Pond Boss Magazine
https://www.pondboss.com/images/userfiles/image/20130301193901_6_150by50orangewhyshouldsubscribejpeg.jpg
Advertisment
Newest Members
Shotgun01, Dan H, Stipker, LunkerHunt23, Jeanjules
18,451 Registered Users
Forum Statistics
Forums36
Topics40,902
Posts557,113
Members18,452
Most Online3,612
Jan 10th, 2023
Top Posters
esshup 28,418
ewest 21,475
Cecil Baird1 20,043
Bill Cody 15,112
Who's Online Now
4 members (teehjaeh57, Bobbss, esshup, Boondoggle), 754 guests, and 189 robots.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 904
Likes: 1
OP Offline
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 904
Likes: 1
So I've got an area just West of my large pond that I'm considering digging out to make a small forage/grow out pond. The area is fairly useless - it was a hill at one time but they cut the top off of it 4 years ago when they built the dam for the big pond. The clay is exposed and grass won't hardly grow on it - it pretty much just washes out into either the big pond or on down the ditch, depending on which side we're talking about...pic below with my idea - area in question in red.



I'm thinking fairly steep sides (2:1ratio) maybe max depth of 8-9 feet, no more than that. Goal is really twofold...the area is wasted so I may as well fill it with water, and it'd give me an option for other aquatics. I'd just add a small culvert on the SouthEast corner, so any runoff goes into the large pond. I'd more expect to need to pump water INTO this pond as there would be virtually no runoff into it - as it's a higher elevation than the other areas.

thoughts?


Dale

[Linked Image from i90.photobucket.com]

"When tempted to fight fire with fire, remember that the Fire Department usually uses water." - anonymous
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 2,435
R
Ambassador
Hall of Fame 2014
Lunker
Offline
Ambassador
Hall of Fame 2014
Lunker
R
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 2,435
Great looking place. I say, go for it - can't have too many ponds! What is the small pond used for?


Just do it...
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 904
Likes: 1
OP Offline
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 904
Likes: 1
Not much really...it's the original pond on the property - been there 15 years or so. It's our swimming hole. Has some large channel cats in it. Not much else. I had a post earlier this year talking about wanting to drain it and start over - just haven't convinced myself to do that yet.


Dale

[Linked Image from i90.photobucket.com]

"When tempted to fight fire with fire, remember that the Fire Department usually uses water." - anonymous
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 20
D
Offline
D
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 20
I'm looking at building a forage pond myself. I would like to raise some awfully expensive and hard to source minnows in mine. Just wondering why you plan on digging so deep. I was planning on 4-5 feet.

Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 904
Likes: 1
OP Offline
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 904
Likes: 1
I was thinking that if I ended up letting fish over-winter there I wanted to make sure there was enough depth so I didn't have a winter kill. Global warming aside, we do still have fairly decent cold spells around here occasionally.


Dale

[Linked Image from i90.photobucket.com]

"When tempted to fight fire with fire, remember that the Fire Department usually uses water." - anonymous
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 28,418
Likes: 794
Moderator
Ambassador
Field Correspondent
Lunker
Online Content
Moderator
Ambassador
Field Correspondent
Lunker
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 28,418
Likes: 794
The only change to your plan that I'd make is to make it more like a paint roller tray than have steep sides on all 4 sides. Having a sloped end will make it a LOT easier to seine and get out the forage fish. Make it longer than it is wide and you won't need that long of a net to seine it.


www.hoosierpondpros.com


http://www.pondboss.com/subscribe.asp?c=4
3/4 to 1 1/4 ac pond LMB, SMB, PS, BG, RES, CC, YP, Bardello BG, (RBT & Blue Tilapia - seasonal).
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 904
Likes: 1
OP Offline
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 904
Likes: 1
Originally Posted By: esshup
The only change to your plan that I'd make is to make it more like a paint roller tray than have steep sides on all 4 sides. Having a sloped end will make it a LOT easier to seine and get out the forage fish. Make it longer than it is wide and you won't need that long of a net to seine it.


Good idea! I was mainly focused on the weed control aspect of things but having a gradual slope would make it a ton easier to seine it out.


Dale

[Linked Image from i90.photobucket.com]

"When tempted to fight fire with fire, remember that the Fire Department usually uses water." - anonymous
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 904
Likes: 1
OP Offline
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 904
Likes: 1
Update on this project - 18 months later my forage pond is a reality. I had my excavator in doing some clean-out on the small pond and also some repair work on the back of the big levee and while he has the D-6 here I'm having him build the brood pond. It'll be 40 feet wide at the levee and around 100 feet long. 8 feet or so deep, tapering up to nothing.

As soon as he finishes I'm going to pump it full of water. Now here's where my PB pals come in...

What should I put in it??

My first thought was to make an order of the small fry GSH that Anderson Minnows sell so cheaply (relatively speaking). I can get 250k shipped in, and give them a few months to grow out before netting them out and dumping them in the bigger BOW's.

My long term plan is to try to grow my own populations of various sportfish...just for fun mostly.


