New Project

[H20fwler]

Had pea gravel shot out over the spawning ledge with a "sling" truck. I had never see one of those in action and it was interesting to watch. Ended up putting the gravel 9"-12" deep so when it settles down and water gets over it should be just right. Also shot a 2" layer over the beach area as a base..it should settle in then when water is higher we will cover with 4"-5" of sand.

And we stocked some fish in pond!
put in;

150 4"-6" Perch
100 4" Red Ear Sunfish
25 6" Walleye
25 4" Black Crappie
20# Fat Head Minnow
20# Golden Shiner

This August we will be putting in 100 6" Small Mouth Bass
15 6" Hybid Striped Bass

About half of the red ears swam close to shore for a little while, within about a half hour they all went down into deeper water.


Yesterday afternoon after watering the new fruit trees it was a HOT and muggy 88... the dogs were swimming keeping cool, so in I went! Felt great, the wife saw what I was doing and dove in soon after.
The water was deeper than I thought, about twenty feet off shore it was over seven feet. Bottom had about 4" of muck close to shore maybe 1" at seven feet, our first swim in the new pond.

 

[4wanderingeyes]

Just a thought, will you have issues with blood suckers, and leaches?

The memories of me swimming in peoples private ponds almost always had huge blood suckers, and people screaming because of them. Not always me either.

 

[H20fwler]

Just a thought, will you have issues with blood suckers, and leaches?

The memories of me swimming in peoples private ponds almost always had huge blood suckers, and people screaming because of them. Not always me either.

I don't think it will be an issue but there sure could be some in it at some time. Having hungry fish in a pond usually keeps that kind of thing pretty scarce.

The pond shouldn’t be too weedy, we will be treating it with Aquashade and similar so water will have a blue tinge to it year round, just waiting for level to be up to the rocks before we start putting that in. Right now it gets a little muddy looking when the wind blows hard, without a lot of weeds it discourages leaches they don’t have places to hide from the fish.

 

[bjseiler]

I think conventional wisdom is to start without predator fish like walleye and bass for a year and a lot of people think crappie will overrun a pond. I love catching crappie in our lake so screw conventional wisdom. Not sure on the walleye. The balance of bait fish to predators is tough. My lake report said I need to remove like 500 pounds of bass a year. It is hard to do.

 

[yoderjac]

Looking better each time you post!!!

 

[H20fwler]

I think conventional wisdom is to start without predator fish like walleye and bass for a year and a lot of people think crappie will overrun a pond. I love catching crappie in our lake so screw conventional wisdom. Not sure on the walleye. The balance of bait fish to predators is tough. My lake report said I need to remove like 500 pounds of bass a year. It is hard to do.

I had a long talk the other day with my local fish hatchery guy on that. He has been in the pond stocking business for over forty years, he sells out of stock every year so trying to sell extra fish is not his game.

I also put golden shiners and minnows in the pond last August, he said since most of the fish I bought were around the same size right now and that I was planning on feeding them pellets through the summer I should be more than fine.
The pond is still very new and not full yet but I see plenty of water bugs on surface and around edges also see minnows from last year all the time, they should have spawned at least once. Water is plenty deep enough now for stocking.
I was hesitant about starting crappies now too, was going to wait till next summer. He said with what I put in them over populating the pond would be a non-issue with the other species I stocked.
I also think it was better to put what I have in now all being about same size so they wouldn't just get eaten immediately if I tried to stock them next summer.
I am not planning on putting in any largemouth bass...would rather have small mouth. We love to eat crappie/perch/red ear so we will be keeping lots of eating size in a couple years when they are nice and big. Same thing with the walleye and hybrid striped bass...we will even eat some of the small mouth after we see they are able to sustain a population in pond.
My wife is all about the swimming so I am trying to make sure that the fish we add are more "shy" species that won’t bother swimmers but should still be easy to catch for eating.

The walleye and striped bass cannot breed in the pond and should help keep the populations of smaller fish in check and will be restocked as we remove big ones to eat.


So that is kind of the logic and plan I have with the fish right now…trying to not overthink it.

 

[bjseiler]

Totally reasonable. If you are going with pellets my favorite is from optimal fish food. Darn stuff gets expensive quick but I do think it makes a difference.

 

[H20fwler]

Totally reasonable. If you are going with pellets my favorite is from optimal fish food. Darn stuff gets expensive quick but I do think it makes a difference.

I would have to look to see what kind I bought. It's high protien little black pellets that sink, about #4 shot size. I give them about a cup real early in morning and again right before dark if I can get out to farm. I throw a couple spoonfulls out with my hand at a time as far as I can fling it so they can hear it hitting the water and come to it..takes just a few minutes to feed them. The little walleye even come up.

 

[Buckly]

You intrigued me with fish that bother swimmers. I’ve never heard of that! . Of course I don’t swim in ponds either. LOL.

 

[H20fwler]

You intrigued me with fish that bother swimmers. I’ve never heard of that! . Of course I don’t swim in ponds either. LOL.

It is usually bluegills, they will bite and peck at swimmers going after peoples freckles or moles. Bluegills are the worst offenders in swimming ponds.

