Pond Boss Forums INTRO New Forum Member Introduction Newb South Missouri New Pond

The wife and I finally found some rec property, that may turn into main in 6-10 years. The pond is way less than what i have been looking for, but, it’s the clearest spring fed pond I’ve seen and my wife loves it. Barely over an acre with rocky bottom as its "newish". 16ft deep near levy and has plenty of shallow bank at the other end of pond. Previous owners had it re-dug last year to eliminate the creek that ran into and through it. Now, its fed by 3 springs and overflows at an existing spillway from before remodel. Johnny Morris looking pond.

They stocked with bass, 2 grass carp and some trout. Doubt the trout will make it. they also "said" bluegill but i haven’t seen any. My goal is MO trophy bluebill, which is 1lb+ & 10"+. Redear do well around here so wouldn’t mind those, but not if it worsened my BG population. Finally, would love to have some decent LMB as well, a 5lbr here and there. No interest in any other species. There is currently no structure and due to the clarity of the pond, vegetation will probably grow in most of the pond.

I don’t know what kind of vegetation, I’m a newb. I'm looking to set a game plan. Do i need structure? Do i need to keep the carp? etc... All of these I’ll start to try and answer by searching the forums. Feel free to point me in any direction you want. The owner said he'd put me in contact with the MO conservation rep that helped him stock it last year. Will run that down as well, but again, i was surprised they didn’t put any structure.

Total habitat/vegetation/structure should not be more than 22% of total surface area. Now you could run some linear footage and % would be totally different. Target different age events in the life of the fishery. Make some dense for newly hatched fish, semi-dense for larger (1-4"), and big hang outs for those big bass. Most new ponds don't come with a plan for the fishery, so research or picking the brains of this forum works. There is a thread on habitat types, believe esshup or Sunil have it readily available.

If you HAVE NO VEGETATION- Carp are not required or suggested.

Get your CNBG and RE in quickly, stock high on CNBG and moderately on the RE. Numbers would depend on budget and goals-how quick to that goal.

Lastly have fun and enjoy your place.

Have you checked the alkalinity and PH? I’m concerned about the fertility of the clear water.

Welcome to PB fellow Miserian.

Considering what the previous owner told you was stocked in your pond, I recommend you stay as far away from the MODoC as you can when seeking advice.

I'd be inclined to drain it, kill it with rotenone, and then start over. It will be a lot of work and $$$ to get where you want to go from an unknown starting position.

If Toby's water is 'gin-clear,' he should be able to get a better sense of his existing fish population, one might think.

Are you seeing any fish at all?

We take possession on 30th so I'll have much more info then. I see dozens of 8-10 inch bass hanging out. That's all so far but only 1 good visit. I'll test the water ph and report back in a couple weeks.

Actually I used to fishing rights to a couple of MDC stocked ponds, they some some very good fishing balance in them, tons of BG obviously and then a balance of LMB CC and BC, we would catch a decent amount of nice sized slab Crappie to eat and hook some nice LMB for a little excitement, never werew as much for CC fishing out of a pond but I knew people who would catch them,, they both seemed to have a real nice balance. till the owner got lax and let a herd of cattle hang out in the ponds and they just sort of went to crap, they stomped all the edges and cover, and just made the fishing suck, havent fished them much since, also got my own pond now that I spend more time in so sort of faded away from them.