Pond Boss Forums INTRO New Forum Member Introduction New Wisconsin Pond Coming Soon!

Hey everyone, long time lurker, just got registered and subscribed to the magazine. My Grandparents gravel pit is done being mined and restoration is beginning. They say we will have 5 acres of water, max depth is planned at 10 feet. Should be done this summer. We are in extreme SE Wi. My initial consideration is for a SMB/YP/FHM/GSH pond. The thing that keeps creeping into my mind is that I could make this a LMB/BG/FHM/GSH pond for basically free. There is a 60 acre lake one mile away where I can catch all the LMB and BG I would like (great LMB size structure, BG stunted). Excited to hear your opinions and keep learning from all of you.

Welcome to PB.

Can they make it a little deeper than 10 ft? Would help in your cold location.

Very hard to control (get the initial stocking right) with a bucket stocked lake.

The restoration company states that they will make it as deep as they can, but due to groundwater levels there is some uncertainty how deep it will end up. The suspense is killing me....

Thanks for confirming my suspicion that it would never really be right if I stocked with only what I caught down the street.

Welcome to Pond Boss, and congratulations on the new project.

Like ewest says, with a 5-acre pond, it would take a long, long, long time to create a 'desirable' scenario from only bucket stocking. For example, after a forage base is established, say over the course of 10-12 months, when it comes time to stock the predators, you may be doing that at 50 fish/acre, or 250 fish over 5 acres, and that's a bit light on predator fish. For Yellow Perch (both a predator and forage fish), you'd maybe be over 100/acre, or over 500 for the total pond, probably more.

ewest's comment about depth is also important. Being up in the North, any extra depth you can get, even if its only in a few areas, will be beneficial especially in trying to avoid winter kills.

I do plan on aerating; I have a large air pump and 1000' of tubing sitting in the barn from trying to prevent a winter kill on a small local lake many years ago (when we used to get a lot of snow). Hopefully this will negate any chances of a winter kill.

The restoration company can dig it a LOT deeper if they pump the water out. There are 10" trailer mounted pumps available to rent, and they can move a LOT of water fast.

SO, pin them down to a depth. A pond that is only 6ft or 8' deep won't do you any good, and it sounds like if they say "that's how far we can dig it because of the water" you don't have any recourse unless a specific depth is specified AND CHECKED BEFORE THEY LEAVE THE PROPERTY.