Greetings. I stumbled across Pond Boss recently and spent hours engrossed in the wealth of information you share. It was like Christmas morning because I recently converted a 1/4 acre pond into a 1.5 acre pond that is now fed by a constantly-running stream.
Located in central WV, far back in a "holler," my farm came with a small man-made, leaky pond that was fed only by a wet-weather stream. During wet seasons, water flowed through for weeks, but in summer, the water level fell as much as four feet, leaving a muddy, ugly hole that was very stressful on the fish who had to survive in only 4' of water.
In the same holler, a small stream flowed through, but was not a water source for the original pond. So, after much planning (and saving $$), we contracted an experienced pond builder to move a million tons of soil and use the natural sides of the ravine as the sides of the new pond, which is now fed by the stream as well as the original wet-weather runoff source.
We totally rebuilt the original dam, making it much larger (250 ' wide at the bottom and 60' wide across the top) and added a 12' wide X 4 ' deep concrete spillway with a bridge across the top. The dam is about 180' long.
The new pond has a pier which is 8' X 42' with a 16' covered T at the end, and we roped off and added sand to a small area beside the pier for family swimming. All this took place in late August, and thanks to a series of heavy thunderstorms that came through the area in September, the pond filled completely within several weeks of completion. The muddy water soon settled, leaving a beautiful, clear pond that reflected all the color of the fall leaves from the surrounding ridges.
We took great care to save as many of the fish as possible when we "cut over" the old pond into the new, and it appears that we have a small population of channel catfish, bluegill, and largemouth bass that survived.
The new pond averages about 6' deep with a few places close to 8'. Where the stream feeds in, water is about 4' deep and backs up 40 yards into the stream bed. There are now trees, stumps and grass submerged in the feeder stream which will offer great cover for the fish.
Natural minnows live in the feeder stream and I quickly began seeing them making their way into the pond. However, I need to supplement this with an abundance of FH minnows and shiners prior to stocking LMB and perch this spring. I'm not sure if I can accomplish this over the winter, so feedback is appreciated. Can minnows be stocked during winter months?
During the construction process, we added some structure to the pond basin, stacking several piles of rocks in certain areas and submerging two big tree stumps with rootballs in the center of the pond. I plan to send a couple Christmas trees to the bottom after the holidays.
It is our hope that within several years, we can have a pond full of fish for the kids and grandkids to enjoy, as well as a place of serenity and beauty for us to watch sunsets and observe wildlife.
Now that I've found Pond Boss, I'm sure the information you offer will help make this dream a retirement reality.
Thanks.
Dave
Wild & Wonderful
