Bass in a pond?

[wormburner]

Hey guys, I have a quick question here. I have a pretty good sized pond at home that I had dug two years ago,it has a freshwater inlet comming in to provide oxygen and is 15 ft. deep, and when we recieve a good rain it flows in like a small creek, and has a waterfall on the discharge side, so there is 99% of the time a flow of fresh water, we live in a valley so the water that comes from the natural water shed is diverted into the pond through a small channel. My question is, think bass will make it year round in there, it only had a foot of ice on it in the dead of winter, and the minnows i put in this winter are still swimming. If so, anyone got an idea where I could possibly get a few 10 inchers, I also thought about putting some blue gills or crappie in? I know in the fishing regs for Minn it says kids,(I have six) can transport live fish to put in aquariums is legal for this instance, and no I wouldn't let them all bring home a limit to put in, all the bass I catch are all CPR'd, but I was thinking of giving it a try with some smaller fish 8-10". Or is this just a dumb idea to begin with? Comments either way helpful. Thanks guys!

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Buy a trailer,help support my fishing habit! ***********************

[This message has been edited by wormburner (edited 06-18-2003).]

[Mark Christianson]

Wormburner
YES! They will make it. I have a pond in my yard. I had it dug out last spring, and its 60 ft x 125 ft. The deepest spot was not any deeper than 6 feet. Somehow bass ended up in it last summer. (Wink wink)
The water table is very close to the level of the pond, so it stays fairly consistent in its depth, and I think it helps keep it oxygenated.
Well, you know what? The bass spawned this spring! I have bass fry swimming in the pond, and I just saw a school of them swim by the dock today.
My 7 year old son was home with my wife last Thursday, and he went out with a rapala, and he caught 2 bass while I was at work. He was so proud when I got home. What a great thing for the kids. (And the kid in me)
Stock your pond!
I had the pond dug deeper and bigger 3 weeks ago, and yes, the fish are as happy as ever.
I am shocked that they were able to spawn, and that the eggs/fry made it.
I may just keep digging. I have 8 acres of land, so all I need is to keep the house on dry ground.

[wormburner]

Hey Biglake, I get your drift. I didn't want my first post to be so long,but I didn't want anyone to think that I'm out there hoarding Bass, I just thought it would be pretty neat for the kids to wind up with a few fish in the pond and to see if they maybe would spawn, I've got my 11 year old started on Bass fishing and I think he's already hooked, I took him out last year to a lake north of Duluth and let him sit in the front of the boat and he wound up catching and releasing two that were 3-3.5lbs.and his comment to me was, "heck with walleye fishing I want to fish Bass cause they really fight"! That was a pretty good feeling.
Anyways to make a long story short the pond we've got is 80'x200', I call it "LAKE COSTALOT". When I had it dug, we put a small point in it and also some stumps and misc. rocks , and dug it deep enough with the intentions of just this, the way it seems to me is that there should be no reason they couldn't make it, so I figure if ten small Bass fall from the sky over the next month or so, we'll be set!
I'm thinking that since the winter, there is probably about 4 doz. minnows in there, so mmy question is, what do you put in for feed, I' guessing by the way it sounds at night, there must be 482,000 frogs in there along with the 1000 tad poles you can see swimming around the shore line, might this be enough(haha)? Well any other input will be appreciated either way. If you mix in a few crappie and or blue gills this shouldn't hurt unless the Bass would spawn and then I suppose they would feast on Largemouth caviar?

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Buy a trailer,help support my fishing habit! [email protected]

[EBass]

Wormburner,

I think they will make it to with the flow and all.

There's a little pond in Dayton that hold nice bass and northern. We spoke to a guy that had his back yard as the pond and he told us that he was the one who stocked it.

He said that he started off with crayfish and minnows, then added crappies, bass and northern.

I thought he stocked it in the winter. I don't why, but I thought that's what he said.

I've caught and released (back a few years ago) some nice northern (5-6lbs) and a huge smallie along with 3lbs largemouth.

Fun little pond, but someone caught and kept all the crappies one spring so I don't know what's going on with it now.

[Lunker]

At Cabelas for around 300 bucks(i think) you can buy stocking kits, which have either bass and gills or bass, gills, and channels. That might work for you.

[EBass]

I wish I could make a bass pond. A lot of science is involved. Hopefully with all that flow you won't need an areator. (spelling) Bill Dance had to get a couple for his ponds after he found out that the oxygen was only at the top two feet of the water level. (saw an episode)

[wormburner]

Well if I end up doing it I don't think I should have any problems with the oxygen level. In my last couple posts I may have went overboard on describing the pond, but when the water flows in from a rain shower, I placed rocks in there big and small so when it comes in the water flows through and against the rocks creating riffles and lots of bubbles which I belive is adding oxygen to the water? Like I was explaning when the water exits the pond over the water fall, you would swear you were driving up hwy 61 north and watching the streams of the north shore, I mean it really gushes out hard and fast, so I tend to belive there is a real good amount of freshwater (oxygen filled) entering in. I will admitt, I have been wrong before though, just don't let my wife know I ever said so(haha).

[wormburner]

Thanks for all the replies so far, much appreciated. I was just currios with this post if any one else has tried this or so on and had any luck along the way.

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Buy a trailer,help support my fishing habit! [email protected]

[Mark Christianson]

Hey wormburner,
Get to stocking, and let us know how it goes. I gaurantee you will have success, and lots of fun with the kids.
My pond has become a neighborhood attraction.

[wormburner]

Well I was just sitting here thinking (I mean working) while I was reading some of the replies, if it really goes good and the fish get some numbers and size to them, I could charge admission to some of the people in the neighborhood and then in about 70 years I would be able to afford that new Ranger I've been dreaming of, no sense to get one now, imagine the options they'll come with 70 years from now! Haha, thanks guys catch ya later! Wormburner!

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Buy a trailer,help support my fishing habit! [email protected]

[Granny]

Worm,
Just let me know when your pond starts to get overpopulated. I would be glad to come and weed out a few of them big old females for ya. Good luck on your pond.

[WaveWacker]

I know a guy that has a constructed pond similar to yours. He didn't want to risk losing his fish so he got a windmill aerator for it. He loves it. I would imagine that they don't give them away but it is a good insurance policy in bad winters. Just a thought. Good Luck!
WW