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My goal is to have a good fishing pond for all species. Any recommendations are greatly appreciated.

I have 2 sons and 4 Grandsons from ages 2 to 8 and they love to catch and eat fish.

I have a 2 acre pond on our 160 Acre farm in NW Oklahoma that was completed in August 2022. Natural structure is an island and I had channels cut in 3 different areas . Have added artificial structure. The pond is about 12 feet deep near the dam. Water is about 6' around the island and the channels. I have a few PVC trees in the pond. Stocked Catfish and bluegill (have only caught Green Sunfish, no bluegill) in September of 2022. Stocked Bass in June of 2023. They came from the Byron State fish hatchery about 5 miles from my house.

I have not harvested any fish. Caught 2, 14 to 16 inch bass last week and they were very healthy. I have been feeding some Grain based fish food from Atwoods by hand about 2 times per week and am switching to Aquamax. Seeing some 8 inch or so catfish. Seeing several bedding areas throughout the pond. Have also caught some 10 inch bullheads that must have washed in, I'm taking all of them out that I catch.

I have been binge watching podcasts and Facebook live recordings. Love the information!!

I had a local Biologist come look at the pond, and he recommended the Grass carp. Can't throw a line in without catching water weeds. Since the weeds are the main source of cover thinking of only adding 6 - 10-12 inches. Never tested the water but with the results I see I think it's healthy, going to test as soon as I figure out what test kit I need.

Welcome to Pond Boss Bill. Any idea what type of weeds you are trying to manage?

filamentous algae, chara and either sago or leafy pondweed.

Need to control nutrient flow into the pond ideally.

Tilapia might be a solution for you but that's a yearly stocking.

Thanks for the response, nutrients is definitely an issue. I have a 15 acre wheat field about 100 yards from it. Trying to establish a heavy cover boundary to absorb them before they get to the pond. Also using it for watering cattle occasionally know that is an issue as well.

I would guess this is for another thread but should I test the water, no apparent issues but seeing that is recommended. I heard Bob recommend Hach but don't know what kit I would need. Don't have a secchi disc but the water clarity is at least a foot.

Is a sein a good option to get an idea of the fish population to determine a harvest plan? Not finding information on anyone near me that does electrofishing.

A seine will give you some population information, so will keeping catch records when fishing with kids. (Search "relative weight" on the forum.)

I would definitely exclude the cattle from the pond. You need to set a cattle tank outside of the fence line. Run a siphon over to the tank with a float valve, or maybe just do one of the inexpensive solar pumps to keep the tank full.

Thanks, I have been looking at using a sand point to drill a well and put a solar pump with a tank and let it overflow to the pond. It would be in good grass and less than 20 yards from the pond. Let the cows use that.

I downloaded the relative weight chart when I joined and have been using it.

Thanks again!

Bill, how far is the nearest body of water from where you think the bullheads came from?

1/4 mile or less.
The pond is built on what I call a wet weather creek with spring fed pools that never go dry. My sons caught Bullheads 20 years ago on our property in one of these.
There was no water in the creek when it was built.

Thanks for the reply.

I didn't see this until today.

If there's anyway to stop any water flow from that wet-weather-creek into your pond, I would make it happen. Maybe an earthen berm that would deflect water.

Otherwise, you'll be fighting bullheads forever.

Thanks, it's the main water incoming water supply for the pond so don't think that's possible. The picture with water coming in and out is after a 4" rain. Large watershed area feeds it when it rains.

I see.

Once the LMB get large enough, they get better at keeping bullheads in check.