Farm pond

Leo · #1 02/18/12, 06:19 PM

So, DH and I were talking of putting in a farm pond at the base of a hill in a corner of our property that is seasonally wet. There is a very small, seasonal creek(around 2' deep by 3-4' wide) a few hundred feet from where we were thinking of digging. I think it's illegal to reroute or expand it since it drains into a nearby farm land. So I think we would be safe to dig a separate pond.

Dh wanted to grow catfish, and I wanted panfish, bluegill mostly. I wanted it to be a max of a 1/4th acre, gently sloped with a deep point of 10-15feet.

I've found some good articles, but most places I've read about talk about 1 acre of more. I'm too tired to dig that much.

Right now the land is just bubbling where we want to dig, you can hit the water line at one inch, lots of surface water.

Would that work for bluegill? Any advise in general(In case I forgot to mention anything)?
Thanks!

Darren · #2 02/18/12, 06:24 PM

Talk to the closest NRCS office. They have lots of info and may be able to share in the cost.

plowjockey · #3 02/18/12, 06:53 PM

1/4 acre pond will hold bluegill and catfish easily.

Rerouting the creek would be great and would not really hurt anyone downstream, once the pond was full, provided the overflow was routed back to the creek.

Creek fed gives a constant water source, so the level stays the same.

Check you local laws (if any) and water conservation office, before doing anything.

Even a 1/4 acre pond 15', is a lot of digging. Do you have your own equipment?

Otherwise, if you hire, make it as big as you can afford as they will likely bring in bigger equipment.

Alice In TX/MO · #4 02/18/12, 08:31 PM

There is a creek/drainage ditch through our place, and it is VERY illegal to reroute the water. Check with the various local agencies before you spend any money.

springvalley · #5 02/18/12, 10:44 PM

Like Alice, it is illegal to reroute water here in Illinois also, but I see no reason why you couldn`t dig your own pond. But better to be safe than sorry, check and seewhat you need, call your local Soil and water conservation office. > Thanks Marc

CarolT · #6 02/18/12, 10:55 PM

Double check, but my neighbor in the state Senate sure rerouted a lot of creek water for his ponds LOL I've never seen anyone get in trouble in AL for making a pond in a creek around here. You just route the overflow back to the creek bed to be nice to those downstream.

It'll be fine for bluegill and catfish, just don't overload it and unless you seal it, you may have to give it a year or 2 to seal before adding fish. Also need to wait a year or 2 to see if the dam is going to wash away with the hard spring rains, otherwise, the guy downstream is getting his pond stocked!

We have a huge pond we share with DHs brother. Mostly bass and bream.

honeyrobber · #7 02/19/12, 01:06 AM

Each state is a bit different but a drainage ditch the fills with water when it rains and is dry within a week is not classed as a water way in many states. If it has water in it for weeks/months at a time it is a wet weather creek and not drainage ditch. Ditches can be rerouted as long as you do not pollute down stream with muddy water so if you follow good soil conservation while building it is no problem. The deeper you can make your pond the better. They fill in in time. Get a backhoe to dig the pond in the driest month. Forgot to check you state/location but crappie is the best pond fish I have found. They do not over populate as bad as bluegill. Hybrid bluegill will raise in your pond but that is the next best option. stock a few catfish but depending on your pond they may or maynot beable to raise offspring. Just make sure you get someone that knows how to make a pond because if the soil changes digging it deeper will cause it to leak. Our best farm pond was dug in 1981 and at that time was 18 feet deep on the deep end. It is now only 9 feet. Main cause of this is tree leaves falling in the pond every fall.

fantasymaker · #8 02/19/12, 07:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by springvalley

Like Alice, it is illegal to reroute water here in Illinois also, but I see no reason why you couldn`t dig your own pond. But better to be safe than sorry, check and seewhat you need, call your local Soil and water conservation office. > Thanks Marc

HUH? Where do you get this stuff?
LOL IL is the land of the drainage district!
As far as I know as long as water enters and departs at the same locations it always has there is no problem.
But like anything in IL Im sure the best lawyer wins!

ronbre · #9 02/19/12, 09:35 AM

i would suggest NOT talking to the authorities..

we put in a pond ..a fairly large one..

you probably will want fresh water intake and outlet to keep most pondfish, some might do ok in a stillwater pond.

if you are allowing the same amount of water to come in and go out of the pond you aren't disrupting the amount of water going to the farm below..best time to fill your pond is in the spring when there is excess runoff..anyway.

JohnL751 · #10 02/19/12, 10:54 AM

I think I would just lay a 4" line for gravity flow or to pump it. It might be years before anybody noticed.

JohnL751 · #11 02/19/12, 11:02 AM

A friend of mine has been pumping water from the year round stream for his garden. When the county dude saw the line he told Mike that when he isn't pumping, take the line out of the water. Had something to do with a chance of back flow.

