Al, you hit the nail on the head when it comes to what I am looking for in the long run. Cheap with the least amount of effort. Snipe, Keep it up, thinking outloud is why I posted this and to kick the recommendations around for discussion. Minnows may be in the future with the forage pond but here in E Tx. I want something large enough that the lmb/hsb don't burn more energy than they receive when they eat. Minnows seem to small for my goals unless I consider GSH and let them spawn and grow to the 4 to 7" sized and even then they are a fast moving forage fish that might cause the predator's to burn up more energy than they gain.
Bg looks like the way a lot of people go, Like Anthropic, Frank seems to be doing well with what he is producing in his forage pond. And snrub, you are right when it comes to too much water flow through. My sediment pond will grow FHM's but that's about the only thing I can produce there because of turbid water after rains. Rosy Reds don't work because too much pressure on them from Bull Frogs. I have raised many a bull frog in my sediment pond when I have Fhm's in that pond. And too many Bf brings in too many snakes, been there done that.
Going back to what to produce in the forage pond for cheap and easy. And the size to make the job easy. When I made my first trip to Highflyers lake he had 3 small forage ponds and working on a small solar aeration system for them if my memory is working. I think he has rebuilt his forage ponds. I want to see why the rebuild, was it due to size of the ponds? japsdad, talks good numbers of Bg produced in small pond. And I know that Al has done Tp so I wonder if that might work if you can produce enough for stocking 2 to 3" tp in the fall. I added some like that to my pond last fall and my lmb RW's jumped when I did that. Some of the 14" lmb looked like freaks they were so fat after that.
So, maybe 2 small forage ponds instead of a 50 foot'er? And I still am thinking the fresh water prawns might be cheap when adding small ones and feeding them for growth. Neting the bottom of the pond and then use the bucket lift on the tractor to pull the net up for harvest? Like seining shrimp in the gulf? Thoughts?
Last edited by TGW1; 05/17/20 09:06 AM.
