FishinRod explained it.

That pond was expanded on the east side with a dozer where you can see the "shelf" and on the north with a backhoe. Mud was knee deep in that area where the backhoe did the digging. If a person is a glutton for punishment I think you can scan back through the dozen pages of this thread and I think I documented when I expanded this pond. I think I added about a third to its size from what it originally was. I think the expansion was done only a year or two after the pond was originally built. Originally it was shaped like a paint roller tray based on suggestion from Esshup. But when I expanded it (with water still in the pond) more bottom features became a part of it.

In that little north part I have always had good success catching small RES with a cast net. For some reason, probably protection, the small fish like that area. When we seined it no exception. Loaded with small RES and quite a few adult FHM that the HSB had not wiped out yet.

After this seining project if I were building a pond specifically to be seined I would be sure and compact the bottom well (our clay here holds will without much compaction). The rock lining in the bottom sure helped. But I would not make the pond so deep. It is about 8 feet at the deepest and that makes fish winter survival good. But if a person was going to annually harvest it I would probably only make it 6' or so. I like it the way it is for my purposes.

The water was a muddy mess when we finished seining but the next day it had cleared up pretty nicely with the addition of water from my main pond. There is at least 6' of water in it now and that should be fine till a rain comes along and fills it the rest of the way. That very tip of that "hump" in the picture is just barely sticking out of the water now. Water is all the way around it.

That is a really nice looking PTO pump. I bet that would work well. I used what I had on hand. Thanks for the link to it. I knew there were big irrigation PTO pumps but that one is not outrageously priced compared to a good 3" gasoline pump.

I don't think I am going to make this seining an annual event though. eek grin

Last edited by snrub; 11/30/20 08:38 AM.

John

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