Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Managing A Stretch of a River

I am looking at a piece of property that has about a half mile of river frontage. It is fairly deep and wide. There is a reservoir a few miles above it. It doesn't get hardly any traffic. Is it possible or practical to manage that section. I was wondering if feeding or adding forage fish would be practical for that section of water. Do fish move long distances? Is it legal? Anyone ever tried this?

I see no way of managing anything that isn't contained. It would be like introducing quail into your yard. I know several guys that have tried quail and never saw them again. I doubt that it is technically legal to introduce fish into public bodies of water.

If legal, you might be able to manage the habitat in the river to improve fishing along your frontage. Of course, that can get kind of expensive.

Heybud, make sure you really explore and understand what state laws apply to what you can and cannot do with river front property. I know that in California there are TONS of regulations related to river/stream frontage property. Seems like there are quite a few in Texas as well. Here is some basic info but you probably want to find out a lot more info that would be specific to that particular property.

Link to Texas river/stream law

Colorado River? I caught some nice yellowcat out of there until my fishing buddy/access to ranch got married and dissapeared. Women.

In Colorado there is a rancher that has automatic feeders on his stretch of the Blue River. This stretch has produced enormous trout as you can imagine. I bet that you could attract species of fish that utilize commercial food such as catfish, stripers
and no telling what else-probably carp, buffalo. I suspect they would hang around in a hole if they were fed on a regular basis.
I have only heard about the Blue River situation from a guide who floats that river. I personally have witnessed a family with a house on the Madison River in Montana who throw out bread scraps to the trout in their frontyard stretch of river. The fish rise instantly to the torn up bread and in large numbers.
I only hope they feed high protein bread. At the time I was unaware of trout nutritional requirements. I suspect there is enough supplimental food in the Madison to balance the diet though, but I am not much of an authority in this area.

You will almost always have to involve a public agency , but anytime you can improve even a small bit of hiding cover, you will be able to hold fish since you have created preferred cover. No containment of the fish is needed.

heybud said: "It is fairly deep and wide."

This is the only thing that bothers me, heybud. You know you can't resist the urge to dam the thing up, so be careful!

The feeding thing and the structure thing are both very interesting.