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Originally Posted by RStringer
It crazy how ever situation is so different. Like the sayin goes " it depends ".
It is a good idea, just kind of hard to make it work in my case. As I said before, I was thinking I might be able to build it up some with the dirt I dig out if I hit good dirt but I was hoping to make it about 3' deeper and I think if I raised the dam more than 1' (if that) I'd have problems and have more work to do.


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How about adding a peninsula in a favorable place? (Assuming your excavated material is not runny slop.)

It could be used as a good shore fishing spot for kids, scenic spot to place a bench for your wife, wave break to stop fetch in the direction of your prevailing wind, etc.

If you cut back the shoreline just a little approaching the peninsula, then you could have the same surface acres and an easy spot to place your excavation spoils.

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That would be even harder to do. The ravine my pond is built in is narrow and steep. My pond is kind of long and narrow and deep with very steep sides. Down by the dam is probably the only area I could maybe do it. My pond will be about 148' wide at the dam and 262' long. It will be about 19' deep near the dam and even at 200' from the dam it is probably around 8'-10' deep in the middle. I'm figuring it would take a lot of dirt to build up a peninsula.

My banks are so steep it is hard to walk around. It wasn't the best place to build a pond but it was the best place I had. Lol!


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I was just spit-balling some more ideas.

If possible, I would still try to build up at least a shelf at one spot on your banks. Just to give a little space to walk, have an exit from the water for someone that falls in along a steep bank, etc.

Good luck on your project!

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Thanks Fishinrod
I would like to do something like that in a few places one of these days but it won't be easy. I have always planned at the very least to level off a few small spots with a shovel so I would have somewhere to stand and fish. I'm still waiting to see where my shore lines will be to do something like that.
I wanted to build in a peninsula or two or some coves when it was built but my builder said do to the steepness there wasn't much I could do. After he was done I could see it would of been hard to do much else.


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Something I realized last year also. The bigger the peninsula the more shore line. More shoreline means more to take care of. We weedeat ours right up the the edge so that adds alot of time. I'm not complaining because I love how mine has turned out so far but its alot of time during warmer months.


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I suspect your pond is going to look great this summer Rusto!

Perhaps you should train two goats to do all of your shoreline maintenance this year. laugh

P.S. Have you seen any of your new HSB yet this spring?

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Originally Posted by RStringer
Something I realized last year also. The bigger the peninsula the more shore line. More shoreline means more to take care of. We weedeat ours right up the the edge so that adds alot of time. I'm not complaining because I love how mine has turned out so far but its alot of time during warmer months.

If you plant rushes and sedges along the shore, and only weedeat certain areas it makes it more difficult for geese to land on the pond and exit the pond to graze. The shorter rushes/sedges are easy enough to fish over, the band doesn't have to be wide, just look like a fence to them.


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I ran the cormorants off yesterday and again this morning, lots of them along with about 50 ducks. Found several dead Bg dead and floating sizes were 3 to 7". Time to declare war.


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Originally Posted by esshup
Originally Posted by RStringer
Something I realized last year also. The bigger the peninsula the more shore line. More shoreline means more to take care of. We weedeat ours right up the the edge so that adds alot of time. I'm not complaining because I love how mine has turned out so far but its alot of time during warmer months.

If you plant rushes and sedges along the shore, and only weedeat certain areas it makes it more difficult for geese to land on the pond and exit the pond to graze. The shorter rushes/sedges are easy enough to fish over, the band doesn't have to be wide, just look like a fence to them.

I really like this idea for my future ponds.

In addition to a visual goose barrier, it would also mitigate some shore erosion, and take up some of the pond nutrients that might be utilized by the dreaded FA.

What do you think about laying down some old chainlink fence on the shorelines right after the dozer finishes dressing the slope? The shore plants should grow right through it. Would it be worth the effort as an erosion barrier while the plants were getting established?

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Originally Posted by FishinRod
What do you think about laying down some old chainlink fence on the shorelines right after the dozer finishes dressing the slope? The shore plants should grow right through it. Would it be worth the effort as an erosion barrier while the plants were getting established?

