Thoughts on adding a pond to the property?

[First-light]

I have always wanted to add a pond within view of my cabin to my property. Want to stock it with bluegill and bass. be big enough to swim in and skate on in the winter. 

My brother inlaw has a bunch on his farm and they all vary in size. Any suggestions would be great.

FL

[TreeGuy]

Water source is always key to holding animals. Far enough away from cabin could allow a huntable situation depending on water available in your area. Bigger seems better... And forget the bluegill, let the ducks bring them. Stick to bass

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

[wolc123]

Ponds are a nice feature to add to a property.   I agree with TreeGuy, that it would be best to keep out of sight of the cabin, if you want to hunt deer around it.   I dug one about 25 years ago, on the lowest point of our farm.  It is towards the back of the property, well out of view of any road or structure.   The deer use it heavily, especially on real dry years.   It is only about 1/4 acre, and now is about 8 ft deep at the center, when full.  

I originally dug it about 6 ft deep, using a "pond scoop" on the back of a smaller 2wd tractor.  Over the years sediment built up, so that it was only about 4 feet deep last summer.   We had the worst drought in recorded history last year,  in Western NY, and it dried up completely on October 1.   I took advantage of that "dried up" opportunity to clean out all the sediment, and dig it a couple feet deeper into the clay, using my larger, 4wd front-loader tractor.   We got some heavy rains later in the fall and it filled back up completely by the start of gun season.

Last season, starting around the middle of archery season as that pond began filling back up, there were more deer on our farm than I have seen in many years.   I think having that water played a big part in that.   I had always heard that mortally wounded deer head for water and  last year I got to see that.   I drove a bolt diagonally thru a buck's boiler room with my crossbow, and watched him stagger off, straight towards the pond.  He got within 10 yards, before starting to wobble and dropping dead in sight.

The pond provides more than just improved deer-hunting.   About three years after I dug it, I noticed the water looked like it was boiling, as I was brush-hogging around the banks.  It was bluegills eating the bugs that the mower had thrown into the water.   My girls were young at the time, and we had lots of fun back there, fishing for them bluegills.  Either the ducks brought them in or they swam in from the creek during one of our frequent floods.

I did not think the pond was big enough for bass, but I put a big largemouth in there one summer that I caught out on a local lake and brought home in my livewell.   I caught it and released it several more times that year.  One time was particularly memorable:  

It was early September, and I had put on some old cammo coveralls that had been hanging in the back of the barn for about a year.  I walked back to the pond with my goose gun in my left hand and my fishing rod in my right.  It was very hot that afternoon, and a doe and fawn were standing in the pond.   When the doe saw me, she ran straight towards me.  She charged several times, getting within a few feet, snorting and veering off.  

My scent must have been disguised by the old coveralls and the cammo must have broken up my outline enough that she had no clue what I was.  She did not want to share her swimming hole.   She and the fawn stayed within15 yards as I sat down on the bank, put down the gun, and started casting for the bass.   I hooked it on the third cast.  As it began splashing around, the doe finally got scared and "high tailed" it out of there with her fawn.   That was definitely some classic entertainment.             

    

Edited June 18, 2017 by wolc123

[growalot]

Sounds great if you have the proper soil , water intake and a good over flow..remember they are a living breathing thing. They work best with a good air flow over the surface. Oxygen for the fish less chance of algea build up AND lots of skeeters( they dont like moving water). Depth is important..especial for fish but swimmers as well. More deaths happen from diving too shall bodies of water then people know...lost a good freind to that. Do lots of reading on them before hand. 

[turkeyfeathers]

 Buddy put in a pond a few years back.   Maybe 8' at deepest. Stocked it with channel cats. Neatest thing ever to hook into a 24"+ cat in a pond. That reminds me, need to go out there fishing soon. 

[Doc]

I went through the experience of "pond failure" a few years back. I learned that what you see on the surface is no indication of what kind of pond that can be constructed there. My pond guy even dug a half dozen test holes , and we relocated the pond site because of a wandering gravel vein that passed through the area. Well, guess what..... apparently there was another one that we didn't know about ...... lol. The spring run-off flowed directly in and the pond looked like a wonderful success. By June it was back down to about 4 feet deep. after about three years, it became obvious that it wasn't going to work and the pond guy filled it back in. The only good news about that whole fiasco was that the guy had a guarantee that if the pond failed, he would fill it back in for free.

