Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Help New Subdivision pond

I recently build a house in a subdivision on a 3.5 acre pond near Beaumont, Texas. Our association has elected me president and our primary concern is the pond. The pond may be 5' deep in the deepest part with 1' to go to the top of the spillway. The bottom is a clay/sand mix. The pond was stocked one week ago as per the County Ag. Extension service recommendations. I have started feeding the fish with little interest shown on their part. The water is currently muddy with some bank erosion which we are correcting. We will add 12 tons of lime after the shoreline corrections. There is not much drainage into the pond. I am requesting information as to limitations and factors to consider from this point forward.

Thanks,
Gary

Gary, the first step would be to determine why the water is muddy. Being shallow, it might have a tendency to have sand suspend due to the bank erosion. Dip up a jar of it and set it aside to see if it clears. If it does, something is keeping it suspended.

Are you sure it needs lime?

Hi Dave, thanks for your reply. The County Ag. Ext. Service has a marine biologist who came out and tested the water and recommended the 12 tons of lime. She added chemicals from a little packet to a water sample until the water was the right color.

Gary

Gary, Sounds like you are getting some Pro advice. Did she indicate that the clay particles were repelling each other and thus suspending? Is she a fresh water or salt water biologist? Take a look at the thread "Muddy Water" to learn more.

You asked about future steps.

Did she check alkilinity and Ph? You might need to fertilize as soon as the water clears to get a good phytoplankton base. Without it, nothing in the pond thrives. However, be careful about ongoing fertilization. In a new subdivision with everyone fertilizing lawns, you can get a nutrient overload. Build a sechi disk. There are discussions about it here with directions.

What did you stock and at what levels? I'm concerned about stocking prior to stabilizing the water.

I believe my first step would be to immediately contact the Pond Boss office and buy Lusk's book "Raising Trophy Bass". It lays out all of the steps and is about a lot more than the title suggests. Also subscribe to the Pond Boss magazine. It answers questions that, after many years, I still don't know enough to ask. Start reading the posts here. If you pay attention to the Pro's who post (I'm not one) you'll learn more than you thought you ever needed to know and will still have only scratched the surface of what they know.

Have you guys agreed on what the goals for the pond are? Who will set the goals and enforce the rules? Try to get everybody on board to agree not to fish for the first year and then, figure out the next step(s. With a limited drainage area, you might have to think about plans to maintain the water level.

It's all about 2 things. Water quality and goals.

Dave, thanks for your comments. The lady from the ag. ext. service did say that the clay particles were suspended. I don't know her background except that she is marine biologist and a fellow Aggie, uh oh! I did pull a water sample, as you recommended, and will see if it clears. She indicated the ph was around 7 and the pond would presently support fish.

We stocked the following about a week ago: 500 5" catfish, 1500 hybred blue gill, 500 redear, and 30# of flathead minnows. Bass will be added later. We had a couple of guys in the association who wanted white perch, but we stocked 100 black crappie instead which, I am told, are not as prolific.

You mentioned fertilization, how much do you add, how often and what does it cost? That's not in the budget at this time.

I subscribed to the magazine about a week ago and also bought the pond management digest. I am looking forward to receiving both.

We have neither formally nor informally developed goals. I can send out a questionaire, but I'm not sure what to ask. Any suggestions? I guess I would need to include annual estimated costs for various levels of sophistication (is that the right word?)

We have discussed the need for a constant water level and may address the issue in the next budget year. Assuming we put in a well, are there any limitations in what we can do in 6' of water?

I have sent a mail-out concerning rules and will probably be the enforcer myself. There are only 13 of us, so maybe it won't be too bad, they all know where I'm coming from.

Gary

Garlew:

I have opened the following thread: Developing Community Goals

specifically to explore questions that might be useful to yourself and others who need to develop common goals for shared waters.

Gary, an immediate red flag is the hybrid bluegill. Are you sure they were hybrids? Neither they nor the fathead minnows can provide an ongoing forage base for predators. For that, you need/must have common bluegills or coppernose bluegills. The hybrids will occasionally spawn but will revert to a green sunfish, a less than desirable sunfish but not one that I consider a huge problem. Since they and the redears only spawn once per year, they just can't provide the protien to sustain predators. If you are sure they are hybrids, get some common bluegills at the rate of 500 to 1,000 per acre ASAP. They can spawn 4 to 5 per year and are the work horses of the pond. BTW, the fecundity of a black crappie is 188,000 eggs; same as a white crappie. You may have a problem here.

The Biologist checked the PH. Did she also check the alkilinity? If she didn't check alkilinity, I question her credibility or experience with fresh water ponds. PH is the measurement of acidity or base. According to Lusks book, it is a reflection of free hydrogen ions dissolved in water. It is important but alkilinity is a reflection of whether fertilization, either natural or chemical, will work. It is much more important. Alkilinity, calcium hydroxide, needs to be a minimum of 20 parts per million for fertilization to work. BTW, fish manure can sometimes, depending on alkilinity, fertilize a pond. If a sechi disk test says you need to fertilize, I would start with no more than one gallon per surface acre. BTW, you don't really have to build a sechi disk. Just stick your arm into the water and measure how deep you can see your fingertips. If you can see more than 24 inches, consider using fertilizer. If you need more, add another gallon a week or 2 later. Disclaimer: I don't use fertilizer. It contributes to weed growth and can over enrich a pond. I've killed some nice fish by over fertilizing. Be very careful with that stuff. I have used liquid farm fertilizer with good results. I just put it in a pump sprayer and went around the sides of the pond spraying it and then got in a boat and sprayed some more. I really mention fertilization because you are fixing to lime your muddy pond and just might end up with gin clear water. That means no plankton base to feed zooplankton which feeds tiny bugs which feed; you get the picture.

I have never had to use lime so don't much about it. However, there have been posts here about it. Read them. Several guys have killed everything in their pond by using the wrong kind of or too much lime. It can clobber the PH level. Since I've already questioned the credibility of your AG Extension lady, I would ask a bunch of questions about the amount of lime.

Hold off on adding bass until they can go to sleep with their mouth open and wake up with a full belly.

Confused and questioning? Yep, most of us have been there and done that. Looking for absolutes? They aren't always there. Just remember that as far as ponds go, Murphy was an optomist. These things are like fast cars and fancy women. They can eat up a lot of cash and can break your heart.

BTW, Gary, your pond may have the right mineral content in the soil to offer correct alkilinity. Lime increases it. Since I don't know enough about lime, others need to chime in here.