Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations New Property, Old Pond

Hello- I just bought a property in Jacksboro Texas. It has a half acre pond on that is at the top of a hill. I went back 10 years on sat images and it seemed to be always full (not sure how because there is less than an acre of watershed, maybe a spring?). It is a circle with a wide shelf about 3 feet deep, and it goes deeper (not sure how deep) in the center. There are cattails around the shelf and the water always looks pretty clear.

The dam side is a 15 ft steep drop that looks very man made. There are two ponds below it on the next properties. There are 3 old fence posts in the pond that I am guessing housed a fish feeder, and there is a large grate at the spill way that looks like it was ment to keep fish in.

I have thrown a line with a worm on it for a couple of hours and got one 3.5 inch GSF. I see a bunch of tiny GSF swimming but no indication of anything larger. My guess is that they had it stocked at some point, had a fish kill and GSF took over? I could also just really suck at fishing.

I really dont want to drain the pond because I don't know how it filled up and I dont want to poison the fish population if I can avoid it. I was thinking about driving up north to get some mature CNBG and RES, followed by some mature LMB in the fall. My hope is they will out compete/eat the GSF and I can make a health habitat. I dont have real goals beyond occasional fishing/harvesting. Just want a good habitat with good fish.

Is my thinking out of line? Any advice would be much appreciated!!

Congrats on the new pond!

None of your thinking is out of line. However, it may not yield you the optimal results.

I very much like that your pond is full. I don't like that the source of the water is not obvious.

A 15' tall dam usually means that your pond was constructed in a slight valley and is filled with surface run-off water. Are you sure that the pond only has 1 acre of watershed? That should NOT be enough area for your level of rainfall west of DFW. Maybe go out as the next rainstorm is tailing off (no lightning) and observe your pond. If it is filled by surface run off, then water may start flowing through your outlet within a few hours of the storm.

If it is a groundwater pond, then it can't be filled on top of a hill, unless there is a significant amount of higher ground surrounding your property.

Most of the new pond owners that come here are very reluctant to kill the fish in their pond and start over. However, most of the pond management guys recommend that exact strategy when someone wants to invest time and money stocking a pond to meet they desired goals.

However, IMO it is too early for you to confront that decision right now.

I say keep on fishing. Try different times of day, weather conditions, and baits.

Are you fairly handy? If so, then read some of the threads on fish traps. If you built 2 or 3 fish traps, you could certainly perform better sampling of your pond.

Hope you have fun on your new pond journey that you are just starting.