SueMc · #12 02/19/12, 11:15 AM

We had a pond dug last summer (about 1.3 acres). The conservation dept was great help, figuring acres of runoff, etc. The pond ended up bigger than we first talked about, which was fine with me. Like most anything else, if you hire it done, expect to pay more for it in the end than first discussed. Our builder got into a big sand vein that had to be dug out for example.

ETA: Our pond incorporated a ravine that had a branch of the creek dried up due to the placement of the dam. The main body of the creek wasn't changed. All those calculations and decisions were made by the builder and conservation dept.

CarolT · #13 02/19/12, 11:15 AM

Our pond is an acre and not big enough to support good crappie.

"Problem Fish Species

In general, the only species that are recommended for ponds are largemouth bass, bluegill, redear sunfish, and channel catfish (see Management Options). Other species, once becoming established in a pond, can harm good fishing and cause the pond to fall short of its fishing potential.

Although both black and white crappies do well in large lakes, they usually do not do well in small ponds. Once crappies become established, they prey on small bass, compete for food with adult bass and bluegill, and tend to overpopulate. This produces a pond full of small, slow-growing crappies. If you have a pond that contains crappie, there are some things you can do to improve crappie fishing, but to have good crappie in ponds, you must sacrifice bass fishing."

Of course, that was from the University of Arkansas, but we encountered the same thing.

chestnut · #14 02/19/12, 11:20 AM

www.pondboss.com has all the info you'll need for building a pond or maintaining it.

fishhead · #15 02/19/12, 06:02 PM

It's always better to keep the pond separated from any surface water. You'd be amazed at how many different species will end up in your pond if you don't. Then you lose all control and end up with a pond full of stunted fish that you won't want to eat.

If the elevation is right you might be able to siphon but it doesn't sound like water is going to be a problem. If you do run a pipe to the stream be sure to put window screen on both ends of the pipe to keep unwanted fish out.

wogglebug · #16 02/20/12, 01:35 AM

Can you find a low spot and say it was a dam way back, that got silted up and you just cleaned it out? Could get you out of a lot of hassles if you ever got called on it.

wogglebug · #17 02/20/12, 01:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fishhead

It's always better to keep the pond separated from any surface water. You'd be amazed at how many different species will end up in your pond if you don't. Then you lose all control and end up with a pond full of stunted fish that you won't want to eat.

If the elevation is right you might be able to siphon but it doesn't sound like water is going to be a problem. If you do run a pipe to the stream be sure to put window screen on both ends of the pipe to keep unwanted fish out.

Provided the water isn't muddy, or you clean them out in a clean-water tank for a week or two, you can eat just about any fish, stunted or not. You just need to pressure cook them - pressure cooker, or canned. They end up with soft bones like tinned salmon or sardines, particularly if you put vinegar or lemon juice in as well. saves having to have milk as well, as the bones substitute for the calcium in milk.
Of course, goats could give milk, yoghurt, cheese, and will love browsing on bramble wasteland.

geo in mi · #18 02/20/12, 07:34 AM

Your own State of Alabama has the best resources in pond aquaculture going: http://www.ag.auburn.edu/fish/about/

And: http://www.aces.edu/dept/fisheries/index.php

Do some research there first.

geo

BarbadosSheep · #19 02/20/12, 11:55 AM

One potential problem with rerouting the creek is your pond will be full of whatever aquatic weeds and junk fish that are living in the creek.

honeyrobber · #20 02/20/12, 03:28 PM

I find all the reports saying crappie needs large areas and they over populate ponds. But in real life experience the hybrid bluegill and crappie reproduce at about the same rate. Standard bluegill will fill a pond to overstocked level in just a couple years. If you are going to harvest fish from this pond regularly they are the best option I have found for TN. Dads farm pond with crappie is 18 feet wide by 120 feet long. We cleaned out a drainage ditch and built a dam. It is only 8 feet deep when dug. We water the blueberries that are down hill from it with mostly syphon but got a small pump to get it started. We pull some where around 100 fish a year from this small pond and it has never over populated. The other pond which is larger was stocked with bass, hybrid bluegill, and channel cat and is spring fed(wet weather spring). You can catch a cat every now and then that is large but rare as they can not breed well in a mud bottomed pond. They prefer rocky caves or under tree roots on river banks. Bass were good fishing for about 3 years until the bluegill population got to high and started eating more of the bass eggs. I have not seen or caught a bass in 5 years out of that pond. I take little kids to this pond with the smallest hooks and just 1/8 inch peice of worm and just keep baiting hooks and taking fish off and none are eating size. The pond that I had at the horse barn before my back injury was stocked with crappie and channel cat only and did not over populate either but I only had it about 4 years. Like goldfish can be kept in small bowl and reach sexual maturity at a small size is what I see more of in bluegill than crappie. Never seen a 2 inch crappie with eggs and seen i do not know how many bluegill that size gravid.