Our pond build

ksgobbler

5 year old buck +
The idea got started in 2016 when we moved out here and I sold my boat. My kids love fishing, and although the neighbor has 8 ponds we can fish whenever we want there is nothing like just telling the kids to head to the pond to get their fix. The NRCS came out and told us we could get a 30ydx40 yd modified pit south of the house. It would have a small drainage area. Apparently they were to lazy to check out the draw 50 yards south of that the funnels some runoff to the creek to our east. I made them come back out and things got set in motion. The tractor came out in February of 2017 to remove trees. However the draw was so wet we had to wait until it dried out in July to start digging. Only took them 3 days and they did some other dirt work for me. Max depth 11’9”
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We immediately set to work getting brush for fish habitat in there. Also made some rock piles with rocks from the field. My daughter was a slave driver wanting it done before a rain.
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Awesome build ks! Going to lots of great memories tied to that pond. Good job.
 
Let's see t filled with water. Must look great.
 
Pond came in under budget. You can blame the drought on me for building a pond. Rain has been hard to come by. We got a little in august that put a little water in.
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It did help my Japanese millet come up around the pond.
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Then October 22nd we got 4” of rain and filled it some. Not enough though.
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I am just north of a 10k acre lake and love to duck hunt. A lot of birds fly over the house. They don’t like it with all the brush. We tried a could times with the kids but had no takers. We didn’t get any more rain until today.
 
Looks nice, water is always inviting just like fire. Kids helping and learning always a plus!

How did you hold down the brush in the lower pond?
 
We are listed in severe drought but the lord blessed us with 1.5” of rain last night. Pond filled in nicely. You can even see water from the house now. It is still at least a couple feet low but it looks like we may be headed into a wet period. Mallards had already found the pond this afternoon. F6DB68F0-EEE0-4053-80C8-36844F2F0A5F.jpegF7BF8D0E-8730-4F0B-805E-6E0F3D7711CC.jpeg0BF2CFC8-0B9E-4172-9A54-D9D426A3684F.jpegFDC8EFE3-B449-4173-B01D-FCFD7E8490EA.jpegFingers crossed
 
So for holding the brush I drove some t-posts. We are heavy clay once you break through the top black dirt. There are 2-3 t-posts in the bottom and I used bailing wire to wire the brush to them and they more bailing wire to wire brush to stuff that was attached to the t-posts.
The fish farm is leaning me towards hybrid bluegill for easy to catch, not overpopulating fish in this small pond.
 
And here I was blaming my planting brassica's on the drought when it was you....

Looks good, hopefully you get some real shakers this spring.
 
Nice to see some run-off into that thing! We got an inch out of that storm and it was very much needed! Been awfully dry here.

Here is a pic I took Friday when it was so windy. The drought has hammered us pretty hard this winter.
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So for holding the brush I drove some t-posts. We are heavy clay once you break through the top black dirt. There are 2-3 t-posts in the bottom and I used bailing wire to wire the brush to them and they more bailing wire to wire brush to stuff that was attached to the t-posts.
The fish farm is leaning me towards hybrid bluegill for easy to catch, not overpopulating fish in this small pond.

Good idea on the tie down. Hybrids are generally sterile and will not reproduce except for about 5%. You could always consider bluegills with large mouth bass to manage the population.
 
The fish farm is leaning me towards hybrid bluegill for easy to catch, not overpopulating fish in this small pond.
My dad stocks his pond with channel cats and hybrid bluegills. The hybrids do grow fast and are fun to catch. The kids love them.
 
The fish farm guy said as small as this pond is we don’t want bluegill crappie, etc because they will over populate and stunt. His suggestion was hybrids so little reproduction, and maybe 10 channel cat. Guys over at pondboss suggested skipping the channel cat and throwing in half a doz wipers instead.
 
Wipers? That would be a blast! I've always wanted to try walleye in a deep pond...
 
Yep actually just got off the phone with Wallace fish farm. Initial stocking will be hybrid blue gill, wipers, and channel cat. He said that next year we will likely need to add a few largemouth but we are gonna try to get all one sex. Also getting fathead minnows. I pick the fish up middle of next week.

It filled up a little more.
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Nice pond! Good choice on the fish, too.
 
Will be picking up fish in the afternoon tomorrow. He doesn’t have any wipers so hybrid bluegill, channel cat, and fathead minnows. Need to find some wipers or hope he gets more in.
 
Very nice! Ponds are awesome projects, add a lot of diversity to the property...and are just fun.
 
Will be picking up fish in the afternoon tomorrow. He doesn’t have any wipers so hybrid bluegill, channel cat, and fathead minnows. Need to find some wipers or hope he gets more in.

If you havn't already done so, sink some wood pallets in the shallows. Fathead minnows like to lay their eggs under a flat surface.
 
150 hybrid bluegill and 4 lbs of fathead minnows are in the pond. He will have me wipers in mid May. He said the thought a lot about channel cats but thinks I should keep them out so I can stock more wipers.
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