Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations New pond

Had new pond 1/2 acre constructed this past summer in MS. From 6' to 15' deep. Had 35 loads of blue clay trucked in and dozier spread the clay 24" in the deepest end up to 6" almost to the shallowest end. I have red clay soil, sandy loam, and in couple of spots sand/rock. I have several acres of run off and I had a well put in with a 1 1/2 hp pvc piped all the way to the bottom of the pond in the deepest end.
My question is if I ran my pump constantly and the water level goes up never recedes while the water is running I can only assume this is a good sign meaning the pond will hold water? I know that it will take some time for the water to saturate. But I can put a stick in one spot by the next day the water has passed the stick by several inches.

Yep, I would say that it holds water. But, keep an eye on it.

Why pump the water to the pond bottom ?

Why pump??

I have the pvc pipe extended over the pond bank and when I got the dozier to spread the clay it was washing some of the clay off the bank. So instead of losing the clay I extended the pvc pipe to the bottom. Actually I think I created something awesome I see air bubbles coming up from the pipe so I am thinking it is causing aeration as well??

ewest do you not think this is a good idea?

Question...

I was wondering when it will be a good time to stock my pond? I have read Jan - March? Also I was thinking 250 BG, 50 CC, and 20 LMB. I was also wondering will I need any GC and how many??

Thanks for the help!

HV

That's a good idea (on pumping) to fill the pond, but once the pond is full, have that well water splashing as it goes into the pond. It doesn't have any O2 in it, and it gets it by mixing with the air.

Another way to do it: Place some heavy plastic on the washed-out area and let the water run on top of that plastic. Remove the plastic once the pond is full. I did that with a thin roll of painters plastic. But, I only needed the plastic there for a day.

I'll let ewest comment on the stocking #'s since it's a southern pond.

Essup thanks for the response. I am going to post some pictures of the pond and how I have the PVC run. Before I said the pipe was extended over the bank spilling water on the bank. What I did was used a "T" fitting. Kind of like this... When the water is running I am hearing a gurgling sound but no water flows through the exposed pipe pointing up. So what I am thinking is that the bubbles I see coming out of the pond water is "AIR"??? Don't laugh I do not have pictures on hand currently.

-------T------ (exposed end with a 90 pointing up)
|
|
|-------------------POND

The plastic is a great idea will try that. We got heavy rains here in south ms yesterday evening and my pond is about 6ft to the spill way.

(I'll let ewest comment on the stocking #'s since it's a southern pond.)

Ewest, on the question I had about stocking my pond. It was measured by the county its more than half an acre like .65. I have structure made of pallets shaped into triangles (3) and (1) made like a box with a Christmas tree in it. I have (3) 6" pvc pipe trees. Can you create to much cover for a pond my size? All in all I have 7 structures located throughout the pond.

The well shouldn't be pulling any air out of the ground, and there isn't any air in ground water. What might be happening is the water that is flowing thru the PVC is creating a vaccum, and if the pipes aren't glued together, it might be sucking in a little bit of air. That little bit of air won't make any noticeable dissolved O2 change.

One acre is 43,560 square feet. IIRC Bob said that in a typical fishing pond, you'd want cover to equal 20% of the surface acreage.

Less structure = few collecting points for fish = more concentrated groups = easier fishing/fewer snaggy places. Less is more IMO. 10-20% is number I preach via Lusk too.

On the other hand, too little cover will make it super easy for the predators to eat the YOY and recruitment will suffer. I saw that in my pond.

(either that, or not enough female BG)

Got ya!! What about stocking what are the ratios for stocking .65 acres. I want a ratio of BG, CC, LMB and GC. And at this stage will I need GC?? Or do I want to go ahead and get those for future purposes? Keep in mind new pond first time filled with water, muddy currently with rain we had. I am going to seed the banks this fall maybe it will keep from getting muddy when it rains. I do know when it has not rained in a week all the particles settle down and the water turns a clear gray and then I will have big spots of green. I assume the gray is the clay in the water and the green was an algae bloom?

I'd put the seed down this Spring to 1) help reduce the amount of sediment that is washed into the pond and 2) I believe you'll have less weeds to deal with.

No need for GC. Wait until you have weeds that you can't live with, then make sure those weeds are on the GC "like" menu.

Best to have the water run over rocks or baffels to add air and run in at the surface not onto dirt. It will cause turbidity as well as wash the clay out in spots.

Stocking depends on goals. Spring , early summer and fall are good times in the south. Winter is ok if the water is not too cold.

