I finally started my pond

[bindian]

Your pond looks great when its full! Nothing like having preferred critters in your pond and a overhanging deck.

Thanks Radioman! It is a toss up right now. I love the pond overflowing, but that means it is too wet to do tractor work.
hugs, Brandi

 

[bindian]

Brandi,

Lake Marie looks amazing!!! You should be very proud of how it turned out, you did a fantastic job in both designing it, and building it.

Did you put the crawfish in there or did they just show up? I've thought about adding some to mine, but haven't committed to doing so. When digging mine, there was sign that they were already there in the mud, but I've never seen one or anymore sign since finishing it. I hear they are great for the bass, but don't know if it's something that I need, or want.

Eddie

Thanks Eddie. I feel honored to hear that from a "large" lake builder! The design was all in my head, but it was smaller in size in my head. It's amazing how thing get bigger when built!
I am not sure if some big crawfish made it into the pond and had some little ones that got swept into the overflow with raising water, or the little ones crawled up the overflow pipe. Water stands in a small depression at the discharge outlet. I have seen crawfish and their holes there. Booger tries to catch them when he drinks there. I think there is a low spot also in the middle of the overflow pipe also where it goes under my driveway. Either way I have seen crawfish at both ends.
Booger spooked a water turkey out of the gully today. He flew up my way and spooked me. They, like cranes, can keep away from Lake Marie
hugs, Brandi

 

[bindian]

After paying off a few loans with Mom and Dad's house proceeds reimbursememts. I had a little left over for some crushed concrete in the curve of the driveway near the dam. I could use a little more. It was such a mess, I had to pull the dumptrick out with my Mahindra. The dumptruck was spinning tires and the front tires were sliding sideways. It was some bad mud I dug out as bank sand out of my gully. It never dried up.
hugs, Brandi

 

[bindian]

Luke and I released 25 Blue Catfish fingerlings today. Well there might have been more than 25, as we forgot to count them. There was two shiners in the bag. We threw them out for Booger to have some sushi. He didn't eat them, but ate 4 perch fingerlings that we threw on the backside of the dam. There was also a large bullfrog tadpole in the bag with the cats. So now, Lake Marie is stocked! I'll let you know when they are large enough to go fishing.
hugs, Brandi

 

[jinman]

Luke and I released 25 Blue Catfish fingerlings today. Well there might have been more than 25, as we forgot to count them. There was two shiners in the bag. We threw them out for Booger to have some sushi. He didn't eat them, but ate 4 perch fingerlings that we threw on the backside of the dam. There was also a large bullfrog tadpole in the bag with the cats. So now, Lake Marie is stocked! I'll let you know when they are large enough to go fishing.
hugs, Brandi

Nice! Now you need to stop by the feed store and buy a bag of catfish food to help those little cats get going. You'll probably lose a few of those small catfish to birds, but maybe 1/2 of them will survive. I like to stock with 6" to 8" fish so they have a little better chance, but some of your little ones will surely survive. It'll be awhile before they spawn though.

 

[EddieWalker]

Why did you chose blue cats?

When I was trying to decide what type of catfish to stock in my ponds, I compared blue and channel cats to see what I liked better. I liked the idea of how much larger the blue cats can get, but went with the channel cats because of their catchablity. I don't really care to eat either, but wanted a pond that would be fun to fish for people that come out here.

Will you be feeding them? When I bought mine, they said that I didn't need to feed them, but that they would grow twice as fast for the first year or two. I had one pound cats by the end of summer, or about 5 months. The following year, they were a few that hit 3 pounds, and about a year and a half after stocking, a few were 5 pounds. Last year, which is 2 1/2 years after stocking, the pond record is ten pounds. A month ago, several 5 to 6 pound channel cats where caught with allot of 1 to 3 pound fish coming out.

I use floating catfish food and tried it from a few different places to find what they like the best. Atwoods seems to be the brand that they eat the fastest and most aggresively. I feed them every morning and really enjoy seeing them come up to feed. I think that I might have two that are bigger then that ten pounder, but won't know until somebody catches them.

Good luck with your fish!!!

Eddie

 

[bindian]

Nice! Now you need to stop by the feed store and buy a bag of catfish food to help those little cats get going. You'll probably lose a few of those small catfish to birds, but maybe 1/2 of them will survive. I like to stock with 6" to 8" fish so they have a little better chance, but some of your little ones will surely survive. It'll be awhile before they spawn though.

Jim,
I was going to wait awhile for the floating catfish food, as I have the fathead minnows. But I realized the Cats are not much bigger than the minnows, so Sat. afternoon I went down and bought a bag of catfish food. Not knowing how much to put out, I threw out a cup full. No catfish attachs, but later Luke and I noticed the Fathead minnows attacking the little pellets in a large school. I hope the crane and water turkey I see now and then will only eat the little perch I threw in, along with frogs, tadpoles, and the Fatheads, before the eat the Cats.
I went with the smaller Cats to give the pond a little more time to mature, but wanted Cats in now. Next time I stock, I will go with a mix of sizes.
hugs, Brandi

 

[bindian]

Why did you chose blue cats?

When I was trying to decide what type of catfish to stock in my ponds, I compared blue and channel cats to see what I liked better. I liked the idea of how much larger the blue cats can get, but went with the channel cats because of their catchablity. I don't really care to eat either, but wanted a pond that would be fun to fish for people that come out here.

Will you be feeding them? When I bought mine, they said that I didn't need to feed them, but that they would grow twice as fast for the first year or two. I had one pound cats by the end of summer, or about 5 months. The following year, they were a few that hit 3 pounds, and about a year and a half after stocking, a few were 5 pounds. Last year, which is 2 1/2 years after stocking, the pond record is ten pounds. A month ago, several 5 to 6 pound channel cats where caught with allot of 1 to 3 pound fish coming out.

I use floating catfish food and tried it from a few different places to find what they like the best. Atwoods seems to be the brand that they eat the fastest and most aggresively. I feed them every morning and really enjoy seeing them come up to feed. I think that I might have two that are bigger then that ten pounder, but won't know until somebody catches them.

Good luck with your fish!!!

Eddie

Eddie,
I was going with Channel Cats until my supervisor said go with Blues. Since he has been raising frogs and cats for years, I figured he knew what he was talking about. He stated the Blues will grow bigger, but will be limited in size to the size of the pond. I never thought about catchability. When I know folks will be fishing, I plan on stopping their feed.
So I hope I don't have large ones like you are seeing! I am feeding them from the pier, since my "lake" is so small.
hugs, Brandi

 

[bindian]

Rebecca and I went up to Lee (Weldingisfun) and Kay's goat ranch to pickup some rocks and mosquito fish this weekend. The stones are to stop erosion on Lake Marie. Here are a couple of photos.
hugs, Brandi

 

[bindian]

Some of my blue catfish are over 6 inches now.:thumbsup: That puts their growth at about an inch per month. They look like little sharks are they attack the fish food.
I now what to build a floating island big enough for 2-3 ducks. I was thinking of floating it on 6 inch PVC pipe glued together in an octagon, but a friend mentioned using styrofoam. I am thinking of a thin layer of dirt and grass on the deck with ramps to waddle on and off. It will be secured to the underwater island I left when digging the pond. I am thinking of one of those dog retractable leash reels to keep it mostly in the same position with the raise and fall of the water level.
So would you use PVC pipe or styrofoam for floatation?:confused2:
hugs, Brandi