 

[Tree Spud]

It is usually bluegills, they will bite and peck at swimmers going after peoples freckles or moles. Bluegills are the worst offenders in swimming ponds.

When I throw a water toy for my dog, bluegills will follow him out and back to shore.

 

[IkemanTx]

I had a long talk the other day with my local fish hatchery guy on that. He has been in the pond stocking business for over forty years, he sells out of stock every year so trying to sell extra fish is not his game.

I also put golden shiners and minnows in the pond last August, he said since most of the fish I bought were around the same size right now and that I was planning on feeding them pellets through the summer I should be more than fine.
The pond is still very new and not full yet but I see plenty of water bugs on surface and around edges also see minnows from last year all the time, they should have spawned at least once. Water is plenty deep enough now for stocking.
I was hesitant about starting crappies now too, was going to wait till next summer. He said with what I put in them over populating the pond would be a non-issue with the other species I stocked.
I also think it was better to put what I have in now all being about same size so they wouldn't just get eaten immediately if I tried to stock them next summer.
I am not planning on putting in any largemouth bass...would rather have small mouth. We love to eat crappie/perch/red ear so we will be keeping lots of eating size in a couple years when they are nice and big. Same thing with the walleye and hybrid striped bass...we will even eat some of the small mouth after we see they are able to sustain a population in pond.
My wife is all about the swimming so I am trying to make sure that the fish we add are more "shy" species that won’t bother swimmers but should still be easy to catch for eating.

The walleye and striped bass cannot breed in the pond and should help keep the populations of smaller fish in check and will be restocked as we remove big ones to eat.


So that is kind of the logic and plan I have with the fish right now…trying to not overthink it.

In regards to the “shy” swimmers, I grew up on a lake and the thread-fin shad would peck at every freckle or hair that fought their eye if you weren’t moving around much. The lightest of little pecks, almost couldn’t even tell they were doing it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[H20fwler]

Added fifty 4” smallmouth bass today!

 

[H20fwler]

Pond as of yesterday, water is up to the rocks now...has about five feet to go yet to be full.

Also had some brooder Golden Shiners shipped up from Arkansas, split them between this pond and the larger pond at the Big Woods.
This is how big they are, hope they are big enough to spawn this year. trying to keep the forage fish base built up good.

 

[Troubles Trees]

So nice to see this project from start to finish, looks great man!

 

[H20fwler]

The boys did a little fishing at the new pond to try and get an idea of the fish growth since last year.
We also have lots of perch egg strings in the pond right now.

Perch were all around 8” the walleye are at 12” right now. They saw some of the redeard sunfish but those wouldn’t bite they were about 6”.
None of the little small mouth hit…boys were using little rubber jigs said they had a bite every other cast.
They pulled out 11 of the crappie said they were 8” those didn’t go back (in hind-site I wouldn’t have put those in). Fourteen more of those to try and cull out this week.

 

[H20fwler]

The pond is finally complete.
Water is all the way up and the beach is in, of course my wife HAD to have white sand. It had to be trucked from sixty miles away…two loads.

We have had a dry summer up until a couple weeks ago and pond had a good 4 1/2’ yet to go up by early July I was tired of waiting so I did some research on how to try and fill it. Ended up buying 160’ of solid 4” plastic tile and using the hydrant at the well head that pumps 25gpm or more. Have a good six foot drop from hydrant to pond, I let it run full out for a month. It worked!
I wasn’t concerned to much about the electric bill but that ended up OK…$176 total.

Pic from early July shows where the water level was at.


The beach area


The swimming area, that we have used many times this month. Started out with a pea gravel base last year then shot it over with sand a couple weeks ago.


A couple views of the whole pond.




And some pics of how the fish are doing


Couple of the one year old smallies



So that is how the pond has turned out after two years!

Now I just need to work on getting the grass pretty and getting rid of the clover…the deer sure like the clover they are in it almost every evening.

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

That's a great looking pond. Have you found anything unexpected in the pond yet? I dug a small watering hole for the deer in a low spot near a seasonal creek and within a year it had mud minnows and some type of small aquatic snails.

I might have missed it, but did you add something to make it that light blue color?

 

[b116757]

Nice wish I could fill my ponds like that I’ve got a couple that normally have fish that I’m getting genuinely worried about loosing the fish do to lack of water.

 

[H20fwler]

That's a great looking pond. Have you found anything unexpected in the pond yet? I dug a small watering hole for the deer in a low spot near a seasonal creek and within a year it had mud minnows and some type of small aquatic snails.

I might have missed it, but did you add something to make it that light blue color?

Thanks

Yes one gallon of Aqua Shade…that pond is a little over an acre over 20’ deep. Has to have millions of gallons of water in it And one gallon of that stuff turned the whole pond blue! It’s supposed to be harmless to fish/water/pets/swimmers if used correctly.

Haven’t had any aquatic accidents show up yet, just occasional ducks/geese/blue herons/deer and raccoons.
Do have a few bullfrogs and thousands of bullfrog tadpoles. Have seen one painted turtle.