A milestone for sure. Looking forward to this journey and taking care of these fish for the future. There are several hundred mosquitofish in the pond already from local stocking, not to mention a bunch of happy bullfrogs and several turtles that naturally found the pond already. This past Saturday, I got 400 bluegill, 200 Shellcracker and 200 catfish. There might have been 5-6 dead bream when released, but that was it. I was pretty happy about that. From pick up to the pond’s edge to acclimate was about 30 minutes.
Next step is the feeder, then an aeration system. The work is never done!
“Another poon dream splintered on the rocks of reality.” --Peepod 07-25-2017
Cool deal. You’ll have fun with it. I’d work on getting the banks seeded to keep the run off from further mudding the water. aluminum sulfate (alum) will work really quick to clarify it by clumping clay particles but normally you’ll have to add some lime to bring the PH back up from it. Get some Gypsum and it will also clear up a pond by binding with clay particles. I’ll add in my experience most “cat” fish ponds never really “clear” up due to them constantly stirring up the bottom.
I’m still partial to Cypress trees planted at the water line. IMO they are the best way to keeps banks together and look nice. You can hit up most any swamp area that you see some big ones growing and dig your own little ones. Don’t go after anything taller than a foot, they have a tap root to China. They grow down before they grow up .
I’m talking all about clearing the water, but remember you don’t want it too clear! Dad and I had a dude from DNR and Clemson look a couple over. They said you only want to see a white rag about 18" down.
Another pretty cool additive is the Blue dye you can buy. I’ve done it once and it lasted almost a year before petering out.
As your Pond gets established, if you start getting a lot of Vegetation/weed growth you may want to get a couple of sterile asian carp. a couple will do, those things get big.
Got everything smoothed out half way decent. Next step is some grass seed to try to establish something this year. Anyone know where to get one of those Hydroseeders to spray it?
Also purchased the feeder this week. I’ve been hand feeding them a few times a week and its fun watching the little tiny guys come to the feed.
This Texas Hunter Fish Feeder holds 70 lbs. of Fish Feed or 125 lbs. of Corn and includes Adjustable Legs with foot pads and Stabilizing Stakes
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Patented and powerful Centrifugal Air Blower System design projects fish feed in large 20-foot by 45-foot wedge-shaped feed pattern and eliminates feed drop within 3 to 5 feet of the fish feeder
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“Another poon dream splintered on the rocks of reality.” --Peepod 07-25-2017
For the hydroseeding, call these cats below, known them forever, in your part of the Lowcountry, will do a great job. Your grading looks nice, btw. Wouldn’t hurt to find some cattail and let some seed fly in the fall, will make for good structure/cover for bass fishing, I got plenty.
Its a little late now, but an overflow structure, or overflow pipe would help big time if you receive an unusual amount of rain. I personally use flashboard risers, but my situation involves greater volumes of water, and I have to be able to drop the level to work or plant anything. An overflow pipe would prevent the water from spilling over the bank and eroding your nice grade work, not to mention will wash away whatever you decide to overseed with.
Those automatic fish feeders are wonderful, but trouble, I ran a Sweeney directional for better part of a year, had to remove it all because of the abundance of osprey and bald eagles. They knew when the timer was going off, and would perch in the trees around every pond and pick off the fish as they surfaced to feed. Now I keep the feed in a trash can with a scoop and throw it to them whenever, to hell with the birds, I like my catfish.
What would stop me from feeding the fish in the dark so that the predators couldn’t easily pick them off? As I type this, I’m thinking back to the time a few years ago I saw an osprey pick up about a 14" flounder in a few inches of water. Yes, this could be a problem.
Fake coyote or fake alligator help this situation?
Another guy I know spent a bunch of time, effort, and money on a beautiful Koi pond in his backyard and was so proud of his accomplishment when he was finally able to put fish in. Less than a week later, he came home from work and two egrets were standing in his pond with most of his fish gone. That’s enough to tick you off.
