Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Selecting a site Minimum Pond Size for Tropy Bass Management

I am an environmental consultant in North Carolina who helps landowners get thru the permit process that is involved in building new ponds. The state and the federal agencies have been making it harder and harder to justify building fishing ponds. I wondered if there were any data on minimum sizes needed for ponds to successfully manage for bass. I also
serve on the state commission that adopts environmental regulations and we have dealt with some serious eutrophication problems on what I consider large lakes. But the limited data I have seen for smaller lakes (10 to 30 acres) indicates that is much less of a problem./ Any help would be appreciated. Local experts have recommended 5 to 8 acres as a minimum but can't locate a reference other than their experience.Kevin Martin

Hello Mud and welcome to Pond Boss. Hang on and one of our resident experts is sure to chime in.

Mud Martin,

Just out of curiosity, from my understanding as long as there are no affected wetlands, the dam is less than 25' and there are no roads or dwellings below the dam, that there is no permit process. Now I am in an unincorporated agricultural area, is your main focus for residential/mixed use areas? Also, what part of NC are you working in?

5 to 8 ACRES???????????? You may need to add a .0 to the front of those numbers! You can have TERRIFIC fishing ponds much, MUCH
smaller than 5 acres!

I would think the number you stated would be for public access ponds, and THEN only to make it need re-stocking less often.

Regardless of where you are in NC if you put a dam on a stream (intermittent or perennial) you will need a corps permit of some kind and possibly a state 401 permit as well , even if there are no wetlands. And the dam height limit is definitely 15', unless you impound less than 10 ac ft of water.