Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations New pond in SW Louisiana...your thoughts?

Hello I have a new pond that was dug this week...it is pretty much a by-product of building my housepad and driveway....the pond is .5 acres and 4ft to 8ft at its deepest, soil is hard and heavy clay...I would like to raise catfish and bream in it, have some ducks in it.....will this be deep enough to support these fish?...I will be digging a water well that will supply water to it and will get aeration if needed...here in SW LA the summers are hot and i'm worried that its not deep enough and the water will evaporate to fast and that I will have to keep pumping water in it to keep it filled up..all the while running up my electric bill lol

I bought 5 acres of farm land(crawfish pond and rice fields), the guy that did my dirt work used a 21yard scraper to do everything...my housepad is .8 acres and my driveway is 400ft long...then he laser leveled the whole piece.....total cost for everything was cheap...$3000!! its not perfect but it fit my budget.

what do ya think of the pond? too shallow?

front yard



housepad



whole pond



back of pond



left side



front of pond



front view




21 yard scraper

Hi Cajun, welcome to Pond Boss. Eight foot depth should be ok. You are right about
possible concerns about evaporation. Some of the experts will be here shortly and
give you plenty of useful information. The pictures look good - keep them coming
with each clod of dirt that is moved.

Welcome to the forum. I think it'll be deep enough for the fish that you want. I'd keep an eye on the ducks. My neighbor had a pair in his 1/2 acre pond and they kept pecking away at the bank, and kept the pond nuddy. His bank erosion problems and muddy water went away when the ducks went away. Also, duck poop is pretty rich, so you might have a higher than normal nutrient load leading to excess algae or weeds.

If you really want to have some ducks, I'd limit them (by a fence) to a very small portion of the pond, or dig them their own small pond.

Hey Cajun, welcome and nice first post. I'm not well educated about such things as you are referring to but my personal belief is that NOW is the time to make it deeper if you think you might want to. Sounds as if your dirt man is more than reasonable and for a small investment I think you may be happier if you were to have him hollow/scrape out an area of say 50'X50" another 3-4'. I was going to dig my pond 10' but was persuaded to go 12' to compensate for fill in. I wish I'd gone 15' due to my pond being a good 4' below full pool during the hot summer months and a leak. Also with deeper water and possibly aeration you will have options for different fish if you should so choose down the road. There is a fellow in Arizona raising SMB. You may be the first person in Louisiana to have Walleye. Also, no matter what you end up raising, get a really thick forage base established. I know it's hard to be patient but it sure beats doing it over after not doing it right. Best of luck to you and keep reading what the people in the know on here have to say. Bob-O

Kajun, at eight feet, you'll have to fertilize in late winter in an attempt to get and keep a heavy bloom. Otherwise grass will grow from the bottom of your pond, making it unusable. Boudreaux or Thibodeaux would tell you the same thing.

Hey Kajun - Being a "neighbor" of yours, I can only caution you about the depth you have right now. With the dry year that we have had, my pond is 3'0" below full pool. Luckily, I have an area that is normally 16' so my fish are not suffering but I think your 8' could get pretty dry if we have another year like this one.

Good luck with the pond! Contact me if you need any help that I might be able to give.