I am starting this post for a place to keep updates on my little pond. I had it built over 20 yrs ago. It started out about 1/2 acre and now I have got it up to an acre. I have added to the levee over the yrs with my Ford 1720 tractor, dirt scoop and a box blade. Where I live in east central Ark. we have good red clay soil under the topsoil. The watershed is about 20 acres out of a rice/soybean field plus whatever comes down the 5 acres of old pasture that the pond is on. The pond was built after all the cows were gone. I have let of go for years and it has got grown up with willow and other trees around it that I plan on removing as I can. I built a fish dock about 4 yrs ago and catch some fish from it.I just bucket stocked it over the yrs with BG, GSF, BH, CC, LMB and crappie. We have caught some crappie over the yrs but haven't caught any the past couple yrs. I have never caught a BH but have caught some nice BG, CC, GSF and LMB. My goals are just for a place to fish and catch fish especially since we have some grandkids. I am not trying to make it a big LMB or BG pond, just somewhere I can go and catch some fish. About 5 yrs ago I started working on it and fishing it more and that's when I realized that it was LMB overpopulated cause I caught a lot of skinny LMB and not any small BG or GSF. Also in yrs past while I would be bushhogging around the pond I would kill some of those horseflies bitting me and I would toss them in the pond to watch the little fish gobble em up. Well the past several yrs I noticed that there was not any little fish coming up the gobble those things up so I figured something was out of wack. Done a lot of reading and come to the conclusion that my pond must be LMB overpopulated by what was being caught. We have for the past couple yrs started taking out LMB and adding BG, GSF, BH and some more CC. I know that a lot of people don't like the bullheads or GSF but for my goals I think they will be just fine. I have eat BH before and they were just fine. I just do as the fish farmers do and put them in a vat for a day or so to purge the muddy taste out. One other fish I want to add is RES. I have noticed some mussel shells around the pond plus I would like to see some of those get on my hook. I will probably have to actually purchase the RES as I haven't found anywhere around here that I have caught any. I have made some pretty good brushpiles the past few yrs to help the small fish survive but I have started trying to clean up all the dead junk floating around the pond. I only want brush piles that I have made in there. I have made some spawning buckets for the CC and plan to make some more out of old tires. I plan on posting up some pictures of my pond and projects there as I figure out how and get some pictures of it.

I'm glad someone besides me enjoys a pond full of mutts. Keep working on reducing those LMB numbers! It takes time but you'll be pleased to see your hard work come to fruition. You may try setting some traps somewhere to catch some RES to bucket stock.

Thanks Mike. I just have to figure out which of my neighbors has some RES in their ponds and a way to sneak in there and get some. But seriously I just like to have a place to go and fish close to home. I have also been taking out all the GSF big enough to eat. And for me that doesn't have to be too big. I have caught some GSF BG crosses which is pretty neat. The past few yrs I have really enjoyed working on the pond to make it bigger. I was able about 4 yrs ago to build my fishing dock when the water level got pretty low. I also done some real digging making some deep places and adding to the levee. I come up with a way to make brush piles so they would stay put. I had trimmed some limbs around the pond and just stuck them in the ground at the waters edge to make a fence and then filled in with the rest of what I had. I have plenty of trees on this ole 10 acre pasture my father inlaw had. It has grown up over the years and we do some deer hunting there now. It's located next to a bayou and woodlands. I have a big number of cedar trees that I plan to use in the brushpiles. When I first had the pond built I dragged a big cedar tree to a deep part of the pond. We used to catch a lot of BCP around that ole cedar. Sorry for being so long winded. I will get some pictures of my pond up as soon as I can get them and figure out how to post them. I really like this forum and have found a lot of ideas on here. I will share some of what I come up with also.

We do like pictures. I used Google pictures to exit and post. It's really pretty easy to attach a link to them.

I think I will be able to get some pictures up later this week. Just got to get down there and take some. We have been rainy all weekend.

Here are some pictures of the pond about 4 yrs ago when it got low and I did a lot of digging and built my fishing dock.

Just found a overhead picture of my pond. This had to be a few yrs ago cause of the field across the road is now grown up with small trees.

Glad to read your posts, big! Keep up the good work, I can tell you have the passion for it.

Adding new fish to a pond with hungry bass is what I call a character builder.

Thanks Quarter Acre, I am very into my pond. Like I told my wife, that pond is my legacy to my grandkids along with the old pasture we use for deer hunting.
You are right Dave about putting small RES into a pond full of hungry LMB. We have been trying to catch out a lot of LMB and the big CC to give the small fish a fighting chance. That is why I have made several brushpiles and made some shallow areas for the smaller fish. But I would really want to catch some adult RES or buy some really big RES to stock. One other thing I want to do is get some more LMB to put in from somewhere else of buy them just for some different genetics. Don't know if that would make any difference or not but I figured that it couldn't hurt.

