Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Central Texas Bass Pond

Hello-

We have a 1.75 to 2.0-acre pond on our property near Brady, TX. We have experienced a drought over the past two years so the pond has gotten lower and lower so we decided to drill a water well to help keep it full along with Mother Nature's help. The water well is complete and producing 66gpm at the pond which is great. The question I have is that we measured the pH of the water coming out of the well and it's at 6.0 while the actual pond water and the soils around the pond are around 7.8 to 8.0. Is this a concern?

I have added some pictures of the pond. These pictures were taken back in February so the pond has gone up a little since adding all of the structure. Please note that that large dead tree in the pictures will be 5ft under water once the pond is full. We have added a lot of Mossback fish habitat products, several Pond King structures, a couple of Texas Hunter Product Fish Pyramids, and a number of rock piles, cedar trees, and gravel beds. We will have a fish feeder to ensure the bluegill population thrives and are planning on adding 250 bluegills and 10lbs of shiners within the next couple of weeks once the water is above most of the structures. There are currently some bluegills in the ponds that we have caught fishing and we have been removing as many bass as humanely possible the last 6 months just to help our forage fish multiply.

I would love to get yalls input on the pH and any other opinions you have in making this into the best bass pond for our family. I appreciate your time and help!

Pond looks great, BG! (Except for the low water level.)

You can always add more structure - which is so much easier to do on dry ground.

Do you have any areas with a good sand/gravel mixture for BG beds? If not, you could start some at the current waters edge and create more on progressively higher ground going towards the upper end of your pond. That way, you should always have good BG spawning habitat regardless of the future water level.

When your pond reaches 1 surface acre in size, an evaporative loss of 1/4"/day would be 6,800 gallons. Your well is supplying 95,000 gallons/day if your are running the pump 24 hours. You should be able to raise your pond level as you desire, even when your evaporation goes to 1/2"/day on hot July and August days in Texas.

Hard to tell from the pictures, but is that some limestone rock on the banks? It looks like there may have been a cap rock ledge a few feet above the elevation of your pond at full pool? If so, that should help with your alkalinity in the pond.

Also, do you have some caliche soils in the pond cut? That would be another good source of calcium carbonate for the pond.

Is the well water depositing iron where it comes on to any hard surfaces at the pond. Some people with well water run the water down a few steps of limestone, or even use a bucket chain to knock out some of the iron and increase the oxygen content.

Here is a link to an old Pond Boss discussion.

Well Water to Pond - Pond Boss thread

The low pH of the well water is a little troubling, but I think it should mix nicely with your existing water. Maybe one of our pond chemistry experts will drop into your thread with some advice. If you are worried about the well water before you are able to do more testing, you can always lower the run time on your pump.

Good luck on your family bass pond!

I have a 2 acre pond in Georgetown that had been here since the 1980s - was not managed.

We bought it 5 years ago - I also have a well that feeds the pond when our spring is not running - never had an issue with the well water - I have 4 aerators running 24-7.

I do not think 250 BG is enough - I have some really nice BG but I am adding another 250 next week -

It is a long and slow process but tons of fun - enjoy!

Here are some updates from our bass pond near Brady, TX. Our pond level is close to full and we have installed a lot more fish habitat since I posted last along with adding more forage fish. Here's everything we have added:
550 bluegills
25lbs of shiners
75lbs of tilapia

We added a bunch more MossBack habitat along with Pond King "Honey Hole Trees" and "The Honey Holes" along with dropping some cedars in the deeper areas.

The last attachment is a drone view that shows all of the different habitats we have dropped and where we put them. We are feeding Purina's AquaMax MVP nuggets and plan to continue feeding this to allow our forage fish flourish. We are hopeful that we are able to grow 6+lbs bass by next year. We caught a 4.5lb bass last weekend, which was fun to see.