So, my existing 1/2 acre pond that I am planning to stock is a water shed pond. During heavy rain events it catches a lot of water. At least 2 or 3 times a year the water gets over my spillway and during last year's Texas-wide 100 year flooding event one whole side of my pond was roaring over the banks. There is a large drop off (waterfall) downstream so there is no way for fish to swim upstream into my pond and there are no ponds upstream, just large areas of water shed. My question is do I need to worry about these flooding events and not stock my pond? Should I wait until after the rainy season (March and April) to stock my pond to give the small fish almost a year to get big enough to fight the currents? Or, do I just go ahead and stock as planned and what happens, happens? Thoughts? Experience?

The pond was incorrectly designed in having too much watershed area. Expect flooding to allow fish to escape. Some will swim out some will stay. Which ones stay will likely depend on outflow depth and length of time water flows out. I doubt any studies have been done on ponds for this topic. IMO is stock, then live and learn. Angling, fish trapping &/or seining and keeping catch records will allow you to monitor and get a good idea of what species and sizes remain in the pond.

I am facing the same scenario. 60 year old 1/4 acre pond, 20+ acres of wartershed, recently renovated will be stocked this year as soon as it fills up and overflowing is not likely until the fall. One 4" rain event and I might put the emergency overflow to use. I hope to give the stocked fish as much opportunity to spawn before the dam is overrun possibly latter in the year, bumping up the number of fish in the pond.

My goals are to have a decent BG/RES pond with stunted LMB and maybe ladder stocked HSB as predators. It is likely that my 1/4 acre pond will want to overpopulate due to lack of culling. My thoughts are that the occasional overflowing (once or twice a year)could help with overpopulation (natural culling).

I sacrificed a couple of feet of full pool depth by keeping my drain pipe at ten feet while giving the dam 3 feet of freeboard. This should help a little during high water events by allowing water to build up over the drain pipe by 3 feet before the emergency overflow is breeched. Some fish will leave through the pipe, but maybe not as much as over the top of the dam.

I will be hanging my hat on the hopes that the majority of my fish will not abandon my pond and what does swim over the top will only reduce the possibility of overpopulation/stunting (and the creek will profit from the extra renegade fish).

Yeah. It was definitely not properly designed but I doubt stocking with fish was ever a part of the design. More for just looks. I plan on stocking the pond once. If it turns out to be a waste of money due to losing all of the fish in a flood I will probably just bucket stock from then on out from a nearby pond.

I have a spillway on my 2 acre pond and water does get deep sometimes in a large rain event. If I have notice the rain is coming I pump my pond down some with a trash pump giving more room for the runoff. I also drilled some holes in the spillway and put in some re-bar then attached some wire mesh that does not allow the fish to escape. This works great but you have to make sure the screen stays clear of debris.

You might consider a bottom type siphon to take care of the big rain events. I believe you would lose a lot less fish.

Fingers crossed that the sever flash flooding that is expected tonight is not as severe as expected. Pond is at full pool right now and can't hold any more. Just put in 8# of FHM yesterday. Could be $80 down the creek, literally. I may be in for a long and stressful spring rainy season trying to stock fish at the same time.

I wish I had to worry about flooding! Our drought continues.

Well, it happened. My spillway if flooding over and the banks are getting close to spilling over. They probably will by the end of the day with much more rain coming. Hopefully I don't lose all of my fish.

Generally, fish try to go "upstream" in a flood or overflow. But, a bunch of small fish will generally wind up downstream in the overflow.

And since I just stocked a few weeks ago all I have (had) are (were) small fish.

Sorry to hear about your flooding. We got another 4" too, but so far I'm not close to anything like that. Keep us updated on your fish

Any updates?

How often should one expect a pond to run out the overflow? I expect my pond will go over about once in three to five years. About two acres of grassy watershed for a 1/4 acre pond.

I have 1 pond that had this problem during named tropical events (even with 4 staged drain over flow pipes). I corrected this by building a breeding / sediment pond upland to slow down the duration of the water from the watershed reaching the lower pond to allow the 4 over flow pipes to handle the load. Have not had water go out the emergency earthen spillway in the 20 years since.
BTW having picked up adult fish in the pasture during tropical events was clear indication that no matter what you will loose some fish. During hurricane Opal we just tied a net to the fence to catch enough for a fish fry.