After more reading I have decided to start and keep a record book on my pond. I need to get a better idea what I catch out and put in. It't only family who fishes it anyway so I don't think it will be too hard to keep up with. Everything that I have been reading tells me that I have not been taking enough LMB out for what I have seen with the fish I catch. We have been taking all LMB out the past few yrs but I don't fish it enough I believe to make a big difference. We also have been taking out all the CC that we have been catching but that has only been about 10 this yr. Maybe a lbs or 2 each, just good eating size. I guess I need to buy some scales so I can keep track.

Try to get both lengths and weights for a few sessions. Having both measurements really helps track fish condition.

Yes I really need the weights cause I really think that the LMB we have been catching are skinny.

Is this enough info for my fish catch report?

FISH CATCH AND STOCKING REPORT

DATE QTY MODEL ET(LENGTH) MPH(WEIGHT) COMMENTS

Your links aren't working. I agree that you need to stock big/bigger fish to avoid predation. Bass in one acre are tough to manage.

What links are not working? If you are talking bout the one yesterday I came back and edited the post cause I seen that it didn't work. That is why I just copied and pasted what I came up with for a catch and stocking report. I was having a little fun with it with the ET and MPH cause I also do some drag racing and I have a log book to keep up with all my passes down the strip. I known that I need to fish the LMB out a lot more than I have.

Worked around the pond this weekend and took a few pictures.

Started my pond journal this morning. Writing down all my thoughts and observations over the years, plans and so forth. After a lot of reading about BCP and how they would take over a pond, I have not caught any in a couple yrs. We used to catch them but when I started back fishing about 5 yrs ago I only caught a few but they were some nice ones. Now not catching any. What happened? Did the LMB just take over and take out all of the little ones? I have some pretty nice CC in there also and did they help take em out? I also don't catch many small BG 5" and below. I was reading on here about how BCP can be kinda hit or miss on spawning. Just curious about what yall think might of happened.

Been moving some dirt this week and will be this weekend. Just me and my ole trusty Ford tractor, a box blade and dirt scoop.

In todays world you might be viewed as crazy for trying to move any significant dirt with a tractor that size. But I have often thought about that when viewing some large project such as an earthen dam or the horse dug strip pits in our area that were acomplished with horses and a drag type "slip".

Had those old timers with draft horses and mules had something like your tractor, they would have thought they had the world by the tail.

Do you catch lots of LMB? If you are bass heavy they may have taken over. Large CC are also apex predators.

Yes John I do catch mainly LMB on minnows when I fish but this year I have been catching some nice CC. We have tried to fish for the CC with chicken liver and worms but it's hit or miss. But by catching the CC on minnows it looks like they have got to the point to where they are after fish. As for my tractor and scoop, there is no telling how much dirt I have moved over the years. It's just about keep making laps. About 20 yrs ago I built up the area where I built my 30x40 shop bout 2-3 foot. My ground is red clay so it works pretty go for fill. My main objective now is to build up my levee on the west side since I have upped my spillway. I will be cutting out a lot of trees on the east side before the water comes back up. I hope to take out most of the trees around the pond over the next few yrs.

Did some more dirt work over the weekend. You would not believe how much dirt you can move with a tractor and dirt scoop. Digging it bigger and adding to the levee.

Going through some old pictures on this rainy day and found one that shows one of the stunted small LMB that we have been catching. This was July of 2016

That one does not look stunted to me. Just a young one. Maybe 6-8 months old.

I agree with John. This LMB looks healthy. LMB between the sizes of 6" and 10" tend have more forage available to them. They get first crack at the YOY BG.

Now that I have really though about what I have been catching and doing a lot more reading I will be getting pictures of what we catch and post them up. Hope to get back to fishing there before it gets too cold. I have been spending all my time down there working on expanding the pond. The reason I originally thought it was LMB overpopulated was cause I was catching lots of LMB and no small BG or GSF. I would catch some nice BG in the 8" range. One other thing that made me think that there was a problem with small BG was when I would kill one of those horseflies and throw it in the pond it would almost be eaten immediately and I noticed a few yrs ago that while bushhogging and throw one in that nothing would happen. So I figured that the small fish around the edge was just not there like before. Now I have started a journal to keep records about the pond so I will start getting pictures and keeping better records than just in my head. Thanks for the responses. One other thing might be the CC that are in the pond are now getting pretty large and we have been taking them out as we catch them this year. Maybe the large CC have been taking out the small BG and not so much the LMB doing it.

