# Pond project



## Muddy (May 7, 2017)

After several years of planning it looks like my pond project is finally a go. Contract is finalized and the excavator staked the perimeter today. It's going to be a half acre, kidney shaped, and 10' deep. Digging is set to start in a week if the weather holds. I will post some pictures as work progresses. Here is a picture of the layout from the north and south.


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## bountyhunter (Apr 28, 2004)

30 yrs back I built a 2ac pond ,asked around about who to build it, four guys with some equipt gave price, one guy got my attention HE SAID he can,t tell me how much its gonna cost till he digs five test holes, came out with a trac digger and dug ,played with the dirt in his hand said ,yep theres some good blue clay down there , we,ll use that for the liner. said any body can dig a hole , but only a few guys can build a pond. says if you don,t line the pond pack it in about two ft deep with clay,it,ll sure enough LEAK. I got a real pond builder. ralph wagner @son mike .


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## Muddy (May 7, 2017)

Equipment was moved onsite today. Dirt moving starts tomorrow. I dug 3 test holes 12' deep last summer to see what we have to work with. The excavator will use the pan put a clay liner in.


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## bountyhunter (Apr 28, 2004)

sounds like you did some home work on your pond.


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## WETSHIRT (Jun 29, 2012)

bountyhunter said:


> 30 yrs back I built a 2ac pond ,asked around about who to build it, four guys with some equipt gave price, one guy got my attention HE SAID he can,t tell me how much its gonna cost till he digs five test holes, came out with a trac digger and dug ,played with the dirt in his hand said ,yep theres some good blue clay down there , we,ll use that for the liner. said any body can dig a hole , but only a few guys can build a pond. says if you don,t line the pond pack it in about two ft deep with clay,it,ll sure enough LEAK. I got a real pond builder. ralph wagner @son mike .


Wagner built mine as well 20yrs ago. Even in worst draught years I only lose 6 or 8 inches, mostly evaporation. Good luck to the op. I've had more fun stocking and managing that pond than anything I've ever paid for.


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## Muddy (May 7, 2017)

Day one of digging. key way is in and excavation has started. There's a lot of dirt to move in the next couple of days.


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## mercercountyhunter (May 5, 2017)

that's a good feeling when they start moving dirt and all the planning comes to life. sounds like you are doing thing right and did your research. mine was dug in September 2016 and my perch and hybrid bluegill are getting big already. smallmouth went in month ago and should have some monster hybrid striped bass in couple years. i feed pellets daily also. get a good start to your forage fish before stocking many predators and they will grow like weeds when put in. what is your stocking plan and goals for the pond? are you able to go any deeper and do you plan to have bottom aeration? you may already know about this website, but pondboss.com has information overload and many experts to help with all aspects of ponds, from building to stocking. good luck with it and hope it holds water.


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## Muddy (May 7, 2017)

How big of a pond did you build? I'm going to keep at at 10' deep. I can't find any benefits of going deeper. Soil and water is concerned about bedrock depth (we have solid limestone under us) and turn over issues if it goes any deeper. I did change it from kidney shaped to round at the last minute to gain more surface area and water volume. I plan on putting blue gills, red ear sunfish, perch, black crappie, bass, and catfish in it. Pondboss.com is a great website, I do get on there from time to time. I was actually just on there last night.


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## mercercountyhunter (May 5, 2017)

mine is .75 acre. deeper is just better to help with the muck that will accumulate over time. bottom aeration would help combat that though. you may struggle to keep the perch with all those predators and black crappie have tendency to stunt easily in small ponds but you probably heard that on pondboss. get those fat head minnows and golden shiners in there as soon as you get some water in the bottom and let them multiply like crazy before the predators go in. good luck with it and you will enjoy it.


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## Muddy (May 7, 2017)

Yesterday was slowed down due a breakdown. Lots of dirt was moved today, and there's still a lot to go. All clay so far.


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## Muddy (May 7, 2017)

The pond is really starting to take shape. One more good day with no rain delays and it will be done. It's all good clay, just one small area had a sand pocket that had to be dug out and packed with clay. It's hard to see the size very well in a photo. For reference you can see my 5 year old son in the top photo on the right side.


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## BFG (Mar 29, 2006)

Pile up some rocks to give some structure! Looks good!!


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## Muddy (May 7, 2017)

Finish grading was just about wrapped up today. I had them move dirt to the north of the pond to create a gently sloping plain that redirects another couple acres of drainage to the pond. A few punch out items and it will be a wrap. Then I'm seeding it and putting in some cover. The ground surrounding the pond is all getting planted in CRP in about a week.


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## Muddy (May 7, 2017)

I'm making some fish structures for kicks and giggles.


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## Muddy (May 7, 2017)

I graded the perimeter out with a drag, seeded, and fertilized. It's dumping rain, should have water in it tomorrow.


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## Muddy (May 7, 2017)

There's a good amount of water in the pond today. I'm wondering if it time to go ahead and put some fathead minnows in?


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## percidaeben (Jan 15, 2010)

Muddy said:


> View attachment 262941
> There's a good amount of water in the pond today. I'm wondering if it time to go ahead and put some fathead minnows in?