I would wait on the GC. FH , CNBG and RES first then LMB. #s and sizes depend on goals

ewest says: "FH , CNBG and RES first then LMB. #s and sizes depend on goals" If pond is fertilized and/or if fish are fed will also make a big difference on stocking numbers and the normal crop that is present in the pond as it matures.

2 different goals that would require different stocking rates is managing for big BG or big LMB.

Essup, can you direct me to the lingo section. I understand CG,LMB,BG,CC. What is FH,CNBG,RES??? So my understanding will be I cant have it all and cake too! Yes I would like big CC,BG and LMB. But if I had to go with one I would pick LMB. Can you or someone let me know what I need to stock to have huge LMB in my .65 acre pond.

Thank you,

HV

HV -- I've been here a long time, and I still don't know most of the lingo. This post may help a little bit:

Acronyms and Abbreviations

HV --

You should be able to have large catfish and large bass at the same time. In both cases you will need lots of food and forage, mostly in the form of bluegills. Where you are at, you should be able to get and successfully raise coppernose bluegill, which are heartier and grow somewhat faster than pure strain bluegill. They will become your food base for the bass, and to some extent, for the catfish. They need to be fed, either through keeping your water very fertile, or through feeding on a regular basis. To get big bass, you will have to keep their populations down, and keep the population of the bluegill real high, which will result in small bluegill.

You can also add redear sunfish. They will not compete with the bluegill, and they will provide some forage for the bass and catfish. They can be a little difficult to catch, but they grow bigger than bluegill. They just aren't as prolific. They also are the best way to keep black spot, white grubs, and yellow grubs from attacking your bluegill and bass.

Catmando, you read my mind I love to fish for catfish and enjoy the action from the bass! At least I can have in mind what I want when I go to the hatchery. We have one close by called Slade's Fish Hatchery in Lumberton, MS. I hear they will help you and will lead you in the right direction.

Thank you again,

HV

HV

I just want to caution you on stocking the catfish -- from somebody who has a real love-hate relationship with these critters. Don't put in more each year than you figure you can take out the following year. They can become serious problems if they get too big -- probably above about 24 inches. And, the bigger they get, the more hook-shy they get, so they become difficult to catch.

EWEST can probably give the best numbers of fish to stock. But, start with the bluegill. Let them spawn a few times before adding anything else so you are starting with a good forage base.

When you stock the catfish, I would recommend no more than 20-25 in the 4-8 inch range. They grow very quickly. If you wait a little longer, to when your forage is well established, you can add 10-12 inch channel cats. They are quite inexpensive, even at that size.

Until you have a weed problem, I wouldn't worry about adding grass carp. If your pond edges have the right slope to discourage plant growth, you may never need grass carp. They too can become monsters in just a few years. Don't let the fish dealers tell you that you need 10-20 per acre. Think more about 2 or 3 in your size pond if you ever need them.

HV:

Just remember when reading catmandoo's posts, to substitute CNBG for BG. ewest said you are warm enough for CNBG to survive, so I'd stock them vs. Northern Strain Bluegill (BG).

I second Catmandoo's recommendstions on CC. I stocked 100+ in my pond, and cannot catch more than 1 per every couple of days, adn that's using trot or jug lines.

If you want to manage for large LMB, I strongly suggest buying the book "Raising Trophy Largemouth Bass" that's for sale in the Pond Boss reference library. There is a LOT of information in there, and you need to determine if that's the route that you really want to go once you find out what it takes to do it.

If that IS the route that you want to go, I'd also consider getting feed trained LMB and getting them to eat the Largemouth Pellets from Purina as soon as possible

If I had a choice, I would probably stock CNBG also. I am curious though, as to which variant would be hardier. CNBG vs BG.

I don't know what constitutes hardiness, or what the parameters would be in such a comparison, but I was under the impression that BG will survive wherever CNBG can, but the reverse is not true.

If that is the case, would'nt a northern strain be considered hardier than a CNBG?

CNBG will do very well in the south half of Miss (Lumberton is way south). BG will do well over the entire state. CNBG will do alright in the north half of Miss. The further north and the higher in elevation you go in Miss the more I tend to add in some plain BG to enhance the populations cold tolerance. In our ponds in central Miss we have both CNBG and BG in 2 and just CNBG in 1. I can’t tell a lot of difference in growth rates in our ponds with supp feeding except that the CNBG that came from George’s stock (George’s grandbabies) grow faster and bigger than the rest.

Here is one of George's grandbabies at appx 12 mths :