If you are catching lots of small LMB like the one in the picture and few small and medium size BG then it sounds like you need to be removing lots of small bass. They are wiping out your BG spawn before the BG reach any size most likely.

You could also add some fairly dense cover like cedar trees around spawning areas to give some protection for the BG fry and fingerlings so they can get bigger.

Thanks John for the response. That's what I was thinking after I started reading several yrs ago. Everything I read was saying that LMB overpopulating was very common especially in ponds that have been neglected like mine has been for yrs. I also think that I need to continue to take out CC since they are getting pretty good size and they may be eating up small BG.

We ended up with the opposite problem in our main pond, not enough LMB so the BG got carried away with themselves. I will say that I had put lots of cover for them (very little around the edge but I put lots out in the middle of the pond) and plenty of spawning area so that may have been part of the problem. I think I have that problem solved now by raising up a bunch of LMB fingerlings to 8-14" in another pond and transferring them to the main pond where the problem is. I'm already seeing the young bass whooping up on the smaller BG around the edge of the pond.

We also have CC in our pond and actually have recruitment in all year classes. I suspect once our LMB numbers are up to speed the CC recruitment may stop but that is ok too. We enjoy the CC and harvest lots each year (just cleaned a 2+ pounder last night). Our preferred size to catch them is in the 2-3# range. I do not like to see them getting bigger than about 3#. We fish mostly for pan fish so do not really care about having fish of any specie larger than that. A big LMB for our friends to catch once in a while would be ok but not a requirement.

I haven't seen any young CC or BH in my pond except some YOY BH back during the summer swimming in a wad about he size of a basketball in the edge by where I was fishing. I have put out 5gal buckets for the CC to spawn in with hopes of getting them started. The CC we have been catching I think are all some we put in over the past several yrs. Also the CC don't really hit the chicken livers or worms for that matter. I have caught them on GSH.

Some before and after pictures of trees cut down on the east side. The trees were where the shoreline was before I moved the spillway up. The water level still lacks about a foot till full flood.

Finally got to go fishing this afternoon. Caught 8 LMB All were small. 2 @ 7 1/2" 3@ 8" 1@ 8 1/2" and 2@ 9" My scale is not a digital one but one of those cheep hang up kind. So I weighed the total of all the fish and it was 2 lbs. Pretty small. I was fishing with GSH. Had a few more that got off. Didn't see any little ones around the shallows like I have been but it has cooled off. We had some lows in the 40s last week and today was in the 70s. Might give it a try again tomorrow if my minners don't die on me.

Went back again today. Minnows survived the night so I got to try em again. Caught a lot more little ones but did catch this 14" and 11" LMB. Caught 2 @7" 3 @71/2" and 1 @91/2" The 14" did weigh on my scale at 1 lbs. and the 11" weighed about 1/2 lbs. Total weight of all caught was 3 1/2 lbs. I think these are pretty underweight. They look long and skinny. What do yall think? I still think I need to be taking out all the lmb that I catch.

They do look to be thin. Look up relative weights for lmb and you'll get a better idea, especially if you get a better way of weighing them. They do not look to be too thin, however. Most pond's lmb tend to be 80 to 90% RW, IIRC. I would leave the lmb if you are trying to develop a BG pond, but if lmb are your goal them I'd say you need to make some room in the pond.

Well after the 3" rain last night the pond is full.

I don't think the fish are biting this morning.

I have been doing a lot of research on this forum. I have over 400 different threads that I plan on reading over the winter. Lots of good info I expect to get out of these threads to answer the questions I have about managing my pond. We are really fortunate to have such a great resource with all the expert moderators that are available to answer the questions we all have. I have put on my Christmas list for a subscription to the Pond Boss magazine.

