Turning a "cattle pond" into a fishing pond

[BrandonA]

Google Earth shows a diameter of 130'. So a circumference of 408' and surface area of .3 acres. Tiny.

That size stock it with Coppernose Bluegill. I wouldn't bother putting anything else in it.

[BrianL]

First you need to have a starting point and know what is in there. Does it ever go dry? How deep? Check out pondboss.com.

[denimdeerslayer]

I bet there are fish in it already.

[Tbar]

Gotta keep cattle out of it or you're spinning your wheels!

They will trample any and all vegetation.


Skinny

........and keep mud in suspension which prevents plankton and algae from growing which are the begaining of the food chain that new born fry eat.

The cattle also trample the fish breeding beds which are in shallow water.

[kd350]

If it was me I wouldn't over think it, I'd just go catch some fish in another tank and then go put them in yours. Might be surprised what's already in there

My plan is the Saturday of the opener before the evening hunt to catch some bass at the deer lease and keep them in a cooler with aerator and dump them at my uncles after the hunt

[yotethumper]

We have several ponds on our place. However, we have one small pond like the one you are describing, ours is only 1/3 of an acre and as far as we know it has never been stocked. I got bored one evening and grabbed some blood worms and headed out not expecting to catch much. I started catching tons of bluegill. I switched to a top water lure and started catching bass. I couldn't believe it. If you haven't fished it yet give it a shot, it might surprise you.

[TexasLongball]

First you need to have a starting point and know what is in there. Does it ever go dry? How deep? Check out pondboss.com.

I was told it is a spring fed pond. I've never seen it close to dry in 6 years I've been out there. I'll determine depth sometime during opening weekend.

I bet there are fish in it already.

That's what started this whole idea. I saw something popping the surface every time I rode by.

........and keep mud in suspension which prevents plankton and algae from growing which are the begaining of the food chain that new born fry eat.

The cattle also trample the fish breeding beds which are in shallow water.

This makes total sense as to why there isn't much vegetation growing and why the water is a little dark.

If it was me I wouldn't over think it, I'd just go catch some fish in another tank and then go put them in yours. Might be surprised what's already in there

We thought about this too. A buddy of mine has a spot where he can get undersized bass to throw in there. But I wanted to figure out what to do to make this a self-sustaining pond after stocking it.

[TexasLongball]

We have several ponds on our place. However, we have one small pond like the one you are describing, ours is only 1/3 of an acre and as far as we know it has never been stocked. I got bored one evening and grabbed some blood worms and headed out not expecting to catch much. I started catching tons of bluegill. I switched to a top water lure and started catching bass. I couldn't believe it. If you haven't fished it yet give it a shot, it might surprise you.

I'm doing exactly this next weekend. We'll see what turns up.

[TexasLongball]

Well, it turns out that this does support life after all. There are TONS of these little guys



And a few of these bigger fellas.


And upon closer inspection there is a lot more vegetation that I thought.

Now I need to decide whether fish will thrive if I stock some other fish in there....

[TexasLongball]

They are definitely hungry! We were catching the tiny ones on a size 8 hook with a 2" piece of worm on it.

Does anyone have experience with fish food/feeders? Can you rig up a deer feeder to throw food?

[Burntorange Bowhunter]

Dear god it is A TANK.

[TexasLongball]

Dear god it is A TANK.

Yeah...my mistake has been well documented. Thanks for the reminder.

[bgleaton]

I learned from a wildlife biologist that you don't have to have aquatic vegetation growing all around the pond in the first 3ft of water. We have a bass pond (around 2 acres) and found that we didn't have much aquatic weeds in the first three feet of water this summer and I was concerned that this was going to affect the smaller fish. After the biologist looked at it they said that as long as we have other structure throughout the pond like cedar trees, pvc structure, etc., which we do, then we don't need the aquatic vegetation. He also said that aquatic vegetation actually does more harm than good (I.e. Oxygen depletion, messy for fishing, etc.). Hope this helps. All of the structure that we added last year all have algae and other stuff growing on them and we see lots of baitfish all around them.

[BrandonA]

I learned from a wildlife biologist that you don't have to have aquatic vegetation growing all around the pond in the first 3ft of water. We have a bass pond (around 2 acres) and found that we didn't have much aquatic weeds in the first three feet of water this summer and I was concerned that this was going to affect the smaller fish. After the biologist looked at it they said that as long as we have other structure throughout the pond like cedar trees, pvc structure, etc., which we do, then we don't need the aquatic vegetation. He also said that aquatic vegetation actually does more harm than good (I.e. Oxygen depletion, messy for fishing, etc.). Hope this helps. All of the structure that we added last year all have algae and other stuff growing on them and we see lots of baitfish all around them.

I think a lot depends on what type of vegetation you have. Some vegetation is beneficial where some are negative. One thing that vegetation does is filter water.

Here is a pretty good read.

https://units.fisheries.org/tx/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2014/03/tcafs_pond_manual_2005.pdf

[Man]

Dear god it is A TANK.

pond