Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Creating my Lake

A little slice of heaven.

BING

Gorgeous, my man. What a great accomplishment.
As a reminder, all who pick up on this thread, but don't take the time to go back to the beginning to savor every chapter of it's development, Eddie did this job single-handedly. He crafted this gem from nothing on a dozer with a re-built engine (which he also did himself). This thread truly deserves the time to review and read thru from post #1. It's an amazing journey.

The pond looks great Eddie! Nice job. I looked at the photos you posted today and when looking at the deer photo almost missed the fawn walking behind it. That fawn looks to be hours old.

Beautiful pics Eddie. Your levees look a lot like mine.

That's a honking big beaver. I was driving to town 1 morning and say what I thought was a hog that had been road killed. When I got up close to him, I saw it was a beaver about the size of yours.

Thanks for the update and the great pictures.

hiya eddie! good to see you chime in again, thanks for the update, yer place is maturing REALLY NICELY.

Great job !!!! Love the pics especially the dead rodent (beaver). They are a pest. Can you get rid of mine? How are the fish doing ?

Beautiful pics, Eddie!

I will have to go back and read this thread from beginning to end--well done!

Thank you everyone for the kind words. My wife does most of the photography, but I did take the pics of the fox and the hogs. Both look allot better in full size before I made them smaller to post on here. The picture of the hogs is one that I'm very proud of. It was pure luck, I saw the hogs, turned on the camera and snaped a quick picture as soon as I saw them in the viewfinder. There's just something about it that I really like.

The picture of the doe and fawn was in the middle of the day. We were taking a walk around the pond and my wife saw a flower that she was taking pictures of. I was messing with the canoe on the dam and not really paying attention to anything when the doe walked out of the woods. I froze and tried to get Steph's attention. She was oblivious and thought I was signialing for her to come over to where I was at. The doe took off to the oposite side of the dam, then stoped. She took pics of her, but then the little fawn came out after her. We never expected that!!!! It's so small that we agree that it must have just been a few days old. I saw it a few other times and it was much bigger. One time it ran past me while I was on the backhoe working on my food plot.

When I posted the pictures, I went back and re-read the entire thread. It's allot of fun to have a record of what happened and in what order it happend. Some things are different then what I remember them. I thought I put in the culverts at the very end, not while still moving dirt with the dump truck. The transformation still overwhelms me. When we see it now, it's like it's been there forever. There is no hint of what was there before.

Eddie

That is what we ALL like about seeing these types of pond construction threads. Following a journey such as yours and Brettski's, Theo's, and GW's (and anyone else that documented a pond being built and whose name I negligently left out) gives us all a sense of the transformation that is being undertaken. And in addition for those of us that puchased a property that already had a pond on it we get an idea of the amount of work that is involved in creating a pond.

You have a dream.
You make the dream come true.
You live the dream.

I salute you.

I guess this is a bump. Just a wonderful piece of work Eddie. Great resource for all of us building our ponds.

Omaha,

Thank you. It's always nice to hear.

Eddie

I'm new here and stumbled on this thread a couple hours ago. It was a long read, but well worth it. Just the inspiration I need to get started on my place. I've got 80 acres near Seadrift that is begging for a pond. And now I plan on trying to do the same documentation of the process as you. Thanks.

Seadrift,

I'm looking forward to reading of your progress when you start your pond. I found that the input I received from everyone really helped me build the best pond that I could.

Good luck,
Eddie

Great job Eddie. I've read bits & pieces before, but just went back & read it it beginning to end...du

Had some family and friends over today for Fathers Day. The fishing wasn't very good in my small pond, so we went down to Lake Marabou to play around in the water and just have a good time. Then when it cooled down and the younger crowd was worn out, the fishing started.

My Father In Law caught the biggest catfish at 4 pounds, my wife caught the smallest catfish, which was about the size of her pinky finger, and her grandma caught the oddest fish. It looked like a blugill at fist, but it's shape and color is off. Then we noticed that it's mouth was allot bigger then normal. Are we nuts, or is this a different species?

Eddie

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That's a green sunfish.