After doing some reading here and at other resources I have come to some conclusions. 1 I really believe my pond to be overrun with LMB. 2 I think that the CC I have in here are also a problem as they have become a large predator. The ones we are catching are around 3lbs. 3 I used to have crappie (don't remember of white or black) but have not caught one since summer of 2017 so I would say that they are gone or not many around. I guess they lost out to the LMB. 4 I don't catch BG or GSF like I used to even though I have been bucket stocking them pretty regular for the past 4 yrs. What I have put in were 2 to 6 inch size. Some even larger. Now I have not fished for them but I would get some hitting the minnows I used to fish for the LMB. 5 We have put BH in the pond ever since it was built over 20 yrs ago and I have yet to catch one. Now I did see a cloud of fry this past summer so I believe there are some in there.
Now here is what I have done and plan on doing to improve my pond.
1 Expanded pond size to a little over an acre. I did that this summer and will continue to make it bigger. It won't be any deeper, I have maxed out on my levee and fishing dock as far as dept.
2 Fish hard for the LMB and CC so I can reduce their numbers to give the BG a chance.
3 Continue to add BG and GSF and not keep any till I start catching some of all sizes.
4 Work on some more brushpiles to help out the little fish.
5 Started a journal to keep up with fish caught and put in the pond along with any observations.
6 I want to add some RES to the mix but I have got to find larger sizes cause of the LMB
My goals for the pond are to have a fairly balanced pond to where I can go and catch BG GSF LMB and CC. I want the grandkids to be able to catch something about every time we go out. Now my priorities might change over the years because some of those monster BG look pretty good. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I think you are the right track for your goals. I would bet that your brush-pile efforts are very important and waging war on those large LMB and CC is the most important. 3 pound predators can really eat some big BG. Get the 3 pounders out and get as many big pan fish in there as you can. This way your 2 pounders can continue to grow if you can get a good population of pan-fish breeding.

It's funny how 3 pound fish can be perceived as a problem!

And, the solution is to fish hard!

Such a terrible problem to have!

Thanks Noel
The thing is the CC we caught this year was all on GSH. That kinda tells me that they are chasing fish. I had tried some catfish baits and didn't even get a nibble. I am really thinking next year about doing some trotlining. I should have my boat fixed by then. I am also thinking that I need to use some GSF under a bobber to catch the bigger LMB. I have a spot I can get them easily.

Lots of reading and reflecting on my pond. One thing that I have noticed is I don't have any plants growing in my pond. I never have as far as I can remember. I would have grass growing around the edges but that's pretty much it. I have lots of trees growing all around it and I have started removing them. Lots of willows on the levee that will be a booger to cut and remove. My water level will fluctuate a good 5 ft every summer when we get dry. Would that be the reason for no plants? Most of my runoff comes from farm land so I am pretty sure I get some fertilizer along with some chemicals but that don't seem to bother the area that it runs down to get to the pond. I was just curious so I thought I would ask here.

Willows are a big consumer of water from what I’ve heard- so it might be good to remove as many as possible before spring.....

build a cloverleaf trap....a few maybe, of different sizes...and start trapping your pond to survey the fish. You might be amazed at how many fish you still have in the pond that you haven't caught or seen from the surface!

I did buy a couple minnow traps a few months ago. Tried them once and didn't catch anything. I just used some marshmallows for bait so that might of been the problem. One other thing is I am a cricket, minnow and worm kind of fisherman and I am going to start using some artificial baits. And start doing some troutlining for them CC. I have got to get my boat repaired so I can be mobile on the pond. I have got to up my game on catching LMB and CC.

You might consider cutting some of the willows and sinking them in the pond to make cover for your YOY fish, especially near spawning areas. Without plants, the little guys don't have enough cover.

You might also think about buying some cheap WalMart type kiddie pools, filling them with appropriate size pea gravel, and attaching them to the bottom to help spawning. Do it at various depths so the BG can spawn regardless of water level.

I'm just now getting water plants & adding habitat, it is a constant battle!

I like cedars and have plenty of them. They generally last 3 or four years

Sounds like you are on the right track.

A feeding program would really help out your forage fish situation. The feed will put the existing BG adult population in a lot better shape to produce larger spawns.

Your intentions of adding adult size forage fish and putting in cover for the fry are good moves.

One thing I would suggest though is forgo the addition of GSF for the time being. I am not an anti-GSF guy at all. But consider their mouth size. A GSF will, inch for inch in length, have the same size mouth as a LMB. So you are removing small LMB but adding GSF with a similar size mouth and feeding capability. If you want more GSF in your pond, wait till you get your BG up to speed, then add the GSF later after your forage base is in better condition. My concern for the present is any adult GSF you add are adding to your predator population eating your 1-3" forage fish.

Since you are handy with that tractor, one way to put your forage fish production in high gear is to create a small forage pond. I have one 1/20th acre.

You would not even need to make it terribly deep. Just a very small pond, put about 3 or 4 pairs of BG with highly desirable features for brood stock, and sein it one to three times a year. I saw a couple of helpers in your pictures that would have a ball doing that.

You could make it shallow enough to be safe for your younguns to sein. I bet 1/40th acre 4' deep would do it. It might freeze out in the winter, but so what. Put a few adult BG in each spring. Make it narrow and long so it is easy to seine. Shape the bottom like a paint pan made for paint rollers.

