pond bottom is blue clay. I'd say the majority of the pond shoreline is in the 8-12 ft depth range, but there are a lot of contours and depths of all ranges up to a 30ish' basin area that is probably 1.5 acres in size. That 30' section is currently about 20' filled (we still have about 10' to get to 'full pool'). If I get more efficient with this site, I'll post some overhead drone pictures of the pond.
I'm an avid fisherman and spend the majority of my fishing time chasing muskies, but do fish for all species. The pond was built with the idea of having 1 tiger musky per acre (or 6 total tigers). Other species will include: YP, SMB, BT, RES, FHM, WE, suckers, and potentially CC. We stocked FHM roughly a month ago and they are reproducing. I have also added 100 RES/acre to start, too, to help fight off worms in the fillets.
Here are my initial questions:
1.) I've read a bunch of threads on here talking about brook trout recruitment. I understand BT are an affordable fish to purchase and stock, but I do like the idea of natural reproduction occurring - and even more so, potentially seeing BT swimming upstream to reproduce. My father in law owns an excavation company and has built a good number of ponds, so possibly the leg up on BT reproduction is that we have large natural springs feeding the pond and the ability to excavate streams that feed the pond, as well as the material (rock of all sizes) needed to fill those areas. So my question, is this something that anyone has had success with? The spring I have in mind with a very good constant flow of water stays at 57 degrees. My thought is, build a 3-4' deep stream lined with cobblestone rock of various sizes that is approximately 8-10' wide and about 30 yards in length. This stream would enter the pond on the SE end.
1B) Where that stream inflow comes into the main pond, would that be a good area to put walleye spawning habitat? The area I'm referencing is about 3' deep and gradually drops down to 8-10'. I'm aware it's difficult to get WE reproduction established, but with this size/depth pond, and setting up that sort of water flowing into the pond, would it be reasonable to hope for WE reproduction?
2.) Back to the brook trout - which is a species I'm not nearly as familiar with as your typical, traditional midwest freshwater species - - since there are cool, natural springs feeding the pond and it has a good amount of depth (as referenced above) would it be reasonable to think the brook trout would survive the heat of northern Illinois in the summer? Based on other ponds and lakes nearby, I'm confident the pond will stratify. Will the trout use that cooler water below the thermocline, or is there not enough oxygen in that depth below say 15' for them during the summer peak? I'd imagine the water temp will get up to 75ish degrees on the surface, and will drop substantially once below the thermocline.
3.) Based on what I listed above, would you consider aeration for this pond? The aeration threads are the ones I'm currently browsing, but admittedly, they are not nearly as much interest to me as many of the others. If I don't aerate the pond, would you suggest supplementing grass carp - or do you think there will be a sufficient amount of DO come winter time with this sort of pond/depth/environment?
Thanks for taking the time to read this thread and I appreciate any and all input.
