Small private pond

I have a small private pond that I fish and am pretty good friends with the owners. I'm pretty sure they would not mind me putting in some type of condo or habitat. The pond is very small though. Only about a half acre. The main reason I want to put something in is because last year the pond was invaded by muskrats. They have since eaten most of the vegitation which leaves little room for alot of the panfish to hide. Therefore, I think, the population is decreasing. I notice that I rarely see schooling gills in the shallows anymore. So I would like to try and provide a little bit of shelter for them that cannot be damaged by the muskrats. Any help is appreciated.

put a few #110 body grips in there that will be the best structure in a muskrat infested pond.

haha I have already tried on of them and I haven't reset it since one of the bigger bass of the pond swam into it. Anything else?

muskrats don't chew on pvc to my knowledge. I would try that. Anything wood or woodlike in nature would just be a buffet for the little goomers.

Ya thats what I was thinking. But wat type of shape is usually good for bluegills and redear? I know this site is mainly devoted to crappie but I haven't introduced them to the population yet so right now thats all we got.

How deep are we talking? I would go with either little bushes. Or with small trees. The bushes are easier to make than the trees. Depending on the depth and the bottom you can just poke them into the bottom and forego the concrete mess.

Where I would like to put it is roughly 8 ft. There are some deeper points and naturally there are more shallow points but the area I would like to have the panfish "coralled" in is about 8ft.

have you tried killing all the muskrats ?

Well I don't really have time to sit out there with a gun waitin on them to come up for air. I have set out a trap though. Ever since it caught and killed that bass though I haven't reset it.

try some snares...they work great for my dad... he has one about every morning..

We did PVC Last year, Turned out Great. Cheap, quick to make and turns out the results. Just remember if you do not have a GPS, make sure you mark your condo someway to find it Later!

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q96/caler24/new.jpg

Did you say it was a half Acre and you were thinking about putting Crappie in it? Dont know if it is big enough to support a Crappie population. Dont get me wrong I think any water worth fishing is only worth fishing cause it has Crappie in it (joke). I'm not to familiar with muskrats but is there anything you can put around the pond to deture them away from it. Kinda like human hair for deer.

I think concentrating the structure in one area like you are thinking about doing is a good idea. The only suggestion I would add is to try and make your structure on a slope. Try to provide structure at a variety of depths - building a reef type structure. That way you'll be able to catch fish more times of the year than if you just have everything at one dept.
Since you are contolling all the structure that goes in the lake, I would use PVC. You'll never have to replace it, you don't get hung up near as much, and it is easier to put out. The PVC trees I have made here in Alabama sink on their own. I had them put a belled end in them so you can just join them together to make them as tall as you want - although some people lay them sideways also. They look a lot like the ones pictured above. I would still use a small brick or even a half brick to anchor them down (there is a small hole drilled in my PVC fish attractor so you can attack a brick or block with galvenized wire), just to make sure the current or a lure doesn't move them.

As far as what shape the structure has to be - the fish seem to be extremely flexible. They will use whatever structure is available.
The blue gills seem to be attracted to the same structures that crappie and bass hang out at. I often scuba dive when I place structure - and see a ton of bream around piers and fish attractors.

Sorry I have been real busy lately. Thanks for the huge response. Skeeter I am unfamiliar with what a snare is. Could you send me a link to something that could fill me in? Never done any type of trapping. Smitty I have heard that crappie could be difficult for me to stock in that size of pond. But I figure I might as well try it. Adcraft that looks awesome I think when I build something it will look purty close to that. I don't think mine will be as tall, I will probly go with a horizontal one for now and a vertical one later. Fishingholebuilder I appreciate your agreement. There is a slope right in the middle of the pond that would probably suit what you say would work. The rest of the pond is straight drop offs. When you say to try and provide structure at multiple depths do you mean by making more than one habitat or to make a habitat that has multiple depths to it? Last question, what is bream? This, I imagine alot of you are suprised to hear it, is a fish that I have never heard of until I joined this site. Thanks again to all of you for the help

Get the 'rats with a colony trap. Get multiple catches that way. go to trapperman.com and you can get instructions. Or, call your local conservation office, and talk to the private lands personnel. In Missouri at least, they will help you get them out. If it is infested, they will burrow through the dam and you soon wont have to worry about the fishing, as they will have it leaking so bad there is no water.

There is no dam. It literally is a big hole with water. I think that they might have gone though because the water is staying at a purty good level (even though it is raining more now) and I haven't seen any in awhile. So right now I think the muskrat problem is on the back burner. But I have a crappie problem now. Yesterday I added 30 (mornings catch) and today I went out to see how everything looked and I found 2 of them floating. Is there something different about introducing crappie to a new habitat? I have put many fish from state lakes in there and have never had any die on me, that I'm aware of. Any input would be nice.

Crappie are pretty sensitive to temp. changes. I have transplanted fish from a cold lake into a warmer pond and had several go into shock and die. If transplanting from waters with similar temp, very few problems have arisen. Might be your problem too?

Well that could be the problem. The water at Shady Side was about 54 and I don't know what the temp was at the pond. But the cooler that I had them in was a little cold. And it did take about 40 mins. to get home.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by spritemaster

When you say to try and provide structure at multiple depths do you mean by making more than one habitat or to make a habitat that has multiple depths to it? Last question, what is bream?

---

You could really do either - a great big one that is very long, or a bunch of smaller structures, arranged so that they form a line or a reef.

Maybe I'm misspelling this - but bream is just another name for bluegills suncrackers, or sunfish.

OIC. Well luckily I haven't found anymore fish floating. There were 2 more the next day but they were still alive so I left them and the next day they weren't there so they were either eaten (doubtful do to their size) or they finally took off. Now I need to stock a good supply of minnows so that they have a good food source. Is it possible to raise minnows? Should I move that ? to another section?

Mink are the #1 enemy of muskrats, but you just can't go out and find mink to stock the pond with, besides, they eat fish, too.

An older guy across the creek from me used to have a problem with muskrats eating his garden. He strung an electric fence around the creekbank, and those muskrats coming out of the water and hitting that electricity were juiced enough they never went back. I've often thought of shooting those things, but I just can't bring myself to it. My grandfather used to trap those using apples as bait. He also trapped mink, seemed he used meat scraps or dead starlings to bait for mink.

I make structure from used bowling balls and pvc pipe. they look similar to Bill Dance porkupine balls sold in Bass Pro Shops. Not All Bowling balls sink some have a cork center and some have a foam center so I add a cinder block for weight and done properly you can extend four of the pipes and make a swell condo. I have pictures.

Hi,

If your going to stock crappie in a pond?...Only stock it with black crappie...DO NOT stock it with white crappie...I have caught huge crappie out of ponds...I think that if the pond has good forage...The crappie will do fine...Me and my buddy are going to fish for crappie tomorrow at a buddies pond..

Get in contact with your local dnr biologist...The biologist can give you his take on stocking crappie..

Jeremy