Where are the MONSTERS?

[Shannon H. Dye]

Has there been any 4 pounders reported lately?

[carl hendrix]

glad to hear you will be home soon Shannon !  as you can see;; there;s a ton of great information  on this site !!  best part is;; people willing to help !!  good luck on your project;;  and yep;; woman domanates the house hold !!  only 2 kind of married men;;; the hen pecked ones;; and the ones that lie ;; saying they are not hen pecked!!  and they have their wifes permission;; to say so !!!

[Shannon H. Dye]

Hey guys, your information has been so helpful… and I am so excited about getting home and starting this new project… well, I was that is. I am currently in Singapore since July 24th (for those who don’t know; I’m a Deepwater Oil Driller working on a brand new drillship for Ensco, so buy more fuel) but I will be headed home on the 27th of August. That’s just in time to see exactly how many red bugs and ticks I can collect from my waist line down to my toes while I clean out all the over grown junk around this new pond. The reason I said I was… well, as with most of the men I know, I’m not the boss at the house.
I have a great work ethic and I possess and candid ability to over-think, over-work and over-engineer every project I start. Did it with Honeybees a few years ago and turned a hobby into a full blown business. Guess that comes from the 5 years of Statistical and Mechanical Engineering back in the 90’s.
Anyway, what I didn’t realize is that almost instantly after buying the little farm, I lost sight of the whole reason I was buying it in the first place. To have somewhere to take the kids fishing and camping without having to rent a place on Lake Martin or ask permission from someone else who owned a pond.
It took my wife, who has always "steered" me back to the “Strait & Narrow” path; or as I refer to it “HER WAY”, to remind me exactly why I wanted the place to start with; the kids.
“That pond has stood for 15 years and produced 6 and 8 pound fish”, she stated. “Give it one year, clean up around it, fence it in and take the kids fishing before you spend any more money,” were her final words.

[Tony Livingston]

Aeration occurs due to interaction between the water and the atmosphere. A disturbance of some sort is usually employed to accomplish this, such as a "boil" produced by the diffusers in bottom aeration, and the cascading effect of a surface "fountain". The more time the water is exposed to the air, the more it will offgas the nasties and take on the good O2.

[Leo Nguyen]

Shannon, suggestion while applying Rotenone:

After two days, scarify the first 4 inches of the bottom soil (if there's no liner) to ensure total death results if you're planning on draining the pond anyway. 100% death rate. As Tony indicated, concentration must match or exceed recommended application level. They use 90% to 100% strength here to deal with carp and invasive species, utter failure. at 110% application concentration to recommended, 98% to 100% success rate, based on dilution factor.

Pondmeisters, correct me if I'm wrong on the subjects:

Once the deck/pier is complete, add LED lights 1ft off the bottom at the deepest part. LED lights should compose of one green and blue, with lights overlap of 5ft in concentrated radiant. This promotes attraction of all biological species, and increase feeding habits of the larger predators for optimal growth during night time. No more dependant on moonlight for optimal night feeding.

Ag lime: 4.5tons/acre is observatory conditions of well established ponds, even lakes, near high nutrient loading zones. If you pond does not take in heavy nutrient loads from the local farmlands, forestland, or even high background of nitrogen and phosphate hill/mountain, and/or high turbidity containing various sources of binding soil agents. Once the pond is filled, give the pond settling time for pre-conditioning, and start the Ag Lime in incremental load, creating that natural adjustment. If nutrients is a massive issue, monitoring it closely for nutrient capping is crucial. You already have all the info on DO, TSS, TDS, pH guideline for pond at this day and age. I won't go there.

Give pond at least one good season before adding fishes. Although, adding grass shrimps and introduction of single cell algae (as oxygenation and food sources) to increase quick establishment and food sources to max out pond's potential before fishes get introduced. Region specific, non-invasive water plants are of course critical.

Plant over-hanging trees/large shrubs near shallow spawning ground when possible, along with nice weedlines (not cattails). If you have a dense foliage around the spawning ground, this will promote quick meals for nesting sites as there will be drowning victims.

[Shannon H. Dye]

My actual plan was to install my 1600 gph submersible water pump attached to pvc pipe with holes drilled in it facing down and a full 3 or 4 lengths (30 feet each)of it under my pier. I wasn't after a pretty fountain or submerged system because I want something easy to access and work on if needed. The pump, about 1 to 2 feet above the surface, on a timer would come on at 2 am and pump water, jetting it into the pond until 7 am. Is this a feasible plan?

[Tony Livingston]

As far as where to buy fish, I would immediately reject the place advertising 18-19" gills in four years.....preposterous. Two pounds in two years? uhhh, okay. More plausible at least.  By that, I mean a fish hatchery's goal is to sell you fish....that doesn't have to mean that what they claim is incorrect, unless they are telling you about 18-19" gills.

But what you have to remember, is this is pond and fish MANAGEMENT....nowhere does it say stock em, feed em' and forget em' until you begin catching 3-4 pounders.  To grow trophies takes patience, perseverance, money, and time. And a willingness to be a hands-on type of fishery manager, rather than a sit back and wait, manager.

I'm confident you can do it, and I look forward to following your progress. i just hate to see you disillusioned by outrageous claims.

On the subject of HBG, that could fill volumes on its own. When these fish first became available commercially they were touted as the end all, cure all for the regular bluegill's shortcomings, most notably stunting and over population. Unfortunately, the pendulum swung too far, too quick, and many folks were very disappointed with the fish's performance.

Now, we understand a few things a little better. Used in the proper setting, HBG will perform well in a pond. Knowing their shortcomings will help things along more smoothly, and result in less frustration on the part of the pondowner. They will however, not grow as large as native or coppernose bluegills. Most will probably top out in the 1.5lb range, with a few select individuals growing larger.

[carl hendrix]

Shannon  if you can;; move the existing fish to another pond if possible;; also think of some kind of airator to help keep your pond oxygenated;; and to help keep water cooler in hot summer months.  I am orginally from Alabama;; moved to Tn. years ago;; ( no state tax here!! ))   yes sir; to me;; it comes down to personnel satisfaction to what you would be trying to do;; as well as prove to the state of Bama;; on what you accomplished!!  make them take notice!!!          Leo;; my good friend;;  merely  saying you just dabble a bit ;; on ponds ;; helping out a bit; here and there;; is like saying saying;; the POPE is barely Christine !!  I KNOW YOU BETTER THAN THAT !!!!!! LOL!!!!!!!   and Shannon;; Leo also has a blog post;; on helping with electronics;;;  Leo is a guru on electronics !! ( my kidding way to Leo on that is;;  Leo;; was accimilated by a nasa  I B M  machine;; turning him into a cyborg !  Leo can;; at great length'' discuss electronics with great ease;; like a Bill Gates !!

[Tony Livingston]

If you don't have an applicator's license to apply the rotenone, hydrated lime will work....just be sure you treat it heavily to avoid survivors.

[DAVID L EITUTIS]

HEY MR. SHANNON Carl and I would love to come and drain the pond of bass for ya !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Shannon H. Dye]

I do actually have a 5 acre pond (my uncles) about 1 mile up the road I can deposit all of the fish we collect from my pond before applying Rotenone. So the loss won't be so great in my eyes.