Hello from TX! - 06/08/22 09:16 PM
Hello everyone!
My dad and I work together to manage our family's ranch in North Texas. We have been managing for primarily hunting the last 10+ years but starting this year we are turning are attention to the fisheries that exist in the different bodies of water on the property. After fishing a few of the ponds over the last few weeks and lurking on Pond Boss in that same time, I will ask the first of many questions here.
Two of the ponds I have fished in the last week have been found to only contain GSF. Each pond is between 0.3-0.4 acres and heavily vegetated. Pond A has over 50% lilypad cover in the summer while Pond B is thick with algae until 10ft from the shore. Depth of each is unknown at this point.
Pond A is a pond that is closest to our building site and I think it would be a great opportunity as a put and take pond for CC. I think it would be a treat for my kids to go out and "catch dinner". I am assuming I could stock 8" or so CC (or the biggest size to avoid consumption by GSF) and not have to do much else? The pond would not be fed as I am hoping the existing forage base of GSF and whatever else would sustain a put and take catfish operation.
Pond B is unique in that it is the only pond on the ranch that is not a dark mix of oak tannins or red dirt. Throughout the pond you can see a depth of 2-3 feet. It is for the reason I think it would be really cool to have a single predatory "pet" fish. It hopefully wouldn't demolish the GSF forage base and the clear water could make for some cool viewing. My initial thought was a Gar species since they stay closer to the surface and would lend itself better for viewing pleasure, but am open to some more imaginative guesses.
I imagine I could add some BG to either pond to increase forage if need be as well as long as they are bigger than the GSF mouths.
Thank you!
My dad and I work together to manage our family's ranch in North Texas. We have been managing for primarily hunting the last 10+ years but starting this year we are turning are attention to the fisheries that exist in the different bodies of water on the property. After fishing a few of the ponds over the last few weeks and lurking on Pond Boss in that same time, I will ask the first of many questions here.
Two of the ponds I have fished in the last week have been found to only contain GSF. Each pond is between 0.3-0.4 acres and heavily vegetated. Pond A has over 50% lilypad cover in the summer while Pond B is thick with algae until 10ft from the shore. Depth of each is unknown at this point.
Pond A is a pond that is closest to our building site and I think it would be a great opportunity as a put and take pond for CC. I think it would be a treat for my kids to go out and "catch dinner". I am assuming I could stock 8" or so CC (or the biggest size to avoid consumption by GSF) and not have to do much else? The pond would not be fed as I am hoping the existing forage base of GSF and whatever else would sustain a put and take catfish operation.
Pond B is unique in that it is the only pond on the ranch that is not a dark mix of oak tannins or red dirt. Throughout the pond you can see a depth of 2-3 feet. It is for the reason I think it would be really cool to have a single predatory "pet" fish. It hopefully wouldn't demolish the GSF forage base and the clear water could make for some cool viewing. My initial thought was a Gar species since they stay closer to the surface and would lend itself better for viewing pleasure, but am open to some more imaginative guesses.
I imagine I could add some BG to either pond to increase forage if need be as well as long as they are bigger than the GSF mouths.
Thank you!