Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations where have you guys been all my life?

Wow ! is about all I can say to all of the info.about ponds on this site you guys are all awsome ! Now for the bad news. I now know that every thing I've done to build my pond has been wrong.It's so hard to find any home made ponds in California(larger than 1000 gallons) so I've felt like a loner. My 1500 gal. pond with 2 bass just didn't do it for me so we bought 20 acres 3 years ago, and of coarse "pond" was at the top of the list.The property is hilly so there was not much flat land. We turned a gully into a 200 by 80 foot pond with a max depth of 21 feet. It is a one pc. liner 4.5k lbs. .The shore is lined with moss rock (20 tons hand stacked) It is filled with winter rain and maintained with well water powered by a gas generator. I built a floating dock (no peirs 'cause of liner).It is airated by a windmill.I will try to post a pic.in the near future...I only have a small 10x15 sandy patch at one end 1 to 5 feet deep.The rest is pretty steep sided ,about a 45 degree angle.I put in about 20 l.m.bass 7 to 11 inches and about 20 blue gill. 100 lbs of live crawfish, and a couple thousand feeder fish(gold fish)from a pet store.The pond has been full for 2 years now and the bass have reproduced several times and I have about 20 12 inch gold fish. What I do know now is I need some structure. Any sug. for structure that wont rip the liner (40mil. thick). And most of all how do I fix my stocking screw-up ? Is ther any therapy for "pond envy" , I think I should of been born in Texas where I could build a real pond. Any help would be great!

Welcome CG, being a pond junkie is a tough addiction. Therapy just doesn't seem to work.

What do you want to have in the pond? As often asked, what are your goals? A lot of us, me included, have made big mistakes on our first pond(s).

I don't know much about liners but would think that large blunt rock piles might be OK. You can attach structure all under the floating dock. Let it hang so it doesn't poke a hole in anything. Both will congregate predators along with forage.

Do you have any forage left? Without structure, small fish just don't have much chance to become a continuing source of protien. What do you think is still in there?

Bass can pretty well overrun a small pond and the only fix is fishing. Put them in some hot grease. To achieve balance in a 1/3 acre pond, you should have about 35 pounds of predators. Every pond has to be harvested, especially small ponds with bass or bluegill.

I know one guy who brings large bass home from fishing local lakes for his 1/2 acre pond. He buys 2 pounds of fathead minnows per week to feed them. So far, he "seems" to be OK. I think the big fish pretty well keep the small bass in check but the jury is still out.

For quick structure, what about the habitat spheres? Sphere thread
If you put caps on the ends of the PVC pipes, they shouldn't poke thru the liner...? You can drill a couple of holes in the pipe and the cap to release entrapped air.

Welcome to PD CG! One question, how much covering is over the liner?

I do want a bass pond. The spheres look perfect for a liner.I do see baby fish several times a year ,some are bass and some are goldfish. A couple of the bass will come up to the dock and eat bread with the gold fish.(so they are probably starving). there are 4 or 5 large rocks ,200 lbs'ers in the bottom, some silt,and a little sand. the rocks around the outside are about 1.5 feet under water and they are head to basketball size. Thanks so much for the tips, keep'em comming.