Originally Posted by anthropic
Before going into my proposal, I should mention that I am a long term friend of the lady rancher who, along with her husband, runs the place. The pond was already there when she bought the ranch, and she uses it to irrigate the grass for her cattle in the summer.

Now that my pond is sold, I'm thinking about restoring the ranch pond to its former glory. Heck, even better than it was back in the day. I'm now in a position financially to make, well, a modest proposal for rehab.

The ranch pond has that great south Texas fecundity, but it also has a number of issues. One, way too many skinny bass. Two, water hyacinths are a constant nuisance, though they do provide cover. Three, there are crappie and even a few catfish. Four, the coppernose bluegill aren't nearly as large & numerous as they ought to be.

The pond is divided by an old dam into two sections, one about 8 or 9 acres, the other 3 or 4. The sections connect in a fairly small deeper passage, with the small back portion butting up to a culvert with constant moderate water flow. The larger section has a dam with a spillway at one corner, no other water exit, unfortunately.

So here's my dumb, absurd proposal for rehab: Dam up the back section, drain the main section, electroharvest the best fish & put them in the back section. Rotenone the main section & do whatever is possible to get rid of the hyacinths. Then clear the back section of hyacinths, break the dam there and begin filling the main lake.

Fish can be stocked as the main pond fills. Tilapia should do well, also threadfin shad. Heck, even some fathead minnows for the first LMB spawn to eat. Then, depending on what the electrosurvey says, perhaps some F1 or even N LMB. Install fish feeders for the BG, too.

I'd need to sell this to my wife (not so easy) and also my rancher friend (not sure of reaction). Obviously the drainage would have to be done during winter, when grass does not need watering. Ranch is now an Airbnb, and I figure this would increase business. I'd be willing to take care of up front costs, including feeders & feeds.

Any suggestions, other than I lie down until this idea goes away?

What's the total budget, and how would you split it? Soil and muck movement, building a new dam, draining, weed removal, possible fish stocking based on electroshocking one of the "new" ponds, etc. The potential cost makes my head spin. Also, if it was for irrigation all these years, do you think the owners would want to change the pond's usage? Maybe talk to them first? Lots of good ideas, but the size could really make it a tad expensive.