It won't create much of an erosion barrier, you need something more dense than that. It WILL minimize Muskrats and Beavers digging into the banks if the water drops quick enough. I have had Beavers tunnel into the bank in about 40" of water, Muskrats in about 24"-30" of water.

If the chain link doesn't get to that depth it won't help prevent them from tunneling under it.

If you have to do any work on the pond after you put it in, it will be a huge PITA to work around or get back out.


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Chain link buried in the dam is effective against muskrats.

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I like our pond well manicured edge. There is a plan for some lilly pads or lotus. The birds I know create some problems but I like them. All wildlife is welcome besides those lil tunnel rats. Others on here have a more natural looking pond and are beautiful. I guess the setting can make or break the look of it. My is literally prolly 50 from my bk deck.


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Rusto
I think the closer to the house the more manicured I'd want it to, at least the closest side.


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Originally Posted by TGW1
I ran the cormorants off yesterday and again this morning, lots of them along with about 50 ducks. Found several dead Bg dead and floating sizes were 3 to 7". Time to declare war.

Went from 2 geese before the freeze to 24 to 4 now. Pretty, but they quickly learn to eat the fish food I've started up again.

About a dozen cormorants around the pond, we chase them off as best we can but they return as soon as we depart. I've strung twine all across the forage pond and have not seen them there, though it has not deterred the geese. Still unsure if any of the CNBG survived the cold there.

Trout and hybrid stripers very active, we caught a good number of them. Bass not quite as active but doing okay. No BG or CNBG caught or observed anywhere, they seem to come shallow & feed later than the other fish. Green tint to water, but viz easily 36 inches.

Last edited by anthropic; 03/08/21 04:11 AM.

7ac 2015 CNBG RES FHM 2016 TP FLMB 2017 NLMB GSH L 2018 TP & 70 HSB PK 2019 TP RBT 2020 TFS TP 25 HSB 250 F1,L,RBT -206 2021 TFS TP GSH L,-312 2022 GSH TP CR TFS RBT -234, 2023 BG TP TFS NLMB, -160




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Has anybody with kids or grandkids tried buzzing the geese or cormorants with a drone?

I don't know if it would work, but it might be a "chore" that you could get the kids to perform happily several times a day.

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Caught 15 LMB in 3 hours, harvested 9. Three too small to harvest, three too large. Biggun broke my line on hookset, but at least my guest caught several nice fish!

About a dozen of the hated cormorants hanging around now. Four Canada geese like to snack on fish food when feeders go off. Trying to discourage the birds, but it's not easy. I did see a beautiful pair of bald eagles, though.

Still no BG or other panfish. Seems that they like higher water temps. Bass, trout, and hybrid stripers are active.

We'll put out hummingbird feeders very soon. Unfortunately, much of our landscaping got destroyed by the freeze, we'll see what comes back.


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That sounds like a great day at the pond, anthropic!

Do you have a big state reservoir near you, or were the eagles holding on your pond?

Too bad about the frost kills on the landscaping. Hopefully, the spring re-planting will be a blood pressure reducing activity - like catching 15 LMB!

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Thanks, Fishing Rod. The eagles drop by about this time every year, stay about three months. They always fly into a densely forested part of the property in the evening, perhaps a nest. Nearest reservoir is a power plant lake about ten miles away.

Always surprises me that the most common fish in the pond, the panfish, are last to come shallow. Trout dominate feeders now, though we also see bass & sometimes a striper. On warmer days, this is a great time to target gamefish. As you say, it feels good to take friends fishing when they will likely have success!

I know your waters are colder, but are you seeing fish activity pick up, too? Are your panfish feeding yet?


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anthropic,

It does sound like the eagles are holding on your pond and land! Hopefully, they do have a successful nest in your forest. I think all of the eaglets would be out of the nest by July 4th in your area. You could sneak back in your forest and look for the nest after that, if you are so inclined.

We have had a pair of great horned owls for years, but I have never seen any young. I put up a deer feeder and game camera in a new spot last fall. I got good pics of an immature great horned owl sitting on top of the feeder. That one made me feel good and the kids laughed because he definitely reacted to the camera and has one shot looking right into the lens.