I agree a bottom siphon is your best long term solution. Really not that expensive, in the big picture of pond cost.

I agree a bottom siphon is your best long term solution. Really not that expensive, in the big picture of pond cost.

farmallsc,

Pond is still crazy muddy. Threw a white spinner around yesterday and you can't see it until it comes out of the water. I tossed some feed out in the usual place at the usual time and haven't seen anything in the three days since the rain. Crawfish everywhere in every little puddle of water, so I don't think I will ever waste money buying crawfish again.

All,

How long does it usually take for fish to start showing up to feeding time again after a high water event muddies the water? We are talking extra-chocolaty milk. When should I start worry about all of the fish being gone?

About two days in my experience. During a high water event, all kinds of foods wash in; insects, worms, etc.

Every spring during snow melt, and a heavy rain I worry. Pretty much a creek at that point. I have needed to dress the outflow with rock piles every few feet down the outflow and inflow to slow water and erosion. Far more water than I or the construction group anticipated. Too bad that all dries up in June or so. I don't have a drainage pipe, and rely on the overflow to handle it.

The guess is there is farm tile directing water into the pond drainage covering a larger area then the 8 or so acres of runoff the map says.

We are anticipating 2-3 inches of rain in the next couple of days, and I already have a lot of water running through. I have some work tonight collecting some more stones to break up water flow into the pong this evening. I am really hoping this delivers more food to my hungry fish! The BCP are croaking (though secretly I am not too sad, there are too many mouths in the pond, and PCB can be a problem)

He's pretty much right on the money. Mine were the same way. Plus they were light eaters for a couple of days after they showed back up.

IME...I put in a lot of erosion control measures so the pond doesn't get near as muddy as it used too and the fish only slow feeding a little after a big rain.

Back when the pond got muddy, the CC seemed less affected and didn't take long to start hitting the feed again while the BG took a while. I just thought it was because the CC are feeding mostly by smell. If you've ever watched CC feed you'll see them moving over the surface like a vacuum cleaner; not targeting specific pellets. The BG seem to be more sight feeders targeting specific pellets so the muddy water makes it harder for them to detect the pellets?

I also think water suddenly becoming muddy is a stresser and impacts fish behavior. IMO It has to impact their ability to breathe with all that suspended stuff passing thru their gills.

Just my 1 cent....

The pond doesn't have to get muddy. Any large rain related rise will put them off their feed for a day or two. It may be other food washing in, scattering the fish, or the changes in water chemistry caused by the addition of fresh rain water.

That's an interesting point John. Perhaps my results are different as my pond water has high alkalinity (300+)which helps buffer it from any significant PH change from "new" water coming in. I wonder if significant barometric pressure changes from active weather systems are also a factor?

After a significant warm weather rain event, the next day is usually bright and cooler, with a wind change to the NW. My experience with fishing is the bite is very poor on those days. When the storm is approaching, the bite is excellent, and feed trained fish are extra aggressive. I just experienced that with my BG and CC less than a half hour ago. We have a strong front approaching.

So my fish have slowly started coming back to feeding time. When you see those first few hit the surface you have a huge feeling of relief. It is definitely not as active as before or be describe as a frenzy. But there are more and more each day. I still can't see them. The water hasn't cleared at all. I get so much sediment in with rains that it takes several weeks. My pond will essentially be muddy until the Spring rains end since it takes so long to clear out and we will get another storm before then.

I am at a conflict of interests now. I just put down 18 pallets of Bermuda grass at my new house without a sprinkler system. So, my weather requests have gotten very specific. I need rain but not so much rain that it floods my pond. Is a light drizzle each morning too much to ask? I guess not if you live in Florida.

Glad to hear your report, I was thinking about you this morning. My pond looks like chocolate milk when we get heavy rains, but luckily it clears up in about a week or so. Were you able to get your fish food?

I have similar request... my new pond is rising quickly and the grass I planted a couple weeks ago is starting but it would be nice for an extended dry period for my pond to clear ...however I do need some light rain for the grass and I have another 1-2 acres I will be planting shortly...