Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Open Water Cover?

In the new build, there will be a significant amount of very deep water from the borrow pit. Thinking 2-3 surface acres that will be 20-40ft deep. The balance of the pond will be mostly 3-10ft with some deeper channels from the original creek bed that may hit 20ft.

In the deep open water section, would there be any benefit to adding cover?

We are planning on stocking HSB and TFS as open water species. Do either of these fish relate to cover in any way? Would creating shade in this area from a floating island or other source be beneficial to these species? Or are their needs pretty minimal outside of the right water conditions? We have a couple old 20ft deer blind frames that are likely to no longer see any action and could easily convert to fish habitat. I figure if I need cover that will stretch from the bottom of the pit to the upper levels of the pond these are the best bet.

There will be aeration, but will likely only run at night during the hot months, so not sure what stratification will look like at this point.

Usually some portion of your dirt work is up and out of the pond.

Why not push some dirt into your 20' deep areas? I would imagine you could construct some fairly steep humps and maybe compact one lift over them. They should last a long time since there should be almost zero wave action in a pond that size at 20' deep.

It is always easier to doze dirt downgrade rather than up.

Are you going to have any big tree trunks and root balls to be excavated within the pond boundaries? Maybe put one of those on top of the hump, and another one beside the hump?

I bet if you look at the pond area after they strip the vegetation and top soil, you can envision some good structure to create or enhance in the deeper water areas - and it might even save you some money on dozer time!

My experience with HSB and TFS is that they're not very structure oriented. HSB follow food, mostly in open water, but are enthusiastic about pellets as well. If you stock trout in winter, trout imitators tend to work wonders on HSB!

FishinRod - Can’t say with 100% certainty now but it looks like most of the dirt from the pit is going to end up in the dam. We can definitely manipulate the bottom contours but I’m not sure if it will raise the average depth in this part of the pond by much. I do think a steep hump or two with some tall cover on top like you suggest would work well. I assume these would be little island that LMB would use? Sounds like HSB may be indifferent?

Total surface area is looking like a little over 11 acres. Unfortunately this area was hit by a severe wildfire in 2012 and there are very little mature trees that survived and are within the shoreline. Makes for easy clearing work but not a ton leftover for cover hence my idea for the old deer stands. The frames are still good metal and could sub for a large tree well with some additions to them.

I am so NOT a striper/HSB fishing expert!

However, last year I took my father striper fishing at Texoma. The stripers were in a creek channel about 50' away from the main channel. We would drop the weight on bottom and reel up one foot, and get a hit on every single presentation.

I know these are "open water" fish, yet somehow they still relate to structure!

Maybe some of our actual experts will drop in with some knowledge.

Are you clearing out any cedar trees? They will decay under water, so their "density" as cover will change over time. Maybe after year 1 they will attract some baitfish, or after year 2 supply good lurking cover to HSB (and LMB).

If you do find a temporal sweet spot with cedars, you could always replenish your supply in the future as needed.

I’ll be able to clear and move plenty of cedars from other parts of the ranch to put into the pond and was planning on doing so as dense cover in the shallower parts. Could definitely do so in the deeper water as well.

Deep water structure is critical. Don't underestimate its potential especially if you bring it up to within 4 ft of the surface. We did xmas trees + oak limbs structures (Ray Scott method) in 15 ft water up to abut 3 ft from the surface. Feeder was set to throw on top of the structure. HSB congregated there and ate pellets and ambushed shad all year. 75% of the HSB we caught came from those spots. LMB would hold on those structures for year-round fishing moving up and down depending on water temp. Many hours watching the Aquaview camara showed the results. You should make use of the entire pond and not ignore the deep parts. No question that bottom contours are a large part of the equation but added material on those contours make the difference.

Agree with all able re structure. Almost all life forms orient on it. And prey hide in it.

Think about it. If you/we are confined in a square acre with one big rock, dirt pile or tree anywhere on it, that is where we would spend the a majority our time. Most life forms orient on cover. And, that’s why we fish brush piles

Broke pond record today with massive HSB. Like most HSB at our place, it aggressively fed on larger pellets, especially Optimal Hand Thrown chunk Big boy hit a top water lure, likely due to excitement from feeding on large floating chunks.

My experience is that HSB, even the giants, will go anywhere with food.

Congratulations

I understand how having some cover from the bottom 20' all the way up to the surface would really help with structure throughout the water column. But what if you don't have anything that big and could only do a 6' stack of stumps on the bottom? Would it get used that far down?

Unless you are aerating from the bottom of a 20' depth area, the water down there should generally be not used by any fish. I may be wrong, but I think without aeration at those depths, the water down there does not have adequate dissolved oxygen.

Floating islands are a good potential idea for you. Years ago, there was a company promoting and selling floating islands that would grow plants on the top, and below the float would have the root systems which would attract small bait fish.


As others said, if you could build in some dirt humps that could get within 5-10' of the surface, that would be very productive.

Bob,

I can only speak from my experience, but I have caught bass in 22' deep water during the summer with stumps on the bottom and a hump to the side being the only structure. However, that was in a 60' deep reservoir - not a pond.

Surprisingly, we would frequently catch 10" spotted bass on 6" plastic worms while fishing that area for large LMB. Apparently, even the small bass congregate on deep structure.

Sunil makes a good point about oxygenation. If the deep water in your pond is anoxic, then it will not hold any fish!

For a 2-3 acre pond, will you have water flow through for much of the year? If so, you could have some deeper, oxygenated water by constructing a bottom drain for your normal pond outlet. If you have a significant amount of water coming into the pond, and you pull the most oxygen-depleted water out of the pond via your drain, then you could sustain some deep, habitable water for the fish.

***One caveat, you would also be draining the COOLEST water from your pond (for most of the year). That could be detrimental to a Texas pond in July and August - but there are lots of variables. If you did install a bottom drain, then I would be sure to install a valve and a way to switch to a surface drain.

So to summarize so far…

HSB will relate to food and potentially structure more so than cover. Provided we can sustain populations of TFS, another species unlikely to relate to cover, adding cover in this section of the pond will likely not impact behavior.

Adding cover that can reach up closer to the surface where there is more DO will attract bluegill and LMB which can operate as additional forage options for HSB and additional angling opportunities as well.

I'm planning on aerating. So that would then render that area usable? My pond is only going to be 1/2 acre. Hate to throw a bunch of stuff in my smaller deep area and it be useless and just taking up space haha.

That is the conclusion most people make. However, it only applies in summer. For a large part of the year (cooler period) the water has turned over and deep water has O2. In winter the deep water has both O2 and is warmer than surface waters. The fish relate to structure in deep water and move up and down on the structure for temp and feeding purposes. In huge lakes/reservoirs there can be deep water that never turns over and reoxygenates.