I guess not formally a "new member" (joined in 2011, not active but have been a long-term lurker
). We live in the St Louis, MO suburbs and have a property about an hour north near Louisiana, MO. We are really focused and passionate deer and turkey managers, but finally getting into the pond/lake obsession.
We finished a 3-acre build with a top-end pond constructor this past December. The process was amazing, from finding a property that would support a pond build, to hiring a consulting geologist, finding a builder, fisheries experts, building/designing fish habitat, etc. We've been blessed with enough rain so far to have already started the stocking program. The pond will be ~22' at full pool, and is already around 10' at the deepest. I'm working with Curryville Fisheries and they laid out an accelerated plan that includes 875 BG, 375 RES, 325 BC, 100# of FHM & 100# of GS for a "trophy crappie pond". We will come back in the fall with another 200# of forage fish and our LMB. I know the risk of adding BC in 3-acres, but our family enjoys eating them too much to leave them out of the plans. We will add HSB down the line (if needed) and will keep every single crappie we catch, regardless of size.
We still have to get aeration going and planning for a beach, boat ramp and floating dock.
I'm thrilled to share the journey and learn with you all. I have a ton of experience with deer habitat, farm swaps/flips, farm programs, 1031 exchanges, etc. if you all ever have questions.
One cool thing our realtors are doing is documenting the journey, check these out. Their intent is to do a series of 4-5 videos from planning to completion...more to come:
Video #1:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nV9RRFirXsVideo #2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gahWwz2a77g