Tip. Putting more adult BG in that size small pond will not make it produce more fry. The added adults will just eat more of the fry. Some very old research papers showed that. Just a handful of adults is all you need to produce a pond full of fry.

Build it so it will not flood from the main pond or you will end up with predators in it.

Thanks Guys for some good Ideas. I have lots of cedars and I am planning on building a small fry area. I plan on making a fence of sorts by driving pvc pipe into the bottom every foot or so and then filling that area with lots of cedars along with tree limbs of all sorts to make an extremely dense cover area. The fence will be to hold the stuff in place. This will definitely be a no fishing area. I am hoping that with all the dirt dug out in some new areas that the BG will take to it. One note on spawning area, 5 yrs ago when the pond got low and I was a digging I noticed some spawning beds by a willow that had grown up in a shallow spot. There was like 3 or 4 around this tree and I though it was just BG but when we would fish that area we always caught LMB so I think that was a LMB spawning spot. The reason I thought that also was some LMB spawning habitat deals I seen that showed that LMB like to have something to back up to.

bigpullerman,

You mentioned that you want a pond where the kids can catch a mess of eating sized panfish without much waiting for a bite. Hybrid sunfish are a pretty good bet for this because they are slow to become hook shy and grow to eating size (6 - 8 in) very quickly. They can be expensive to source in the quantities you may want them however. On the other hand, if you construct a forage pond, you could grow them and transfer them at 3 or 4 inches to the main pond.

While I wouldn't suggest trying to produce hybrids in your main pond from parental pairs, this link demonstrates how hybrids can be used in combination with LMB to have a remarkably productive fishery.

If he had an empty forage pond, throwing in a half dozen male/female BG along with a single female GSF would get him all the hybrids he would need.

Pick some really good looking brood stock.

I know this is not a modern day stocking preferred method. But if you look up some of the old 60's and 70's research papers back when farm ponds were more looked at as a food source rather than a recreation source and commercial stocking fish were not nearly as readily available it was common. The way they did it in the old days may not be the way to do it for sportfishing trophys, but I bet it still works to produce fish.

Here is an example of an old study using parentals for stocking. PDF download.
RESxGSF hybrid potential

FWIW I have one GSF in my pond with our BG and PS and it is not unusual to catch a HBG. I think the HBG fry might actually have an advantage over the pure bloods due to their aggressive nature and rapid growth.

Here is another research paper using parentals.

using BG and RES males with female GSF parentals

There is good information in that paper for anyone interested in hybrid sunfish even if you do not intend to do the stocking by parentals.

The fish were raised in what they call infertile ponds. With a feeding program I think it would work even better.

Some good Ideas on forage ponds. I don't think with the way my ground is that I would be able to make one but I am doing some thinking about it. I would have a lot of trees to deal with and have to have a good source of water. I might could do something upstream of the my pond but might have to pump into it from the main pond to keep enough water in it. I had though about a sediment pond about my pond, but the tree issue is still there. I would have to cut out a lot of trees and dig out the roots. But you fellers have given me plenty to think about. Keep those ideas coming. Just out of curiosity, could a person raise BG/HBG/GSF in 100 gal water tanks?

Yeah, you can raise them in tanks. But, the problem could turn into nutrient over load from their waste. You would have to change the water or partially change pretty often.

As my fish supplier does: various tanks for holding the fish, each tank plumbed to a central manifold (connecting all the tanks) which feeds a pump and sand filter which then feeds another manifold which feeds the individual returns to each tank. Quite a few valves for controlling flows through each tank and for isolating and draining tanks. He has an electric aerator for each tank, so there's also a lot of wiring in conduits.

I have pondered the idea of setting a 100 gallon tote next to the pond, then run a small koi pond pump to pump water to the tank. Have an overflow gravity flow back to the pond. Could even do a bottom draw but make sure it didn't siphon.

If the fish ultimately will live in that pond they would already be conditioned to the pond water. With a reasonable flow through amount, shouldn't even need aeration. The pond water should already be aerated.

Clean bottom waste with water capable shop vac.

I have not done this. Just speculation.

Member Bruce Condello built a flow through raceway for growing fish that was fed by pondwater. Lusk briefly showed the system on one of his podcasts where they talked about growing big bluegill. On it they said they were going to describe it but did not do much about details for it. An article about this topic should be placed in a future Pond Boss Magazine. One important concern to be dealt with is installing a simple flushing or removal method for the fish waste. Member Cecil Baird has described his indoor fish growing tanks that would could easily be adapted for a flow through system adjacent to a pond. I will look for the thread where this system was described.