Good time to catch toad and green frog in tadpoles and release in pond.


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## Saugeye Tom (Oct 6, 2010)

Muddy said:


> View attachment 262941
> There's a good amount of water in the pond today. I'm wondering if it time to go ahead and put some fathead minnows in?


might wait a few more days......


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## Muddy (May 7, 2017)

Cover added to pond today.


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## dugworm (May 23, 2008)

Lookin good!


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## WETSHIRT (Jun 29, 2012)

I'll offer you some unsolicited advice and it may be worth what you pay for it, but here goes. From my own experience I've found that introducing fish too early is generally a bad idea with some exceptions. Sunfish species, except bass do very well in a new pond as long as you don't overdo it, maybe 2 doz. per acre. There is a lot of natural food coming out of fresh earth along with insects. Minnows, such as fatheads, need zooplankton to thrive therefore there must be a buildup of phytoplankton, so you might want to hold off until some green growth appears . Tadpoles of any kind need organic detritus as well. If you are going to keep the shoreline closely mowed and not leave any natural tall grass, frogs will just become expensive bass and raccoon food. Building the food pyramid should be your early priority. Scuds, freshwater shrimp, insect larva, minnows ect. for the first growing season. I know paietence is difficult early on, but forego putting in predatory species until you have a forage base, and then buy them all the same size so they don't eat each other . I know it's hard to resist putting in that 5 lb. bass you caught at mosquito, but you will have a healthier fishery if you can resist. Just some thoughts from someone who has been there. By the way, beautiful excavation work. enjoy.


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## Dillon.R.Nott (Oct 4, 2015)

I love these! New updates are awesome. Yeah I have a acre pond with hybrid bluegills, Perch, Hybrid Stripers and large mouth. Pellet feeding helped my Largemouth grow from 5” to 19” in 4 years time. Also grew my Wipers from 8” to 16” In two years. Perch grew really fact too. I would highly suggest adding Golden Shiners for sure. I wish I added so baitfish before I added gamefish. Trying to catch some Shiners now and add them in. Add some gravel on like two sides to encourage Bluegill and bass to spawn there. Also maybe add a dock so if you do pellet feed the fish will get used to it.


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## Muddy (May 7, 2017)

What size fatheads should I stock if I want them to reproduce. Do I want bass minnow size or crappie minnow size? I'm buying them by the pound for $14.99. I get more minnows per pound with crappie minnows, but are bass minnows going to be better for spawning?


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## WETSHIRT (Jun 29, 2012)

Muddy said:


> What size fatheads should I stock if I want them to reproduce. Do I want bass minnow size or crappie minnow size? I'm buying them by the pound for $14.99. I get more minnows per pound with crappie minnows, but are bass minnows going to be better for spawning?


IMO the larger ones will reproduce earlier, some this year yet, however there will be higher death rate, they are rather short lived. They grow fast with ample food and lack of predation so some of the smaller ones may reach sexual maturity this year. My advice would be some of each. How many depends on your estimation of food supply and when you intend to introduce predator species. Good luck.


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## Muddy (May 7, 2017)

Pond is about 1/2 full now. We've only had 3 rains that created run off since it was done about mid May. I've put 120 blue gills, 4 pounds of fathead minnows, and some crawfish in it. I'm feeding the bluegills pellets. They are taking to the pellets pretty well. We've been swimming in it quite a bit with the warm weather.


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## Dillon.R.Nott (Oct 4, 2015)

awesome. What are your stocking plans again? Do you plan on putting in golden shiners? Putting in fatheads and bluegill was a perfect move. Definitely wait for forage to build up before putting in predators. How big are the bluegill? If you have any questions i’d love to help i’ve been working around my own acre pond for about 6 years now.


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## Dillon.R.Nott (Oct 4, 2015)

Muddy said:


> View attachment 266631
> Pond is about 1/2 full now. We've only had 3 rains that created run off since it was done about mid May. I've put 120 blue gills, 4 pounds of fathead minnows, and some crawfish in it. I'm feeding the bluegills pellets. They are taking to the pellets pretty well. We've been swimming in it quite a bit with the warm weather.


Ok so i saw you have interest in Perch and Crappie. I put around 60 5-7 inch perch in my acre pond. All grew very fast! They do come up and eat pellet but are more shy than bluegill and bass. I stocked them 3 years ago and now all of them are over 12”. I don’t catch them a lot though... everytime i fish for them the Hybrid Bluegill usually get the bait before the Perch do. Early spring i always see the ribbon of eggs from the perch too. They repoduece very well in my pond but i’ve never seen and fingerlings or smaller perch. I have cover in my pond but i don’t think i have enough. I would put some big boulders in your pond. or concrete piles. I have one big pile of big rocks in my pond and it always holds fish. It was there before we moved in. Rock will provid breeding habit for shiners and other minnows in early spring and will hold bass beds in summer. When we had a bad drought 2 years ago the tips of the boulders stuck out of the water. For as of Crappie that’s risky. I know of two ponds in my area i fish and in them both have lots of stunted bluegill and bass. Maybe put in a handful of them and see where that goes. But if you want big bass, gills and perch, i don’t think i would stock Crappie.


