Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Island. Good or bad???

Hi everyone,

I'm building a five acre lake on my land.

The bottom has all sorts of submerged islands that will have from 4 1/2 half to 3 feet of water over them when my lake is full. The drop off along the sides of these submerged islands is 4 feet or more.

In the middle of my lake site is my log pile for burning. It's still quite a large pile that isn't going anyplace until the burn ban is lifted. After burning most of it, I'll use the remainder as structure.

I'm wondering if this area in the middle of the lake would be a good location for an above water island. It would save me allot of work and time if I could build it up where the logs are piled currently.

Is an island benificial for fishing or habitat?

Wind block or some sort of shelter?

Will it attract other animals I don't want? Like geese or snakes?

Thank you,
Eddie

It woudl be good fish habitat, the mroe shoeline the more fishable I say. However I have clients put them in to attract geese and it works. So if you don't want them bad idea. Unless it will be covered in rock, etc.

Eddie,

I think islands like you describe in the deep areas of your pond are really a big plus to fish habitat. We build underwater "islands" in the deep areas of our ponds in an attempt to make use of what can otherwise be basically unused water below the thermocline. We build the islands with a base of materials from the pond bottom and then add permanent structure to that base taking it to within a couple of feet below the surface. They are fish magnets in our ponds and often preferred even over shallow water structure. Both LMB and HSB use them and the largest BG ever caught from our largest pond came from one such island. Leaving it a couple of feet or so under water prevents snakes, birds, animals, etc. from making use of it and also adds to the fish use of it. I recommend them.

I don't know about the fish habitat, but Greg called it right on the waterfowl thing. I had the state wildlife biologist look over my project and that was his suggestion...to build an island in the middle to attract waterfowl

Eddie :

Meadowlark's (ML) island is one of the best ideas I have encountered on the forum and is a great fish attractor and serves other purposes as he described. Think about what it will be used for and adjust ML's plan to meet your needs.

I would want it so the fish could use it for spawning on top as well so I would vary the top depth and put a hard surface on top like clay or small rock along with normal cover like trees or stumps or big rocks. For a number of reasons including geese, I would not add an above water island to a 5 acre pond.

Thanks guys.

I wasn't going to put one in,then started thinking how nice it would look, then started wondering about geese taking it over some winter and pooping things up. I've seen that in allot of city parks.

ML,

I have three undewater islands so far, and will have at least three more plus a shallow area to dump fish in with lots of cover.

Thanks,
Eddie

Good show, Eddie! EWEST suggested adding gravel to the top of one or more of my underwater islands, but I never got around to it...seems like a good idea. I just used materials which I needed to dispose of anyway...such as some left over chain link fence attached to some old hay rings. Made kind of a sanctuary within the hay ring. 100 years from now, someone will try to figure out what strange behaviors would make anyone do such a thing... and they will probably just shake their heads.

Eddie,
Hey, how 'bout some pix? The more the better, but use photo bucket or sumthin (to avoid jamming up your thread if it's more than a couple). We need more pond pix!

Eddie, like everything else in life, it all depends. Our 4-acre lake is a quarry from which clay has been taken out. However, only about 1/3rd of the lake was formed this way. The rest of the clay was piled up as berms around the lake or in 7 islands. These islands cover about 1 1/2 acres so the entire area is about 5 1/2 acres. We also have a number of places that are ridges or flats that are 2-4 ft. under water.

For us, the plusses are:

A cheap easy place to store dirt.
A unique landscaping opportunity.
A huge amount of edge for fish habitat.
The submerged islands and ridges provide even more habitat. We have deep channels everywhere.
Nesting areas for ducks and even pheasants that is relatively free from predators.
Tremendous habitat for other forms of wildlife.
A place for us to sit in complete privacy. Keep in mind that our lake has much, much more fishing pressure than most lakes.
The islands block the wind and so limit erosion.
It's fun to boat in and around the islands.

The negatives for us are:

Geese, I keep after them constantly. The first year I thought it was fun to watch the babies. No more! Geese are not welcome ever.
There is some wind erosion on the islands in places so I have to rip rap these areas.
Our islands are almost pure clay so it is hard to start vegetation on them.
We don't have any venemous snakes here so that's not a problem for us.

I would probably move the islands around if I had to do it over again. Still, I like the combination of open water, submerged ridges and flats and above water islands.

Norm :

Where your above water islands left during building or were they made after the fact. One of the reasons I said "I would not add an island ..." is the weight of the dirt above the water line and compaction/settling when you add the material . It is different if it is there to start with and not added or if it is below the water line.