Cecil Baird1 Small Scale DIY RAS 2.0 Intro Part 1
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=437132

Possible repeat of above link:
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=437166#Post437166

Part 2 The Tank
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=437125

Part 3 Center Drain
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=437208

Part 4 Siphon, Pump, & Clarifier
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=439135

Cecil's Outdoor fish Tank Note the bottom drain system NOTE HIS GOOD INFO ABOUT AMMONIA AND REMOVING IT AND SUSPENDED SOLIDS.
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=25891&Number=331510#Post331510

Cecil has redesigned his filtration system. I will see if I can find info about it? Although filtration should not be needed for a flow through bottom drain tank.



Out dated filter links:
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=27920&Number=356673#Post356673

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=284490

No offense meant to any posts above.

I may be wrong, but I have experienced cut willows taking over wet or very damp areas. I would not suggest putting fresh-cut willow into a shallow area of pond, or any regularly wet areas.

Most willows will grow roots and establish themselves if cuttings or attached branches are in contact with wet areas.

You can help your hatchery success and enjoy a colorful and good tasting garden in your pond. Many of us have had very good success with floating islands growing a variety of non-invasive plants. The plants take up nutrients. Their roots grow deeply into the water and provide good habitat for fry. Many flowers and vegetables, including edibles like lettuce, spinach, cucumbers, radishes etc., will grow very well on a floating island.

I would definitely get the willows off the levee. Any trees on the levee will weaken it. The can cause a lever failure. Willows are especially harmful because their root systems strongly seek water and can grow very large and disruptive.

No offense taken, catmandoo. I was trying to help, but didn't realize willow trees would respond differently than other trees. Thanks for educating me!

Very interesting stuff Bill. Got my mind to working now. If only my body and energy level can follow through with what my mind comes up with!

Lots of good info there. I have a 100 gal water tank I got back in the summer. We have lots of small trees,flower beds and a garden to keep watered. The faucet always leaks where the hose hooks to it. I had been using a barrel but stepped up to a cow tank to catch that water. We use all of it for watering but I started keeping my leftover minners in the bucket in there for a few days over the weekends. We have mosquitoes so it has plenty of food for small fish. The water gets changed out quite often too.
I plan on totally removing all the willows. It will take some time to get it all done but that is the plan. I won't be using any for brushpiles. I have figured out a place for the dense brush area. Probably a 20' X 30' area. I plan on throwing all my cedar limbs along with some oak, hickory, gum and whatever else I trim or cut down except willows. This area is closest to my house so I chose this spot cause of the idea I have about making a bug killer to hang over this spot to feed the fish some nice tasty bugs. I could run some extension cords to see if it will work and if it does than I would run a line down there. If I do that then that leads to the aeration idea I have been kicking around.
Another idea I have been thinking about lately is spillway pipe with the boards that I can pull out to drop the level a few feet. I have got a place in mind next to my current spillway. This will cost some $$$$ to do and I will have to rent or borrow a small trackhoe to do it. So I have got to start picking up cans so I can fund this project.
Still thinking about the sediment/forage pond. This would be in the entrance to the main pond. But this project would be farther down the road.

BPM, I admire your patience and perseverance.

I've recently finished up de-mucking and deepening a .35ac pond.

The comment you made a couple posts after the picture of your little Ford about how you just gotta keep making laps is dead nuts.

Thanks Augie There is no tellen how many hours I have spent digging out in my pond. My son, son in law and grandsons took a walkabout on Christmas afternoon. I was telling them my plans and ideas I had and they commented on how much larger the pond was now. When you don't have big equipment then you have to have patience, perseverance and dedication.

Been a while since I have updated here. Did lots of reading on the forum and on the few days it was not raining I walked around the pond thinking about what I would need & like to do.

1. Cut down all the trees, gum, oak, cottonwood and willows on the levee and all around the pond. I will leave a few oaks and all my cypress.

2. I think I can build a small forage pond next to the main pond. I would build a levee with a gated drain pipe so I could empty it into the main pond. I would use a gas powered waterpump to fill & maintain water.

3. Build a siphon pipe to draw down the pond so I can get back to digging and not rely on just a long hot summer to get the water down.

4. Get serious about doing some fishing to catch out those LMB and CC. Also target some BG and GSF to see what all I have out there.

Looks like I got my spring, summer and fall all planned out.

Sounds like you have a "plan". Keep up the good work.

I think you will find a forage pond another very interesting addition. I spend a fair amount of (enjoyable) time managing my forage pond. Thinking about pumping mine down later in the year and taking it in a new direction.