“Another poon dream splintered on the rocks of reality.” --Peepod 07-25-2017
Night feeding is certainly an option, but I enjoyed watching my fish feed, hard to do in the dark.
I reckon a decoy would work for a little while, but when that osprey is sitting in a tree for 3+ hours, and that coyote never moves one inch, day after day, week after week, that osprey will figure it out…
Good advice on the overflow and not too late. Shoot a grade and find your lowest point and cut a small swell with a little rip rap or go even lower and lay a 3-5" pipe. That should be plenty for that size pond.
Looking nice. If you ever want a few Cypress, I’ll look around Dad’s for some little ones. Hate to say it but I don’t think your Island tree will make it with that water level.
They like water, but would not be detrimental to your water level. Dad and I have both tried several species of willow with no success other than the wild non-weeping willow variety. Had a couple of Spiral weeping willows do Ok for a couple years only to die. They are a beautiful tree, but messy and very prone to diseases and fungus infections.
I still think a cypress would be the best then you would ever have to worry about your island eroding away. Cool thing about it, it’s your pond and you get to do whatever you Please! You’ll enjoy it!
On the cypress, if they are planted with out competition they will bush out instead of being tall with a little top. These are about 18 years old. I can dig you a few little ones if you ever want. If you’re in Charleston I’d be willing to meet you half way (Jacksonboro or Cottageville?) in exchange for a rooting of that Mighty Fig tree. Cool things about planting trees, if you find you don’t like were one’s at they at least make good bonfire fuel.
And this was a bonus this morning, second cast with a top water plug. This Girl was just shy of 4lb. I need to thin more out.
I’ll take you up on that offer Fred. Come out to the house when the figs get ripe and get you a cutting or ten and a bucket of figs. They should start to ripen in the new few weeks. I’m in Ravenel.
“Another poon dream splintered on the rocks of reality.” --Peepod 07-25-2017
I set up the fish feeder this weekend and tested it out. Man is it nice. What would we do without technology? Probably have skinny fish! It says it holds 70lbs of feed; that’s probably pretty dang close; I put a 50lb bag in and had some room left. The thrower throws the feed nicely about 30’ or so, almost hitting the island!
And the automatic timer is super easy to use. I opted for the solar panel trickle charger. I’m done fighting batteries. The battery is like a mower battery. I’m well pleased with the construction of this feeder. Good hardware and sturdy angled legs. I wouldn’t have any issues standing on top of this thing if I wanted to. By this time next summer, we’ll be having a catfish fry!
And an added Bonus. Some of the bermuda that I spread out several weeks ago, finally started taking off a bit. That area was a test run, now I need to do the whole pond!
“Another poon dream splintered on the rocks of reality.” --Peepod 07-25-2017
You might want to put a clip on that latch securing the top, I’ve had raccoons climb to the top, undo the clip, and climb in to feast. Wont take them long to figure it out.
we’ll set a time. I looked yesterday and saw a few small ones that didn’t get rounduped. close to the water they should be ok to plant pretty much anytime. If they die, I’ll get you some more. When are your figs usually ready? Don’t need a bucket full, but I’ll take a belly full. We quit making jelly and preserves.
Well, the feeder has been operating for two weeks now and the little cats have figured out that’s where the food comes from. That was quicker than I anticipated. Running it this past weekend, the 3-4" fingerlings were much more aggressive coming to the surface to swipe the floating pellets. Even the bluegill were hanging on at the pond’s edge waiting for the food to go off.
Battery is still fully charged, so I assume the solar panel is working well. I secured the top of the feeder shut with zipties for now; I’ll get some sort of locks for it soon.
On a side note, the turtles have found the pond. There are two or three turtles sunning on the island pretty much every time I go out there now. Will they eat the fish? Should I be worried about them at all?
“Another poon dream splintered on the rocks of reality.” --Peepod 07-25-2017
You’ll enjoy it!