This was an area that had standing water and cattails at he lower end. Everything on the surface looked like it should make a great pond. a few hundred yards away, my Father had built a perfect pond that has been there about 30 years. So what you see on top is no indicator of what is 8 or 10 feet underground.

[outdoorstom]

Hopefully you have good clay! Here's a great resource with national experts weighing in. Pondboss.com  Good luck.

 

[First-light]

Thanks for the info! I won't use the pond to hunt over. We have water on the bottom side of my property that keeps the critters watered! Just have to see how much it will cost then I'll decide. 

[kpkot]

Ill second not stocking bluegill

[wolc123]

I caught a nice, thick, 17" largemouth bass out on lake Erie this morning.  I would have put it in my pond if I still had some bluegills in there for it to eat.  The herons cleaned them all out as the level dropped during last summer's drought.  Bluegills and largemouth bass do very well together in ponds, keeping each other in check.  No big deal, that bass got to go to directly to "fish heaven" - our freezer, along with (5) of it's similarly-sized smallmouth cousins.          

[E J]

I just added a 34 acre chunk to my place that I want to put a pond on for me and my kids to have a place to fish in the future. There is a pond pretty close by that seeps in the direction where I want to put mine. The soils are heavy in clay according to the USDA soil maps and the farmer that used to work the field that I want to put the pond in. I'm hoping to get a couple quotes soon from some excavation guys pretty soon. They are all really busy so I want to get on someone's list before too long. I've been doing a lot of looking online and am thinking about stocking smallmouth bass, perch and red ear sunfish whenever the pond gets ready.

[sailinghudson25]

Getting a dec permit eliminates potential hassle

[nybuckboy]

It will be pricey

 

[Pygmy]

43 minutes ago, E J said:

I just added a 34 acre chunk to my place that I want to put a pond on for me and my kids to have a place to fish in the future. There is a pond pretty close by that seeps in the direction where I want to put mine. The soils are heavy in clay according to the USDA soil maps and the farmer that used to work the field that I want to put the pond in. I'm hoping to get a couple quotes soon from some excavation guys pretty soon. They are all really busy so I want to get on someone's list before too long. I've been doing a lot of looking online and am thinking about stocking smallmouth bass, perch and red ear sunfish whenever the pond gets ready.

Not to rain on your parade, but I have never seen smallmouths do well in a pond, and seldom perch....The sunfish would be fine...

The old fashioned bluegills and largemouth combos do well...

[wolc123]

Pygmy is right about the smallmouths not doing do well in ponds.  Around 20 years ago, we released some lake Erie smallmouth in a buddies 1/2 acre, 15 feet deep pond.   We also stocked it with bluegills from another local pond, and largemouth from a nearby harbor on lake Ontario.  The largemouths and bluegills did quite well, establishing breeding populations,  but the smallmouths kept getting thinner and few survived until the following year.  They did not reproduce.  We tried to help them by catching crayfish from a local stream, but it was a loosing battle.  As thin as they were, they still out fought the fat largemouth for as long as they survived. 

I think you would need more than 40 surface acres of water, and a maximum depth of more than 40 feet, for smallmouth to do well in a pond.   There is a pretty healthy population in the 100 acre, 100+ foot deep natural Adirondack lake where my in-laws built their retirement home.   In shallow, weedy water, smallmouth and perch get little white worms in the meat that resembles maggots.  Largemouth and bluegill seem impervious to that affliction.  I don't blame you for wanting smallmouths in your pond, because they are my favorite fish to catch by a wide margin.  

[BigVal]

I once had a guy tell me how he was planning to stock his pond with kings that he catches in the lake. I should check in on that situation. Lol

[jperch]

I have a small pond which is 14' deep in the center.  A friend dumped some smallmouth in the pond many years ago and they lived for several years.  I would let kids fish the pond, the bass would bite on anything including bits of hot dog.  Those bass terrorized the frog population.  From the smallmouth nests I have seen while scuba diving I think they require a hard bottom in order to spawn.  Gravel areas, hard pan, rock will work but I have never seen a nest on silt.  I think the DEC is very fussy about transplanting any fish these days, I believe they require a permit. 

jperch

[wolc123]

56 minutes ago, BigVal said:

I once had a guy tell me how he was planning to stock his pond with kings that he catches in the lake. I should check in on that situation. Lol

That reminds me of something that happened many years ago when I first started fishing for Lake Ontario Trout and Salmon.   At that time, you could only keep lake trout that were less than 25" or over 30" long.   One day I caught one that was well over 30", but I had no camera on the boat.  I put it in the livewell (which it nearly filled) and brought it home alive to show my folks and so my mom could take a picture.   After she got the picture, I put it in a cooler and took it down to the small stream behind our house. 