I currently have three tiny ponds (0.1 acres or less), and all need to be mucked out before stocking anything in the largest two. That is in the plans for when I get heavy equipment on location for excavating the new ponds!

Right now I only get to fish the creek with my kids.

I did check the creek last weekend while working at the farm. It is running about a foot deep. I did not see a single game fish or minnow.

We do have a few pools in the creek on our stretch. In the summer when the creek is only running 1" deep, they are full of fish.

The creek has to be warmer than the ponds in my area since it is mostly fed by subsurface water flows (at 52F). However, I never see any fish in March. I assume it is because the fish are currently spread over 100% of the water and in the summer they are concentrated in 3% of the water.

I think we caught 6 different species last year. My son even caught a white crappie. I guess they do well in reservoirs over 50 acres AND in streams 1" deep!

Our creek project for this year is to trap and identify all of the minnows and shiners in the stream. I will definitely need the PB experts for that.

Have fun at your big pond this year!

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Creeks are great fun, especially for kids. I well remember going creek & pond fishing with my dad, but I often ended up "fishing" for frogs, turtles, salamanders, crawfish, snakes, minnows, and the like. Dad figured I'd focus about 30 minutes on the actual fish, but didn't mind me splashing around the edges seeking what I could find. It would've been easier for him to leave me at home, but thank God he didn't.

Where do your mini-ponds get their water? Is it runoff, or maybe some creek overflow? If the latter, you might want to think about what kind of fish you'll get from the creek. But you're right that there are genuine experts here who can help identify the species.

If you have some kids who enjoy fishing, let me know when you're in my neck of the woods. I need to harvest bass every year, and right now I'm also trying to harvest the rainbow trout before they die in the summer.

Last edited by anthropic; 03/12/21 11:45 AM.

7ac 2015 CNBG RES FHM 2016 TP FLMB 2017 NLMB GSH L 2018 TP & 70 HSB PK 2019 TP RBT 2020 TFS TP 25 HSB 250 F1,L,RBT -206 2021 TFS TP GSH L,-312 2022 GSH TP CR TFS RBT -234, 2023 BG TP TFS NLMB, -160




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Just caught this momma in our lil creek. I released her at the edge of the pond.

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I love creeks and wish I had one on my property. I just about lived at the creek the first 16 years of my life, until we moved about 45 minutes away and couldn't just walk to it anytime I wanted but I still went back a lot after that. I still go there now and then even if I can only stop for a minute and see the old Covered Bridge that goes over it. People in my general area may know of the Sandy Creek Covered Bridge State Park. When I spent most of my time there it was before it became a State Park. We would walk a long way up and down it swimming, fishing, camping arrowhead hunting and like Anthropic I would catch everything I could with snakes being one of my main targets. Sometimes we would catch fish and cook them on the fire. Didn't tasted the best but we had fun. lol! One of the things I liked most about the creek was you never knew for sure what all you would see that day.

Last edited by Bobbss; 03/12/21 12:47 PM.

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Rusto,

In the first pic, she looks like she is conducting a symphony.

In the second pic, she looks like a "stocker"! (If you want craws in your pond.)

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anthropic,

Thank you so much for the generous offer! I am coming down south of Dallas to see some Texas friends this fall. However, since it is Texas, that could still be a looooong way from you. (I won't have kids that trip, but I may PM you to see if it would be OK just to walk around your place and get advice on what worked for you.)

My two 0.1-acre mini ponds are both about 80 years old. I think they were excavated with a dragline, based on the construction. They are set up to catch surface water flows.

However, I have monitored both of them very closely since we purchased the farm. Both are clearly tied to the groundwater level. The were dug in some clay, but there are a few sand layers in the soil profile.

I suspect they did zero sealing if they were using a dragline.

My bigger problem is that both of these ponds are within the floodplain. I can muck them out - if I push the spoil above the flood boundary line. Any other work would be a regulatory battle.

I do want to muck one of the ponds and use it for a forage or grow-out pond. No great loss if a 100-year flood gets those fish!

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