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On the next project of getting grass to grow and clearing the water up a tad. One project down....4.3million to go.

I thought your combination feeder/vertical bass cover had potential to be an excellent invention!



P.S. Glad you got your pond filled up.

Who knew all I needed to do was strip down to my BVD's light a bonfire and dance a little jig. Pond filled last night with our recent rain event.

The fish feeder was successfully rescued and moved back a little on the bank as it wasn't part of my habitat plan for the pond.

They're great for entertaining!

Im no professional on pools or concrete, come to think of it, I'm not really a professional on almost anything, but I don't think you will have much luck with laying up blocks, I can see very little movement make a block wall crack and leak big time, im like the rest, I would try the shot-crete thing or even a poured wall out of concrete.

And even the shot-crete needs to sprayed against a pretty solid backing to insure integrity and any water sealing properties for any extended period of time, and even more so if you were in an area where there is freezing and thawing going on.
Good Luck!

Look at how they make in-ground swimming pools.

If it was mine, I'd not worry about using the bedrock to be the bottom of the pond, I'd shotcrete the whole thing. I would first plan on somehow putting a drain in the bottom so you can drain it out. to clean it. With no dirt on the sides, and no dirt on the bottom, what you are describing is more like an aquarium. With those steep sides, the fish may not have any place to spawn. Without dirt in the bottom, you will have a hard time getting enough plants and bacteria in the pond to deal with fish waste.

So some type of filtration system may be needed.

If you only shotcrete the soil on the sides, how will you ensure that it is sealed to the bedrock so water doesn't leak out between the shotcrete and the bedrock? There will need to be a sire mesh/rebar structure built on the sides to give support to the shotcrete so it stays in place while it is still wet. Again. similar to how they build in-ground swimming pools.

What happens if the bedrock DOES leak? What's plan B to address that problem?

Thanks for the reply. I could drill into the bedrock. The problem is that it is on a rather steep slope, where at the shallow end it is only about 50 cm (20 inches) deep and at the deepest end it is almost 200 cm (80 inches). The bedrock is a great seal, it doesn't leak any water from there. The problem is the sides that consist of very porous soil. This is one of the reasons why I would prefer not to use a pond liner, it simply wouldn't be necessary for the bottom of the pond. I want to find a method to seal the sides without covering the bedrock.

I have seen some videos where they use shotcrete. I don't know much about it, but it looks like it could be a possible solution.

I'm not that concerned with the fry. I've noticed that in my pond the young bass tend to school up on structure I've placed in the pond. Had thousands swimming around last summer but I suspect the bass, big bluegills and remaining few crappie ate most of them as I'm not seeing an over abundance of small bass.

If I catch a male bass and it is is under 14" or super skinny I pull them out but I've notice the ones guarding fry don't seem interested in hitting lures.

My pond doesn't have a lot of shallow areas - slopes tend to drop quickly so I think there may be a shortage of good spawning areas for the BG. Last couple years I've had heavy algae blooms that may make it hard for the BG to spawn in deeper water as I believe they need some light. In prior couple years the water stayed fairly clear in winter and I had a lot of FA that would cause a big bloom once it died as the water warmed up. This winter I noticed that the water visibility stayed around 4' or so and I didn't get much FA. Currently the visibility is about 2.5 - 3.5' depending on sunlight/rain. I'm hoping the pond is stabilizing.


I had 1500 1-2" BG added a couple weeks ago to help get the forage increased. I think I have wiped out most if not all of the crappie. I'd like to get some more forage in the pond. Have not had luck getting shiners to stick around and breed. I'm wondering if I should try adding some threadfin shad if I can find a source.

Thank you ,Both , what I needed , NO O2, using a 5,000 gallon pond aerator , per tank , wouldn't know where to start with O2 , and I know it.. 50 gallons of water. per tank , 4 tanks available. 100-150 per tank , if that lucky , very conservative first trip with wild fish . Have to ID each of the little boogers before going into pond . Thank you both , again . .

Mike is one of the best on the planet! If he’s busy and you still need help feel free to reach out - I volunteer for a Facebook pond management non profit community and a fellow volunteer is a pond construction pro working out of Granbury, TX. Happy to help connect you.

Tj@hudlandmgmt.com

I'm experiencing something similar, but can't say I notice the fish being oddly shaped. More YP this year coming to feed than ever.
I'll be watching this post, as I'd like to say I've got "taller" YP, but I'm not seeing that. Bigger, yes, but seem to be well proportioned in general.

No toad trilling here in Northern Indiana. Temps too cold I think. Every day this week at sunrise it's been 37°F with the exception of Thursday morning, when it was 25°F.

Re: The salt bath during transport. How much salt will be used? (i.e. what % will the salt water be?)

Salt in the water for transport is completely different than using a salt dip to kill external parasites. You cannot transport them in water salty enough to kill external parasites, it would kill the fish for that length of time. You dip them in a 3% salt solution until they lose equilibrium, then remove them immediately and place in fresh water.

The salt "dip" duration could be as short as 30 seconds or a few minutes, but once they start to turn on their sides, remove them immediately and place in fresh water.

I would not use ANY of the water that they were in from the original BOW to put in the pond. Here's what I'd do if it was my pond.

Transport them in 1/2% salt solution using the water from the BOW.

Net them out and place in a tank of 3% salt solution that is the same temp as the transport water.

Once they lose equilibrium, dip net them out and place them in a 2nd tank that has your pond water in it, at the same temp as the transport water temp.

Once they recover, then use pond water to bring the water temp in the 2nd tank to pond temp, not changing temp more than 5 degrees in an hour. Make sure that there is plenty of O2 in the water. If you see them piping at the surface, you have to have a way to introduce O2 quickly. OR, move them to a 3rd tank with the same water temp.

I'd even go as far as having an aquarium water test kit and use it to monitor ammonia in the water that the fish are in if you are hauling a goodly number of fish - i.e. more than 1/4 pound per gallon of water. If you use O2, you might be able to go to 1/2 pound per gallon depending on water temp.