Pond Boss Forums INTRO New Forum Member Introduction Hi from Iowa

I’ve been lurking awhile and finally joined and received my first copy of Pond Boss Mag. I’m really impressed with this forum and all the great help you folks provide. It’s obvious there are a lot of people who love the pond world and all entailed while having fun with it.

My dream, since a kid in high school, was to have some rural land and maybe even a pond someday. Work and raising a family consumed most spare time but we had been fortunate enough to find a neat peace of land in prime hunting area about 28 miles from home, so we bought it. Then in 05 we finally retired. I dusted off that dream and in 06 we built a small ~1/3 ac pond. While working on the pond it dawned on me that the spot immediately north of the pond would make a great home site. I pitched the idea to my bride and she (I’m soooo lucky) agreed. So when most folks our age are thinking warm climates, paved roads, good shopping and simplifying lifestyles, we dove in head first to an exciting adventure!

ECD - Welcome. Any fish in the pond yet? If so what is the stocking history and the pond's apparent status?.

Welcome to the show.

You are entering a different lifestyle just when you have the time to enjoy it.

Thanks for the welcome's Bill and Dave.
We stocked BG and CC in Oct 06 and then LMB in jun 07. Also added some RES last fall.

Just like so many others i've read about on this forum I made a number of mistakes in my approach to the pond - sure wish I had discovered it sooner - can't cry over spilled milk tho.

Initially I stocked too many CC and LMB - because I didn't estimate the pond size correctly. I thought it was about 1/2 acre and didn't realize it was closer to 1/3 acre until I learned about Google Planimeter on this site. Then after starting to keep records of the fish RW's as learned here, discovered too many preditors. I have since been removing CC and LMB.

The pond filled nicely and holds water well. Originally I was worried I may not have enough runoff area so reworked the slopes near it and added berms to catch runoff from a neighboring farm field and channeled it to the pond - another mistake. I'm sure you guessed it - silt and nutrient overload. Originally the deepest area was about 25 ft now its 20! I redirected the water I had brought in from the field last summer. Also since additional runnoff from the same field enters my land and flows down the same ravine my pond is built from, I put in a second small pond up ravine. I hope these steps will allow my water to clear.

Where a bouts in Iowa are you from ECD? I'm from the Fort Dodge area. Welcome to the forum!

The silt and nutrient overload can happen to just about every new pond. I like what you did to cut down on it though.

Thanks for the welcome tjstubbs. We're located in SE Iowa near Mt Pleasant.

Yes Dave, I sure hope it puts a major dent in the silt and nutrient loading. We've also been working hard to get the surrounding soil greened up.