Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations After 2 yrs of setbacks

I've finally got my 1/4 acre, 12' pond with a 20' beach. Fast fishin and a good swimmin hole for my 7&8 yr old grandsons is all I want. Idealy, I want a mature population of 12-18HSB, 50SMB, 50RES, 150YP, lots of GHS, FH and some crawdads. All sides except the beach portion are 3-1 slope and there is currently 7' of water that is only 8 weeks old. Do you think any algea or zooplankton will grow by early march? I would like to stock 3# of breeder FH and 3# of small FH, some GHS(how many) and about 80 Papershell crawdads in early March. I'd like to put in a couple dozen YP and SMB just before they're ready to spawn. Would I need to stagger these a few weeks, YP first? I have 7 X-masss trees located very near 7 55 gal plastic drums cut off about 6-7" full of river rock and pea gravel in 3-4' of water and 6 floating pallets(for the FH spawn). I will put in more brush/trees very shallow for the GHS and YP. Will the FH and GHS be able to spawn and also serve as food for the YP and SMB? I hope to get some feed trained YP and SMB (hint, hint, CB1 and/or BC). I will wait until I see the yoy YP get about 1-2" before adding the HSB and RES. Will that be soon enough for the RES to spawn? I have a HP120-L Hydroflo linear air pump. It has a normal pressure of 2.845 psi, a closed pressure of 7.25psi @ 50Hz, 0.51 KG-f/cm2 @ 50Hz. Whatever all that means. My son in law got this and a stone for me. Will this work or did dumb-in-law screw up? How much will I need to run it to have proper turnover and good water quality? About 8-10'? (only a very small portoin is 12' deep, maybe80-100) sq.ft. I would like to add lots more mature YP and SMB as the yoy progress, but "it all depends". As Cecil would say, I.m a "serf with limited moohlah" If this plan is too complicated, I can always just go with the usuall fingerling stocking. I'm just tryin yo recoup a growing season. I know you'll have some ?'s for me. Please be patient as I have to go to the library in town to post on here. I can pm and recieve at home but figure there may be others interested in this approach being doable. Also tryin to put in support post for my pier, will Sakreet work in 30 degree temps(pour in dry or mix and pour), do ya think a gas ice auger would bore through frozen clay without tearin it up? Thanks in advance Bob-O

Bob-O

If fast fishin for your 7 and 8 year old grandsons is truly what your after, than I would recommend stocking 8-12" CC and a mixture of larger HB, BG, and RES. That combination will take to fish food very well and will also be very willing to bite any anglers bait.

Your stocking strategy sounds a little more along the lines of what brettski would call
10) To study aquaculture
21) A family or personal challenge to maintain a complex ecosystem

Bob-O:

Welcome to the world of SMB-YP-RES, the so-called "Brettski Option." I am stocking a similar scheme in a new pond this year. My plan is FHM, Gambusia, and adult pellet-trained RES this Spring (May-ish), followed by fingerling YP and SMB this Fall (I'm keeping my fingerlings crossed wrt SMB availability). You have several issues here; I am only going to tackle the one I am even remotely coherent on - the stocking plan.

I think the food supply in a newly filled pond in NE OR OH will be pretty minimal in March. March stocking may be feasible if you feed the forage fish. I don't know the minimum water temp for FHM (surface) feeding, but IME GSH (you are talking Golden Shiners, right?) will feed just about anytime there is surface water open.

Fatheads start to spawn about 60 deg F and GSH at about 70-72 deg F, so it will be a while before either species starts producing additional forage. If you stock YP large enough to spawn this year (7"+, IIRC), 1) they will have to go in shortly after ice-off (are they commercially available that early?) and 2) they will easily be able to eat adult FHM. If you can get feed-trained YP, or YP from a population that has been pellet fed for several generations (Dr. Perca himself, Bill Cody, indicates a much higher % of such perch take pellets) they will do much better at living on fewer FHM; otherwise you may need to up the # of FHM stocked to feed the YP.