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## M R DUCKS (Feb 20, 2010)

NO to crappie


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## Muddy (May 7, 2017)

I'm going to stock fatheads, bluegills, redear sunfish, perch, bass, Hybrid stripped bass, and black crappie. I've stocked black crappie into multiple farm ponds around my house and they have never over populated. Black crappies really didn't even seem to hold their own in the farm ponds that I stocked them in. I am thinking about putting shiners in as well, but I have read that the larger shiners prey on fry.


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## Dillon.R.Nott (Oct 4, 2015)

Muddy said:


> I'm going to stock fatheads, bluegills, redear sunfish, perch, bass, Hybrid stripped bass, and black crappie. I've stocked black crappie into multiple farm ponds around my house and they have never over populated. Black crappies really didn't even seem to hold their own in the farm ponds that I stocked them in. I am thinking about putting shiners in as well, but I have read that the larger shiners prey on fry.


Its not easy for shiners to grow to an large size to eat fry. But if you think about it, every fish will eat a baby fish. I think with you putting in bass, perch, catfish and crappie, you need as much forage as possible. Fatheads will not live long enough to settle therefore you’d have to stick them every spring-fall to atleast help. Man i don’t know if you put all those predator species in that small of a pond, you’re gonna have to keep a close eye on it and manage it to the finest detail.


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## Muddy (May 7, 2017)

I'm just going to feed them a lot of pellets. Hopefully it works. I have a friend that does it and his fish population and size is insane. If it doesn't work then I'll start culling.


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## Muddy (May 7, 2017)

I might do some shiners. Fishermans Warehouse has them for $14.99 a pound. I'm going to wait for the water to cool down before I add any more minnows or shiners.


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## Dillon.R.Nott (Oct 4, 2015)

Muddy said:


> I might do some shiners. Fishermans Warehouse has them for $14.99 a pound. I'm going to wait for the water to cool down before I add any more minnows or shiners.


just make sure you feed the pellets consistently. And do your research on what kind of pellets to get. Like 50% protein or something. I just know some are for bass and another could be for bluegill and catfish. I don’t think it matters too much but it could help your fish grow faster and healthier. Crappie do not take pellets btw. Everything else on your list of fish will take them. Get floating pellets. And Golden shiners can tolerate temps up to 104 degrees. they are very tough to temperatures


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## c. j. stone (Sep 24, 2006)

I personnally would rethink putting crappie your pond. They'll(even as small ones) eat all your newly hatched/smaller other species and eventually take over completely! LM bass are the only "predator" needed in a small pond. And for goodness sake, NO catfish!


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## Dillon.R.Nott (Oct 4, 2015)

c. j. stone said:


> I personnally would rethink putting crappie your pond. They'll(even as small ones) eat all your newly hatched/smaller other species and eventually take over completely! LM bass are the only "predator" needed in a small pond. And for goodness sake, NO catfish!


sheesh What did Catfish do to you lol


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## Muddy (May 7, 2017)

The fathead minnows must have spawned, I have balls of fry swimming everywhere. The North 1/3 of the pond was completely covered with fry yesterday morning. I've put about 135-140 bluegills in so far. They are all over the pellet food now. Some of them have learned to come right up to the waters edge to get handfed. They wait patiently while my son drops single pellets to them one after another while the masses of bluegills all wait offshore and feed in a mass frenzy. I think that my 5 year old son likes the pond more than me. Now we just need some rain. It's been almost 30 days since we've had any measurable rain. The pond has lost about 3" in the last 3 1/2 weeks which seems pretty good to me considering the amount of sunny days and hot weather that we have had. I don't think that it's leaking any water.


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## privateer (Apr 26, 2012)

Is the only water input rain? Is that sufficient for a healthy pond? I though you had to have a flowing source or the water would become stagnant.


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## Muddy (May 7, 2017)

privateer said:


> Is the only water input rain? Is that sufficient for a healthy pond? I though you had to have a flowing source or the water would become stagnant.


All rain run off from the my CRP acreage. Most pond designs capture rain run off only. Building a pond on a flowing source of water creates many potential problems.


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## Muddy (May 7, 2017)

The USDA has charts to calculate the watershed necessary for a given pond size for every region of the country based on environmental and soil characteristics for each region. In my area I needed approximately 7:1 watershed to pond surface area ratio. I added several acres to the watershed by regrading with the pond spoils, so I'm more like a 11:1 ratio. If the watershed ends up being too large a can easily add a swale to direct some of the water to the creek.


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## privateer (Apr 26, 2012)

Can you point me to some of your research resources? I would like to read about this too.


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## Muddy (May 7, 2017)

Google USDA handbook number 590. It's titled "Ponds-Planning, design, and construction". You can download it and print it off. It's an 85 page manual on building a pond that get's technical. I also read every thing that I could from the NRCS and SWCD. I also worked with several people from my local FSA and SWCD office first hand.


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