It was early spring, and the stream was flowing about 6" deep at the time.  The fat laker was well over a foot from belly to dorsal fin.   That stream connected downstream with Tonawanda creek, which connects with the upper Niagara river.  The trout swam away downstream and may or may not have made it to the river.  I would imagine that if anyone else saw it or caught it, on it's way back to the river, they would have quite a tale to tell. 

Incidentally, we did release a few spring lake Ontario cohos, browns and rainbows in that same pond where we put the Erie smallmouths and Ontario Largemouths.   None of them survived the summer.  I think the cohos floated up first, then the rainbows,  followed by the browns.     

[E J]

Appreciate the input guys. On the pond boss forums some guys have had good luck with what I would like to do. If it doesn't work for me I can always add a few large mouth and bluegill and they will take over the pond. To anyone Interested in ponds check out pond boss. When I became interested I found a lot of good info there.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

7 hours ago, E J said:

Appreciate the input guys. On the pond boss forums some guys have had good luck with what I would like to do. If it doesn't work for me I can always add a few large mouth and bluegill and they will take over the pond. To anyone Interested in ponds check out pond boss. When I became interested I found a lot of good info there.

i helped a very good friend of mine put in about a 4 acre pond. It's about 18' deep in the deepest end. It's was stocked with Channel Cats, perch and walleyes. I wouldn't have believed it unless I had fished it myself since. It's been in for over 10 years and the perch and "eyes" are breeding in the pond. I've never caught a small cat in there so I have no clue on them. 

[moog5050]

16 hours ago, BigVal said:

I once had a guy tell me how he was planning to stock his pond with kings that he catches in the lake. I should check in on that situation. Lol

That's hilarious.  Screamer on the pond (well kinda short scream until hit opposite shore 60ft away).  lol

[dbHunterNY]

we've got a shallow bass pond that's spring fed about 3.5' deep that's always been there.  another bigger one that we dug with the dozer and about 10' deep bowl.  stacked a few boulders together for structure.  bigger bass tend to stay there.  smaller 8-12"ers circle the shoreline.  then we've got a few duck ponds that are designed for waterfowl habitat.  they're very shallow with channels and mounded banks so ponds aren't visible from one another.  about anything will use a pond.  hardest part is digging it to hold water.  we've got a lot of clay.  doesn't grow huge antlers but it makes nice ponds.

make it close enough to use for cabin but if you have the means give it a dog leg away from the cabin. then plant or give it some screening to keep the end out of view from cabin.  animals will use it more often during daylight if it's out of sight from the cabin.  another option to keep it cleaner is give it on out flow into a smaller pool for the wildlife.  again not in view of the cabin.

[BigVal]

6 hours ago, moog5050 said:

That's hilarious.  Screamer on the pond (well kinda short scream until hit opposite shore 60ft away).  lol

Right lol that would be awesome 

[Adkhunter1590]

I say go for it! Little ponds are awesome! My neighbor has one in between his house and mine that's about an acre in size I'd say. Maybe a little less, idk I'm terrible at judging. Either way, its pretty deep on one end and tapers up to shallow on the other end. Neighbor told me when they dug it 20 years ago, they had the excavator as deep as it would reach, which was 24ft. Pond was just a big straight wall hole for 15 years until our other neighbor dug it out bigger and added the taper up on the one side. It's loaded with bluegill and bass. He said they dumped a lot of bass in there over the years but haven't done any in the last couple years. I plan on buying some more bass eventually to stock it back up.

Took the kids over there Sunday evening just before dark and they hammered the bluegills with their worm and bobber setups. They were catching them so fast I couldn't keep up with them! Went through an entire cup of worms haha. The kids love it and I'm sure glad we have access to such a great little pond. When I buy the land out behind me, I plan to build a pond of my own. Mostly due to excess water that I need to move away from my house and a pond would be a great place for it. But I'd love to have my own little fishing hole for the kids.

Here's one pic of Sunday's fun. Have a ton more, Photobucket is on the fritz though.

[First-light]

After giving this much thought I'm going to hold off right now. I was quoted a price of $4500 for a 30x40 pond, banks seeded and fish included. I was thinking 3-3500 for that size pond. My final thought is to hold off until I can afford a much bigger pond. Spend the extra money and really have something worth it.