Skipping ahead a year or so is possible with some stocking schemes, but is always more expensive to do right. Something to consider wrt limited moolah like you, me, and Cecil.

P.S. Cody should approve of having a YP spawn before stocking SMB.

Your ice auger power head will drill dirt WITH a dirt auger. I bought a 8" dirt auger that fits both my Strike King and Jiffy 2 H.P. ice augers at TSC I belive (Been a few years). I would think that if you used your ice auger you would tear up the blades beyond the point of resharpening. Also the dirt auger is sturdier than the ice auger. I have never attempted to drill frozen ground so can't advise you on that.

Most rental shops have augers, some up to 16" I think and some with remote powerheads driven by flexable shafts that I've used. Depending on the number of holes you need to drill you may be able to rent one cheaper. They would be able to advise you on the frozen ground.

Bob-O>The HP 120 is a very good pump in the right situation.It will operate on 60 hz for you vs 50 hz which is better. The startup pressue can go to 7.5 psi back pressure but must operate at no more than 4.5 psi (which will give you 2.5 cfm) which if you keep the airstone clean you will be fine. As far as putting it in 12 ft of water this will create at least 6 psi back pressure which this pump will not operate for long at and would drop your cfm to "1"With a 4.5 continuous psi rating you would want to be in no more than 9 ft of water.The open flow of that pump "zero back pressure" is 6.1 but linear pumps drop off cfm quickly as your water gets deeper.Try to feed your airstone with at least a 3/8 inch ID line,As far as calculating turnover it also depends on what type of stone it is, If it is a medium pore and you stay in the 4 psi range and dont overload the pond for a high BOD you should be fine.Monitor your back pressure with a stone diffuser and be able to remove it and clean it as the pressure goes up. Good luck

Bob-o,
Do not use your ice auger for drilling into dirt it will ruin the blades. They are expensive to replace. Check out your nearest rental store for a earth auger bit. I purchased one for mine on Northerntool.com ($120) and it works pretty good as long as you dont hit rocks.

Thanks to all who responded. Nate, guess I really want the fast fishin for SMB and HSB for me.I have access to a 4acre swamp/pond that is full of fish but hard to fish. Prehaps it would be better for the grandkids to learn the hard way. Theo, your answer bums me even tho you are right. It'd be hard and expensive to short cut it but it's just real hard to be patient when you're talkin yrs. I'll probably do it the right way with forage stocked and left to grow, reproduce and YP and SMB fingerlings when appropriate and available. Maybe even next yr for the HSB at a bigger size. Dan and Brian, rentin an auger and/or buyin a dirt bit is too expensive. Guess I'll do it Cecils yankee ice installation way. With all the rain and snow melt we're havin, once it re-freezes, I'll be set to go. Ted,I've tried to research this aspect but haven't been too successfull cause I just don't understand the #'s and pressures. I think I should use 1/2' id hose and place my stone at about 8'. The pump is gonna be about 15' from the pond with 1/2"pvc running to edge of the water where it will connect to the weighted hose. Do I need to put a pressure guage in the pvc right beside the pump? Bob-O

Renting an auger is a lot cheaper than replacing a Jiffy. The gearing on the Jiffy, or any ice auger is meant for a fast spin low torque use. An earth auger is slow spin, hi-torque. If you check your auger shaft, it will be a thin metal hollow tube, not designed for heavy use. The gear box MIGHT hold up but I doubt it.

In the PVC by the pump is fine for a guage just T it in , get a 0-15 psi gly-filled (liquid guage) perhaps Graingers.Be sure to vent the guage for an accurate reading as there will be instructions on the guage on this simple (but overlooked) procedure, There are some vented guages on the market but they are not as popular as the unvented style to date.1/2 inch tube is fine and 8 ft depth is fine also.Be sure your stone has a check valve on it as linears really struggle to push water out of a line at any depth.Brady makes a standard poly check valve available at any Lowes type stores (about $7)