Working on the pond this weekend. With all the big rains we have been getting this winter I had water washing over the levee where I didn't have the chance to build it up before winter. I knew it was probably going to be a problem just didn't know how bad. Didn't see any really bad erosion but I have got to get it fixed. Built a siphon drain Sat. and started it so the pond level will be going down so I can get to digging and removing trees. 1st I have got to get the water level down and dry out the levee and behind the levee. Here are a couple pictures of the 2 inch siphon I made.

After a week of my 2" siphon running the pond level is down about 2.5 feet. The siphon is still running and I hope to get the level down another couple feet. One other thing I have decided to do is put in a bottom draw siphon overflow system. That doesn't look like it would be too hard to put in. I have got the get all my trees cut off my levee first but as soon as I get that done the siphon overflow will be the next project.

Didn't make it back down to the pond till yesterday evening and found the siphon had stopped because the water level had got down to the intake. Don't know how long since it stopped. It had dropped the level 3.5 ft. This reduced the surface area by about a 1/3 of full. I have learned to use 22 degree elbows instead of 45. I am adding some more pipe to the intake side to get a little lower and will start it back up again. If weather permitting it will be chainsaw time at the pond.

Well after several hours and a 1/2 a dozen tries I finally got my siphon going again. A few tips. I switched to 22 degree elbows. I carried all my pipe and fittings to my shop to glue them together properly. I was getting dirt in the joints and the glue was not holding cause I didn't let it sit like you are suppose to. I switched to those rubber couplings to put the 3 sections together. I have the intake section with a waterpump pickup plastic screen on it. Then the middle section going over the top of the levee with the tee in it to fill up. And the discharge section down the outside of the levee. I will get some pictures up in the next few days. I first done all this by just sticking some pipe and fittings together and it worked but I wanted to make it a little better and move it to where the levee was taller on the back side. You know what they say about beginners luck. Now I got something that I can take apart when done and put it back up again when I need to draw the pond down. This will be another tool in my pond management arsenal. Hoping for some good weather pretty soon on a weekend to use some of those other pond management tools, namely that fishing pole.

Pictures of the new & improved siphon drain. I made it so I can easily take it down or put back up. Been up for a couple days and is working fine. This is also the place I plan on putting in a permanent bottom draw siphon style overflow that I could use to draw down also. I am thinking a 6 inch size for my pond would work. I have only had a spillway to control the water before so I think this would be a lot better.

Been a while since I have updated on my pond. The siphon worked great & drawed the pond down 3 1/2 ft. I added 2 ft. to the intake side which will maybe add about a ft. to drawing it down cause of the angle. Mother nature gave us a 3.6 inch rain Wed. so the pond was back full again. So now for the 3rd time I have started the siphon to draw it down. Since last Oct. it has rained just about every week so I have not been able to get started on moving dirt.
On another note, we tried fishing on 4-27 but the water was like chocolate milk. Not a bite using GSH and worms. With all the rain runoff from the freshly worked bean field the pond got muddy.

Siphon is still going. The good Lord blessed us with another 3.1" of rain yesterday morning so it will be going for a while more. We will be doing some fishing this weekend to see what we catch. The water cleared up and had that olive green tint so I hope the fishing is better.

BPM,

Looking forward to your fishing report next week from the weekend outing. Pictures please!

Well my 3 day weekend of fishing turned into only getting to fish Memorial day. We caught 5 long & lean LMB with the biggest one being 11" Slow day of fishing. Big algae bloom. Could only see about 1'. Olive in color. We were fishing with GSH. No fish after lunch with only a few nibbles. We then went to the ditch and caught 45 GSF 2-5" and put them into the pond. The best part of the day was seeing a small school of BG by the dock about 3-4" long. 1st fish caught was a nice BG around 8" long in the picture below. Got to get my boat fixed so I can get out there amungst those LMB. We can only fish so much from the dock.

Went out this morning for an early morning fishing trip before work since I still had some leftover GSH. Saw lots of activity on the surface but didn't catch anything with the GSH my wife and I was fishing with. The water is getting greener with algae and I don't know if that has anything to do with it. My siphon stopped sometime this week and I tried to restart it with no luck. Guess the water is too low and I have too big of an air bubble in the pipe. So I got a hand pump to pump out the air and will try again this weekend. Also the top it off there is a dead opossum floating around out there. So my conclusion is that the skinny LMB must not be starving or they have become picky eaters.

Sometimes they just dont want to bite! You may go back this afternoon and catch one after another. I've had that happen many times when fishing tournaments. A place I knew held fish consistently but couldn't get bit. I would either stay on it until they turned on or leave and come back a couple hours later and find they had started to feed.