That would be a GSF with the coloration typical of a GSF coming from a muddy pond. Kind of pale and washed out. Nice sized GSF at that...

JHAP will be in touch with you, Eddie.

Green Sunfish. Thank you. I've read a few threads on them and it looks like it's an unwanted fish. Is this something I need to be worried about? or is there anything that I can do about it?

I have bass and channel catfish in there, along with copper nose bluegill and fathead minnows.

Since I didn't put the green sunfish in there, I'm going to have to assume that if I tried to get rid of them, however they got there will just happen again.

Thanks,
Eddie

Do you have 2 ponds Eddie (small pond & Lake Marabou)?

Looks like Lake Marabou has some GSF. Embrace the dark side Eddie, you know you want to. Defy convention.

People get all freaked out about GSF and if you're looking for a trophy BG pond then yep the GSF will compete with the BG. GSF shouldn't hurt your LMB production, heck one of Commander Cody's presentations at the 2008 Pond Boss Convention was all about LMB and GSF, might want to contact him for an expert opinion.

I'll tell you this though. Get a 10-12 inch GSF that approaches a pound (or more) to strike and you'll have a fight on your hands. GSF are IMHO one of the best fighting of the sunfish pound per pound.

Eddie,

Others have correctly identified this trespasser as a green sunfish, and I see that the GSA has rushed in to inundate you with outlandish propaganda. It is fortunate indeed that I have observed this post, and can communicate the dire implications of this discovery in an accurate, unbiased manner.

Simply put, this is a disaster of unmitigated proportions. I am struggling to find words in my lexicon that can convey the magnitude of this catastrophy.

Remember that part in "Aliens" where the space marines have been whupped by the bad guys? They plan to go back up to their ship and "nuke the site from orbit"? This, I am sorry to tell you, would be the safest, most efficacious way in which to deal with this invasion. It is fortunate indeed that you moved to Texas from California, as I fear they frown on this method of control on the west coast.

If you do not deal with this infestation promptly and effectively, your whole community may suffer, and within a fairly short time your lake will look like Brettski's, surrounded by those mobile homes of his to which you have so effectively applied your vitriolic wit.

You must act now!

Eddie, its not the end of the world. In all likelihood, they got into your lake through stock contamination or via another connecting or nearby body of water. I wouldn't panic. I have seen many a fine bass and bluegill pond that has GSF in them. In my experience, the GSF tend to stay low in numbers. They just don't compete well with other fish. GSF are a fish that does well in small creeks where competition with other species is limited. Often in ponds and lakes, I see them hugging rocky areas. If you have a rocky area to your pond, flip a small bait near a rock crevice, often that is where the few GSF in your pond will be hanging out.

What the heck happened, all of the sudden my BS Meter is running at red line?

Oh, never mind, I see that Yolk posted to this thread.

See? I KNEW he wouldn't like the part about the nuclear weapons.

Funny stuff, Yolk.

Eddie, I concur with CJ - as long as you have a decent population of LMB, the bass will keep them in check, and once the CNBG get decent-sized the GSF will have a hard time competing and will be uncommon to catch.

BTW, hope I didn't sound too elitist in my offer to advise you on getting your bluegill to a pound. The formula is not that complicated: fertilize on a regular schedule to maintain a plankton bloom from March through October, don't keep a lot of bass so there will be plenty to keep the bluegill numbers in check, and once your bluegill start getting to 8" or better (which should be within a year and a half or so of initial stocking if you're fertilizing), don't keep more than 20 or so above 8" per acre per year. Stocking grass shrimp could speed their growth if the shrimp get established. And, lastly, the silver bullet of bluegill management, install two or three automatic feeders - Sweeney and Texas Hunter are great quality, probably the best, but if you can't spend that much Aquapro makes a great $89 model that Bruce and I both use - and feed a high-protein-content fish chow such as Aquamax 500, two or three times a day. If you install the feeders now, while your pond population is balanced, you just about couldn't help but get several CNBG in the pound range within three years or possibly sooner. Get yourself an ultralight rod with six-pound test, toss out a red wriggler or cricket on a light-wire hook with little or no weight and a very skinny float near one of the feeders, and you'll have yourself a bull battle.