Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Raising Forage and Bait Bluegill Beds

Bill,

Do you think that excessive vegetation has a negative impact on the BG bedding? As I stated previously, when I cleared out an area of vegetation, beds showed up within a few days.

What size boxes do you suggest building?

A few in my pond.

Many studies have shown that BG and other species look for the best spawning area. They take lots of things into account - silting, nest material, wind and wave action, water flow, predation, cover/plant and other material, sunlight and depth, etc.

If the BG moved beds to a newel raked area, then they were moving away from a less advantageous area to a better spot.

A question is how to measure "spawn pretty well" ? Year class size is often hard to measure until much later. If you have a pond with plenty of BG of all sizes over time then "pretty well" is ok. If you are forage short and need more BG or have spotty year class sizes then a 20 % increase in BG egg survival to swim up is fantastic. Zero to low year classes in LMB and BG are not common but do happen and that and low forage both cause big issues for management. IMO do what is needed to achieve "pretty well" for the pond in question.

So here's the plan:

Rake out an area next to the dock where the BG bedded last year. Build a 16' x 16' frame out of 2x6 and line the bottom with the geotextile fabric. I will purchase 85 bags of the pea gravel from HD. This should give me 4" of gravel which I will then cover with approximately 2" of masonry sand.

Total cost of project should be just under $600.

What are your thoughts and concerns?


Dean

I placed pea sized crushed limestone about 4/6 inches thick, 2to4 feet deep along shoreline for 200 feet...the beach has 3/4 limestone crushed covered by cement sand 4 inches thick out to 4 feet deep up beach about 20 feet by 30 feet wide...spawning seems OK; also have pallets four deep weighted down every 20 feet or so for the fry and shiners; shiners breed well with the pallets...the limestone helps maintain neutral PH.

Stubbing your toes on the frame if you go swimming.

Do you have a hard clay bottom ?
If so, there is an easier way.

Make 50 to 100 plate size impressions (a colony - see pics) in the clay bottom. Put in fabric next leaving enough slack in the material to contour the impressions. Add a double handful of gravel to each impression. then add about the same amount of sand. A shovel is a great tool for this. Put shovel on ground and step on the blade to make the impression, then use it to add sand and gravel. The impressions (bed) are important as BG will have a hard time moving gravel to make beds.

Thank you for all of the pictures and suggestions.

One question that I asked, I haven't seen a response to yet.

Currently, I have a healthy growth of milfoil around every bank that is considered "prime bedding" depth. As I stated earlier, when I raked out an area to build a dock, beds showed up shortly thereafter. I believe that I have a good pond bottom for bedding, its just covered with milfoil.

Should I chemically remove the milfoil in certain areas to open up bedding areas?

Thank you again,

Dean

Any method you use to remove it will help. Herbicide will be easier on your back.