I wanted a better clean swimming pond. I decided to pump my 1 acre pond, remove the muck/fish, the pond is only 23 years old. I w[img]http://[/img]ould like fresher clearer water. The far side of the pond is only 6ft deep, they are going to dig channels for the future muck to slide into. By the deck it's 18ft to 12 ft deep. The sides of the pond are going to be scraped of muck and lined with limestone all the way to the bottom. The beach pebble rock is going to be removed and replaced with beach pebble rock. I plan to add minnow, then 50 hybrid blue gill. Any thoughts? criticism welcome. [img]http://[/img]
I give up. I'm trying to post images of the pond renovation and it says I've over imaged on 1 image. Goodbye.
beautiful place there!
There will always be future muck even if it slides into a corner of the pond. Do you use aeration from the bottom? A bottom aeration plus even consider a beach area water cannon to do horizontal water movement that sweeps from side to side will keep your beach area very clean and beautiful. Adding some horizonatal aeration is very cheap compared to the cost of pumping and mucking out a 1 acre pond!
Limestone on the sides can be covered in muck or sink and bury itself if you don't have moving water to keep it washed clean.
Beach gravel stays on top better if you have a liner of some type under it that again keeps a separation between mud and stone
HBG would not be my first choice due to the fact that they are aggressive biters of swimmers and because they reproduce and give even more aggressive green sunfish. If you had to have panfish, you would have to have bass or some other predator to control your HGB and keep things in balance.
If you want something fun for kids to catch and that are good to eat, consider your forage base, various minnow types, shiners are probably better than fatheads, then add YP as the fun to catch, great to eat fish. Later you can control numbers by taking out their eggs each year or could add a few walleye for the top predator.
Hello canyoncreek, yes I have a double pond aerator that I used that I will be using in this pond too.
I'm honestly not familiar or have ever heard of a beach cannon, but that sounds like something interesting. I'm guessing it flushes away the leaves and sediment that build up over time on a beach?
As far as the limestone on the sides/muck, I've committed to it, they installed it this week. It looks nice without water. So I have that going for me.
They laid the beach pebbles this week too. I understand overtime it will build muck into it, but the beach is so shallow I figured I could dig it and lay new every 5-10 years as needed.
I plan on adding minnows and shinners first. Then Hybrid Bluegill. According to Jones fish, Hybrid Bluegill should not reproduce as much. I'm trying for low reproduction, that's why I decided on hybrid bluegill. But If you said is true, now I'm reconsidering, a lot on that decision.
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Looks beautiful!!!! If just for swimming and no particular fish, just stock Redears, not bluegills or hybrid bluegills. BUT if kids will be fishing, then stock the Hybrid Bluegills too. If going that route, I'd shy away from Largemouth Bass because the Hybrid Bluegills won't reproduce enough to keep them fed, go with Smallmouth Bass and some Hybrid Striped Bass for variety.
Heck of a project! wow. I like the picture with the car parked down in the pond.
HBG reproduce just fine, they hybridize with other panfish just fine, and when they revert back to Green Sunfish they reproduce better than 'just fine' that is why there is such a need once bluegill are in place for LMB to also be there to keep up with population control.
I agree that if you aren't set on bluegill then AVOID them. IF kids want to catch fish there are other options, and if you have other panfish outside of bluegill then you get the option of having other predators too (like walleye, or SMB) since you won't struggle with the balance between bluegill and LMB. LMB also can create their own balance/management concerns as many have found out here.
I love your layout and expecially that never ending red pathway that leads from your house right down to the pond!!
According to Jones fish, Hybrid Bluegill should not reproduce as much. I'm trying for low reproduction, that's why I decided on hybrid bluegill.
HBG/BG are a curse in a swimming pond. They are merciless little nippers. You will be sorry if you put them in.
RES, YP, SMB and a few WAE and HSB would be a better choice for your stated goals.
My observation is that all sunfish are nippers.
So now I've heard this a few times on this board so I'm not going to put in hybrid bluegill, coupled with the fact they will revert back to greensunfish, wish I don't want.
I would like to introduce minnows first. Then perhaps bluegill, and a few hybrid stripped bass. By goal is a swimming pond with fish. Perhaps some fishing for kids. But I don't want a nightmare where kids are being nipped at by bluegill. I definitely don't want that.
A little bit of water added this week.
Bgeezy, just add Redear Sunfish. That is what's commonly added to a pond which will see swimmers, they don't nip. I wouldn't add Bluegills because they DO nip.
How big is that pond surface acreage wise? It looks like the perfect size for recreation
its going to be amazing when you are done!
Could always stock goldfish, they wont bite and are pretty
Leave out the goldfish - at higher density they will make the pond turbid and be a pest, plus you can't have them for dinner. Some of their offspring are not bright colored but drab colored similar to carp color. For SMB and or HSB use yellow perch who do not bother swimmers. Golden shiners w/ FHM are a good forage to start with - Jones has them. Add minnows, shiners, perch this fall spring then predators the next fall2021. Some redears will not hurt anything but they may not contribute much to the panfishery angler catch.
