anyone have a pond? check out mine, in progress (1 Viewer)

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yeah I plan on setting up motion detectors tied into shotguns to handle intruders. j/k, I may get some of those motion detector cameras to at least get a handle of who is on there. I don have some neighbors that know about it.

also, how did you handle filling it back up? do you rely on runoff and rain or do you have a pump or alternate source?
 
Diat, if you like to fish for bass and want to try and maintain large fish then I would suggest looking into shad. For the longest time people quit stocking shad in smaller lakes but anything over 3 acres is big enough to handle shad. Also you are in an ideal region that you won't have to worry about shad kills in the winter because the water will likely never get 35 degrees or less in the deeper water.

The most popular type of shad to stock in smaller lakes is threadfin shad. Threadfin don't have to be stocked but one time with few exceptions. This helps to keep the number of bass down since the bass prefer to eat the easy to catch shad over brim. This keeps the brim numbers higher and there are more brim to eat bass eggs in the spring. Shad really help manage the number of bass in a lake plus you can get optimal growth rates and see 3-4lb bass withing the first couple years. If kept properly managed you will be able to see trophy bass in about 4 years. Without shad you will have to keep about 80 bass per acre per year just to keep the numbers in check.

Gizzard shad were once frowned upon in smaller lakes because unlike threadfin they can grow much bigger and get to the point were only the biggest bass can eat them. However, many studies recently are showing that gizzard can help produce extremely large bass since they can feed on larger bait. A bass has to eat 10lbs of forage just to gain 1lb. If you decide to put gizzard shad in most places suggest putting threadfin in and adding gizzard once the bass get bigger so the gizzard shad aren't as likely as growing to extremely large sizes.

Golden shiners are a bit more expensive but they can provide the best of both worlds since they get bigger than the threadfin but wont get so large the bass can't eat them. Many private lakes are being stocked with different combinations and some with all three.

Another benefit of shad is it will allow more lures to have success in the lake for a much longer period.

Another way to increase the size of the fish is adding structure such as brushtops, gravel, rock piles and grasses. If you are digging the lake yourself then digging small ditches running from the bank out to deeper water and digging an area that drops of like steps can give you places that will consistently hold fish. If I were making my own lake then I would pile up a bunch of brush in several areas of the lake at different depths, put a couple small trees at different drop offs and a couple around the levee. I would then add a cypress tree every 100 yards around the edge of the lake. You could also add some duck weed, water lillies or even lillie pads in small areas. If you do this you might want to consider adding just a few carp but this combination will give the fish different areas to hide and give the fisherman different types of fishing.

If you are building a dock then be sure to have deep enough water to get a boat in and out all time of the year. Something else to consider is making it to where you can put the boat under some type of small cover or a lift so you don't have to bring the boat to shore to drain rain water. Pushing a boat on and off the shore is a pain plus you have to worry about snakes getting under the boat which they love to do.

Water clarity is another important thing to consider. If the area around the lake is dirt then you will have muddy water, if it is sand or thick grass then it will be clearer. The best water visibility for fishing is 18". Water fertilizer is really cheap and gives the lake a green color from the algae bloom. This gives the small fish a much faster growth rate and if you put shad in it helps keep the shad numbers higher by providing more micro organisms for them to eat.

As you can tell I have given this a lot of thought. Mandi's parents have a 3 acre lake and I have done a lot of reading because I will likely be "managing" the lake for them since it is overrun with small bass.

Ideal lakes the average bass will be in the 3lb range and you wont catch a lot of the same size bass. Plus bass will get over the 10lb mark.

I know the Ms wildlife and fisheries will come out and test the water and the fish population free and give you advice. I'm sure La has a similar program.
Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries
 
yeah it actually happened a few years back for the saints at chargers game when I was on the beach. i guess a grain of sand screwed it up because I cant see anything on the lens.
 
dude, I have a pond. 2.5ftx3.5ftx2ft deep. you have a fishin/swimin hole. I have gold fish your gonna have bass. you are one lucky man. mine does have a fountain. some day when I grow up I'm gonna have a fishin hole.
 
Back in the day when we built our pond on the farm... When we'd come back from a successfull fishing trip, we'd throw all the fish in ice water.. about 40% made it... Leftover minnows.. crappies, and brim.. Damned bass gonna get in there anyways...

Damned crappies got huge, but didn;t take long to catch them out... Somewhere I heard that crappie won;t spawn unless they got a fresh water source.. I don;t know...

My old uncle left a giant oak tree in the middle laid over sideways... It was the fish attactor... Beaver entered the pond one year and dug holes in the levee, and the pond was never th same again. It never went back to it's former level.

Many nights did we camp out by the pond and talk about a ton of fun.... There still is a living cypress tree by the waterline there today... My uncle brought back some cain from Louisiana... Planted it and today this damned patch of cain is HUGE.... If I was ever home on the farm and had some time... I could cut down some cain for fishing poles and sell them by the highway that is used to go to the lake, and I'll betI could get rich in a day selling these things for about $2 a pop.

and might I suggest.. While you have all this fresh dirt around, That you throw some good grass seed around the edges, so it will be soft and hopefully weed and sticker free... And wouldn;t hurt to plant a tree or two... I like the idea on the other post about the picninc table and stuff.... and of course something for shade until the trees get big.

That looks like a fine pond to me.. In fact, In picture one, I see great motorcycle parking.. and I just happen to know this guy with a small tent and compactable fishing pole in his saddlebags.... ;)

Joe
 
our goal is to save up and buy some land to build our "dream home" when building the house I wanna dig up a pond and use some of the dirt to elevate the house.. then make a pond. It prolly won't be big, but i wish it would be
 
diat150 said:
yeah I plan on setting up motion detectors tied into shotguns to handle intruders. j/k, I may get some of those motion detector cameras to at least get a handle of who is on there. I don have some neighbors that know about it.

also, how did you handle filling it back up? do you rely on runoff and rain or do you have a pump or alternate source?
Click to expand...

Actually, I have had fun with it this spring. Several of the "regulars" have snuck in and been fishing it already this year. I'm really enjoying knowing how they are wasting their time and hoping my pond will now get the reputation for being barren.

I used the drain pipe, with an induced siphon, to drain it down to about 5 ft deep and then pumped it down with submersible pumps. Actually got it bone dry last summer. Just allowed rain to fill it. It has plenty of runoff into it. I've actually had it overflow the dam during really bad storms once or twice every year. About 30 foot of my dam is a little lower to allow that as an emergency spillway.

I have some pretty cool pictures somewhere of me in my boat "dipping" fish out of it with a net when it was only a foot or so deep. I was doing this right before the water turned over and all the remaining fish died. Was pretty crazy. I'll have to try and find the pics and post them.
 

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