Pond management

BTW, are fathead minnows when we use for crappie fishing? I've read about stocking them in ponds but wasn't sure if they were the same thing we get at the bait store

Don, my lake is a little over 4 surface acres. The deepest part is about 32-35 feet. Usually bait shops sell shiners. You don't want to stock them in your pond because they will grow to be full size shad. Fathead minnows only grow to about 3-4 inches and spawn 6-7 times a year. Yes, you can use them for crappie fishing as well and crappie LOVE them!!!! Before I stocked the bass, I never bought minnows for bait. I'd go to the lake the evening before going fishing, put out a minnow trap with a half a piece of bread in it. The next morning, the trap would be slap full of minnows!!! Dump about half in a minnow bucket and pour the rest back into the lake.

DD....this is a touchy subject, but IF you decide to do grass carp to control excess vegetation, IF you do, DO NOT over do it. For example: If "experts" tell you that one per acre is what's needed, and in 3-5 years it'll be well balanced, DON'T put in 5 per acre to get it done quicker. It is a process that MOST folks greatly over do. My little 1 A. pond has ONE grass carp in it, and it does just fine. He got to be about 3 feet long and I took him out and put a 10" replacement in. Smaller fish eat more than the larger fish do in this regard....or so I'm told. A friend had a beautiful 5 acre lake that got 'weedy'. Conservation guys told him to put in 4-5 grass carp. He put in 15...wanted it done in a hurry!! In less than 3 years they had eaten all the vegetation around the shore line and the lake began to silt in dramatically. He almost lost it!!! Just a friendly FYI..

This ones only bout 8-81/2 foot deep near the dam. Most of it is 3-5 foot deep but dows have a 1/5 or so acre shallow end. 1-1/2 foot deep. It's real clear so it needs some help. Ima test the PH this weekend with my pool kit. Not much vegitation at all. Just some around the edges. Some kinda grass.