Dale

[Linked Image from i90.photobucket.com]

"When tempted to fight fire with fire, remember that the Fire Department usually uses water." - anonymous
Joined: Oct 2014
Posts: 6,080
Likes: 1
Offline
Joined: Oct 2014
Posts: 6,080
Likes: 1
Hey Dale,

Please confirm the numbers. Roughly 0.1 acre new pond and you are considering stocking 250,000 GSH minnows. Is that correct?


[Linked Image]
Be Brave Enough to Suck at Something New!
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 904
Likes: 1
OP Offline
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 904
Likes: 1
Hey Bill,

Right, but the GSH are like 1/4 an inch long...it's the fresh hatch ones, still feeding on the egg sack when they show up.

I was thinking I'd put them in there and let them feed up for a couple of months then net them out and dump them in the big pond.


Dale

[Linked Image from i90.photobucket.com]

"When tempted to fight fire with fire, remember that the Fire Department usually uses water." - anonymous
Joined: Oct 2014
Posts: 6,080
Likes: 1
Offline
Joined: Oct 2014
Posts: 6,080
Likes: 1
Thanks. I have never done anything like that so I will interested in what some of the experts say.

Things I would ask about are:

1) Survival rate of that size to be expected
2) Enough forage in a new pond to support that quantity?

Are you going to fill it with water from another pond to get the forage base going?


[Linked Image]
Be Brave Enough to Suck at Something New!
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 904
Likes: 1
OP Offline
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 904
Likes: 1
Bill,

Yup, it'll be filled from the large pond. So it'll have a population of plankton and the like already. I'll likely fill it this weekend, that'll give it a few weeks to percolate before I put anything in it.


Dale

[Linked Image from i90.photobucket.com]

"When tempted to fight fire with fire, remember that the Fire Department usually uses water." - anonymous
Joined: Aug 2014
Posts: 3,952
Likes: 184
P
Offline
P
Joined: Aug 2014
Posts: 3,952
Likes: 184
D
That's a good idea I think I might borrow it!
Raise your own bait and forage! My BCP would love me for it


Do y'all think a 50' round would raise enough or need to be bigger?


Pat

Last edited by Pat Williamson; 04/07/15 07:08 PM.
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 15,112
Likes: 478
B
Moderator
Ambassador
Field Correspondent
Lunker
Offline
Moderator
Ambassador
Field Correspondent
Lunker
B
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 15,112
Likes: 478
For a minnow forage or fish pond, I would seriously consider adding some fertilizer to boost the plankton growth to produce a light green color. The water should have basically the same chemistry (alkalinity) as your main source water pond. Instead on adding inorganic fertilizer you could add some form of manure, cow, horse, chicken. About a 5 gallon bucket of manure maybe mixed with straw would be enough. Initially I think less is better than too much which can cause water quality problems such as low DO especially at night or during several cloudy days. Here are a few things to read.

http://www.auburn.edu/~clinedj/Spanish%20Publications%20Website/publications/English%20WHAP/FT3%20Organic%20Fert.pdf

http://www2.ca.uky.edu/wkrec/OrganicFertilization.htm

ftp://ftp.fao.org/fi/cdrom/fao_training/FAO_Training/General/x6709e/x6709e06.htm

Last edited by Bill Cody; 04/07/15 08:46 PM.

aka Pond Doctor & Dr. Perca Read Pond Boss Magazine -
America's Journal of Pond Management
Joined: Aug 2014
Posts: 3,952
Likes: 184
P
Offline
P
Joined: Aug 2014
Posts: 3,952
Likes: 184
Bill
How large does the forage pond need to be to pull maybe50# a year of fatheads and how deep


Pat W


Link Copied to Clipboard
Today's Birthdays
cro, HC1968
Recent Posts
pond experience needed
by esshup - 03/29/24 12:45 AM
Relative weight charts in Excel ? Calculations?
by jpsdad - 03/28/24 09:45 PM
Alum vs Bentonite/Lathanum for Phosphorus Removal?
by FishinRod - 03/28/24 08:28 PM
New pond middle TN: establishing food chain?
by Bill Cody - 03/28/24 07:57 PM
Happy Birthday Bob Lusk!!
by FireIsHot - 03/28/24 07:33 PM
Working on a .5acre disaster, I mean pond.
by PRCS - 03/28/24 06:39 PM
Fungus infection on fish
by nvcdl - 03/28/24 06:07 PM
Can anyone ID these minnows?
by Dylanfrely - 03/28/24 05:43 PM
1 year after stocking question
by esshup - 03/28/24 04:48 PM
Yellow Perch Spawn 2024
by H20fwler - 03/28/24 04:29 PM
New 2 acre pond stocking plan
by LANGSTER - 03/28/24 03:49 PM
Paper-shell crayfish and Japanese snails
by esshup - 03/28/24 10:39 AM
Newly Uploaded Images
Eagles Over The Pond Yesterday
Eagles Over The Pond Yesterday
by Tbar, December 10
Deer at Theo's 2023
Deer at Theo's 2023
by Theo Gallus, November 13
Minnow identification
Minnow identification
by Mike Troyer, October 6
Sharing the Food
Sharing the Food
by FishinRod, September 9
Nice BGxRES
Nice BGxRES
by Theo Gallus, July 28
Snake Identification
Snake Identification
by Rangersedge, July 12

� 2014 POND BOSS INC. all rights reserved USA and Worldwide

Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5