Late last week with the air getting cooler and summer fading away, I grabbed the fishing poles and ushered my family across the driveway to our pond. As autumn rolls in and the leaves change, finding opportune days for fishing becomes increasingly difficult. Both my wife and I grew up enjoying fishing and it is a love we are passing on to our three-year-old. We built the house we call our home in 2014 and placed it in what was then a pasture, close to a dried out pond.
While the excavating crew was there to do the dirt work for the house, we spent a little extra to have them dig out and restore the old farm pond. We increased the depth and the overall size of the pond. It was money well spent. Ponds are a tremendous asset and not just for fishermen like myself. In addition to a great recreational product, a pond adds appeal to your land. It can boost property values and the return from the investment is more than worth it.
As I stated earlier, we were able to lump most of our expense in with our house-building project so what little we spent wasn’t noticeable in the long run. If you are planning on building, be it a house, shed or barn, that is a great time to check your land for opportune placement for a pond. Ponds can be put into almost any draw on your land, but the excavating crews of today can work a pond into almost any low spot you can find. If you aren’t planning on a build of any type and are looking for some financial easement I suggest seeking out your local farm services agency. The federal government has several landowner programs that will help offset some of the expense of building a pond.
Another thing to consider is whether or not the pond will serve as a water source for cattle or other livestock. If that will be the case I strongly suggest putting a tank below the dam with a water line running through it. After that, fence the pond. The reason the pond had dried out where we built was because cattle had unchecked access to the pond. Cows, in addition to wading in for a drink, will also dive in further to cool off on a hot day. That’s understandable but cattle wading into a pond will gradually fill it and you will find yourself having it re-dug in years to come.
There is no sense in investing in a pond more than once if you do it right. Ponds are an adventure that you can really immerse yourself in. I built our pond with the goal of making a great bass pond right outside my front door. At the time I was pretty inexperienced. I went to purchase finger-length bass to stock the pond and was asked if they were for an established pond or a new build. It turns out bass need a food source – as I should have known. So when I headed home with my 25 fingerling largemouth bass, I brought along a bag of minnows and another with bluegill as well. The food source was just right. A year later I pulled a healthy seven- to eight-inch bass on my first cast. It is amazing how quickly fish can grow with good pond management.
Speaking of pond management, there is nothing nicer than a patch of cattails here and there to perfectly accent your pond. They look beautiful and provide cover for your bait fish like the minnows or blue gills that feed your trophy bass. The problem, however, is that they can spread and take over a pond completely. I ran into some trouble with cattails getting too thick in my pond. One option is to spray the cattails, but you have to be careful. There are chemicals specifically designed for pond spraying that won’t pollute your water or hurt your fish population. If you go that route, you don’t want to spray all of your cattails at once.
Filling your pond with dead or dying foliage can damage your fish population as well. I would suggest spot spraying a single section and letting that clear out before moving onto your next section. The other alternative is to stock your pond with some grass carp, a vegetarian fish that feeds off the moss and weeds that grow in your pond. If you have enough in the pond, they will keep the weeds and pond scum to a minimum. Just make sure if you are putting them in an established pond that you don’t get them as babies. The bass care not for your pond problems and will gobble a fingerling grass carp up just as easily as a bluegill. Anything over five inches should be fine. There is also always the alternative of wading out into the water and pulling your unwanted cattails out by hand. They pull pretty easy and if it is a hot day in the summer you may enjoy the dip. I also like to keep the weeds down around the pond. If you like to fish, it is nice to be able to do so without wading through tall grass and weeds. It doesn’t take too long to circle your pond on a mower and that gives you 360-degree access for fishing in addition to giving a more finished look to your pond overall.
While it may seem like a lot or tiresome at times, managing your pond properly ensures you get the most out of your investment. After a nice evening full of fishing I headed to bed for the night. The cooler weather had allowed us to turn off the air conditioner and open the house up. As I laid there I could hear the frogs croaking down at the pond. It was a perfect end to a perfect day. Our pond has been a perfect investment.
By Seth Herrold