We went back this afternoon with no luck at the fishing dock. Went over to the east side and my wife did get a bit but couldn't get it in. Don't know what it was but it was a fish about 8-10 inches. I do think that I have a filamentous algae problem. I noticed that I would have some green goo when I would reel in. Visibility is pretty low. So for now I won't be fishing till I can get my boat ready and do some troutlining for those CC. I have got to get busy on building up the levee now that it has dried out some. Still got to get the water level down some more and my siphon had stopped working this past week. I tried to restart but no luck. I have too much of an air bubble since the water level is lower. I got an air/fluid hand pump I am going to rig up to pull the air out and retry it again. Many of my GSH that I got to fish with on Memorial day were still alive and that is why we got to fish this weekend. I put the leftovers in the cattle tank behind the house so we will see how long they live there. They will have plenty to eat with all the mosquitos that are coming out.
Anyway my priorities right now are to get the levee fixed and remove trees off of the levee. I will update as work progresses.

Drove around the pond yesterday and the green algae looks like it is gone and it is now the dark olive algae like it normally does this time of year. So maybe I don't have that filamentous algae problem after all.

I finally got to take my wife on the pond in our boat today. I have some questions so I hope I will get some responses. I was skunked by my bride 5-0 She caught 2 8", 1 10", 1 10 1/2" & 1 11" All were male LMB and we was using GSH for bait. I did take out a BG that was struggling to breath. I picked him up with a boat paddle so that tells you he was about dead. I threw him out in the field cause I didn't know if he had something wrong with him. His tail was red so I don't know if he had worked himself to death or what? That is one question I have. The main question is I am not catching any larger size LMB. And now we are not catching many of any size. We use GSH. I have a couple new rod & reals to do some artificial lures but just haven't got around to setting them up. Today I seen the most little minnows around the fishing dock and along the shallows. That has to be a good sign. I could not tell what they were. Some were as small as 1/4" on up to an inch or so. We see lot of fish activity when we are at the pond with fish splashing around and so on. Everything I read here says to take out about 25 lbs of LMB a year per acre. So do I need to continue taking out the LMB? What if I started throwing out some fish food to see what comes to get it and get a better idea what is in there? Now that I got my boat back up I am going to do some yo-yoing & troutlining for the CC in the pond. I plan to set them in the evening and checking them the next morning. Any ideas on my LMB would be greatly appreciated. Thank You in advance.

Here is a picture of the LMB caught yesterday.

Hello big puller I know nothing about how many to keep and how many to put back. The one thing I know is i wouldn't have left til i caught at least 1 noway I can have my wife skunk me lol. She would be on facebook blasting me.

This was her post on fb. She ddn't blast me too bad I guess.

"After working all day yesterday replacing the pool deck floor, we treated ourselves to Sunday all day fishing. Buddy R Hill was a great fishing guide while I caught all the fish!!"

She let you off easy LOL

Got to do a little fishing at the pond today. Put out some yo-yo's and did some good. Caught 5 small lmb on them and R&R. But caught 3 nice CC. 1 19" at 3 lbs. 1 21" at 3 lbs and 1 21" at 3.5 lbs. Not the most accurate scales out there but it's what I had. I had one LMB that got off a yo yo that looked big. Below is a picture of the catch. Some good eating in our future.

It's been a while since I posted. The pond had stayed as full as it has ever been all year. Never got below the original full mark and stayed above it most of the time. I tried a few times to run my siphon to drain it down but just gave up cause it would rain and fill it back up. We did ok fishing and I kept some BG to fry up cause it has been a while since I have had any. Nothing huge, just in the 8" range. I finally got to cut a few trees down on the levee but have got a lot more to do. I bush hogged behind the levee also to get all that mess cleaned up. I just didn't have a lot of time to put into the pond this year. Lots of rain = lots of mowers needing repaired and I also took on a part time job working Fri & Sat nights cooking at a friends dairy bar. Then my garden took up a lot of time this year. Now that the Holidays are hear I can catch up on here reading about what all everyone has done.

Been almost a year since I updated here. Done a little fishing but not catching anything with any size. My wife and I have been cleaning around the pond the past couple weekends and I am seeing lots of little minnows an inch or so in the shallows. I am concentrating on cleaning up all the limbs and logs in the pond and clearing the trees growing on the levee and around the edge. Pond stayed at full to about 2 ft low which is what full pool was before I raised my spillway. In the pond photo 66 is the west side and those big trees are dead from the new water level and in pond photo 67 is the east side with the same deal with the trees being dead. Once I get the tree problem cleared up I will be concentrating on the fish.