Pond Boss Forums INTRO New Forum Member Introduction Brush in Pond

Hi all pond people. I'm a newbie here but have been perusing the wealth of info on this forum for some time. We have recently had a one half acre pond installed on our farm intended as a multi-use resource for the family farm. It has been designed as a rainwater capture and storage body, to be used for fish production, livestock watering, swimming, wildlife habitat, irrigation and enjoyment of family and friends. (Not listed in any order of importance).

The sides are sloping 4/1. From the inlet end the bottom slopes from 4 ft. to 10 ft. at the deepest part. I was thinking of putting some brush in for small fish cover as well as some other structures for fish habitat. We have cedar, maple and mulberry brush we could use. Our pond contractor says brush promotes algae growth. Is that so? How long does brush last under water? What I have is all under 4" diameter. What depth should it be anchored at?

Livestock watering DOES NOT mix well with your other multi-use pond objectives.

Is it possible for you to run a line to a cattle tank or to a newly-dug small pond and exclude the cattle from your main pond?

They will destroy the banks, muddy the water, and "fertilize" your pond.

I AM NOT an expert on algae, but I think it is more restricted by available nutrients rather than growth substrates. It will grow on your brush, but it probably would have grown somewhere else if you had not added the brush.

Lots of the people on the forum gather a few cedars together with a weight and throw them in the pond. The dense form and small twigs are great cover for small forage fish. The cedars then degrade over time and eventually have only the main branches - which the larger fish then utilize for structure.

The depth you set your structure does matter based on how much your water level varies. Do you think your pond will stay full most of the time?

Oaks are on the "bad" list for trees to utilize for structure. I have not heard any negative results from using maples or mulberry trees. (But they could? be on the naughty list.)

What are your goals for the fish? If you add to your post you might get some real expert advice.

Welcome to Pond Boss, and good luck on your new pond project.

I agree with the above, but it doesn't have to be only cattle. ANY livestock that has access to the pond will have the same result. Even ducks.

Interesting about the livestock. We have pretty good fishing on a working cattle ranch. Every single pond is open access to the herds. I have had to do some thinks like add riprap along certain shores due to erosion but overall I don't think there have been any major negatives. Out of curiosity what should I maybe be looking for?

I've been sinking cedar and hedge (osage orange) with good results. Hedge is a close relative to mulberry. I alternate the dense brush of cedar with larger logs of hedge. Theory being big fish like big open cover and small fish like dense cover. Put them next to each other to put prey and predator in close proximity for easy meals and larger fish.

No clue if anything I've said has merit but it's what I've been doing.

catscratch, if your ponds/lakes are on a working cattle ranch, then I am pretty sure you have forgotten more about cattle than I currently know! I have been on a lot of cattle ranches, but hopefully the actual ranchers on the forum will correct any dubious advice I offer.

I believe you have some very large bodies of water on your property. I used to fish a large watershed pond that had cattle access. They almost exclusively went to drink at one flat spot near a wing of the dam and one spot at the very upper end of the lake. They did very little damage elsewhere.

While driving to our property during the current heat wave, I have observed multiple 0.1 to 0.5 acre ponds that have cattle. Many times the ponds have had 30-40 cattle in the water. The water looks like creamed coffee and the banks are denuded of any vegetation.

I believe if you have a high ratio of pond acres to head of cattle, then the cattle will not significantly effect the pond ecology. However, if you have lots of cattle and a single pond is their only water supply, then you will have a mud hole for much of the year.

One of the ponds is big, the others are small. You are 100% correct that the cattle wade into the ponds in the heat of summer. Makes a murky mess out of things. But the fish are still there I just acknowledge that it will be muddy water before heading out and gear up appropriately.

I am curious about potential negative impacts to fish numbers or pond health. Just because it's "always been that way" on my place doesn't mean it's best or as good as it could be. Always willing to listen to others!

That is a good strategy.

Thanks for all the response to my question about brush. To add more details about our pond, first I will say we do not plan to allow any livestock to access this pond. We have installed a pipe system that will gravity feed pond water to a lower elevation. The new pond has only received one 13/4" rain fall to date so it is just starting to fill. There is a 7-8 acre watershed feeding the pond and we average 36" of rainfall per year so I don't expect the pond water level to fluctuate much unless climate change throws us a curve.

The watershed is mostly pasture and hay ground with maybe an acre or two of corn & bean ground at the top end. We have installed a small settling or wetland basin at the inlet end of the pond to filter the inflow.

My 11 year old grandson is already an accomplished fisherman with a keen interest in Catfish, LMB & BG and can't wait for the pond to fill up. He keeps asking about catfish breeding boxes. Are they necessary for catfish reproduction? What are they and how are they made?

Your contractor does not fully understand the nature of filamentous algae. You don't know what you don't know. FishinR is correct in his comment "....but I think it (algae) is more restricted by available nutrients rather than growth substrates. It will grow on your brush, but it probably would have grown somewhere else if you had not added the brush."

Filamentous algae is solely stimulated by dissolved nutrients and grows attached to most all underwater surfaces even the bottom mud. The brush does not promote the algae it just provides a visible place for you to see it attached and growing off the bottom. If you have lots of algae growing on the brush the pond has a lot of excess nutrients and likely in a nitrogen:phosphours balance to favor filamentous algae instead of phytoplankton algae.

I think and past experiences indicate smaller branches of brush would need to be replaced every 4-6 years. See the 3rd post on the 1st page of this link about Xmas tree Life Span.
https://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=92463#Post92463

Catfish are cavity spawners and seek any sort of cave or cavity to lay their eggs. Many use plastic tile and even wooden boxes 6"-10" dia placed in 2 to 5ft of water as spawning places. Large tires also work when laid on the bottom. Note tires will trap air in the sidewall and will tend to float, weight or holes in the side wall work. With LMB and larger BG not many of the CC fry will survive if there isn't very much habitat cover for fry to escape until the small CC are big enough to escape LMB predation. 15"-16" CC can eat 3"-5" CC. Adding more than 20-30 CC per acre in my experience results in added turbidity and water clarity of around 2-3ft when CC as adults are active.

For angling excitement you can add up to 20 hybrid striped bass/ac to the bass-BG-CC combination. If you do this, reduce the LMB & CC numbers by 20/ac. Redear sunfish(RES) is also a good panfish to add with the BG numbers. Also some yellow perch as original stocked panfish will also survive until they die of old age,,,,, and during that time the LMB will eat most all the young YP so their numbers/ac will be low as will RES recruitment unless habitat cover is abundant.

Good. I was hoping that was your set-up!

As regards your brush and other structure - it is much easier to add and properly place structure BEFORE your pond fills. There are some good threads on the forum about adding structure.

You are also getting some true experts to chime in on your fish plans. You could start a new thread on the "Types of fish to choose" sub-forum and describe your pond and your fishing goals. Those threads usually attract a lot of good advice - and maybe some ideas you haven't even considered.