Thomasmgp

Great seems the snakes got the memo a new pond was going in. Workers found 2 cottonmouths.

I use to hook mine back in the meatty part right before the tail. Did the same thing live baiting with small bream as well. Found that worked best. Also it made them swim more erratic I think but not certain on that.

When you say Dam are we talking a real dam or just dirt? If its just dirt then it might have broke. Same thing happened at one of my uncle's ponds. The dam broke by the spillway and he started losing water real fast. They had to come in and redo the entire dam. Cost him a ton of money.

Just wish I had some cypress trees up here like I do down in my swamps. Are there any trees other than Cypress that can still live if surrounded by water that wouldnt take until Im 75 to grow?

I guess you gotta start somewhere.... BEFORE:

OK been reading that lake management stuff and holy crap is this going to be a lot of work. I figured digging a pond was just send a guy in with a trackhoe and a dozer and then fill it with water and fish. Also my dad said the guys we are bringing in quote "Know their ****". so I guess thats good. Also to solve the lack of over hanging cover whats good to plant along the edge? I also thought about maybe having a nice sized fake dock with 2-3 boat slips built somewhere to provide some more cover as well. We plan on setting some fish traps on the river to get some adult fish but how long should we wait if stocking with mostly juvis before throwing in larger, adult fish? I dont wanna toss in a few adult bass and have them gorge themselves on everything we stocked. And the big question. After its finally finished and stocked how many years before you should fish it?

As to size since ours will be 7-8 acres is that a small pond or medium sized pond? Im horrible at understanding measurements. If it was up to me I would just use one of our 75 acre fields as part of the pond but dont think the farmer would go for that idea and neither would the deer.

Thanks been googling everything possible but I dont want to go overboard.

We finally got all the permits and funding to start our pond on the farm we have. Will begin clearing in a few weeks. Not going to be huge probably only 7-8 acres. But while I have been fishing since I was like 6 this is the first pond we will be building and I dont know anything about what to do. If location matters I live in South Carolina about middle of the state. Stays warm year round. Can still be 70s in December-Feb so it wont be freezing. When they do the clearing should I save all the stumps to use as cover? There are some big oaks in there we plan on leaving up either on small islands or just digging around them but other than that I think all the trees are coming down. My dad knows the guy whos going to do the digging but I dont know if its just a few local guys with some trackhoes or they are actually pretty good at digging ponds and know how to do it right. But what should I do about depth and how far off the edge should it begin to drop down and then do you want a gentle slope or steep drop off? Also where should I set up cover for my bass in the forms of those stumps and maybe some downed trees and if anyone knows of other things that we could use that would be great. The area has been cut before so there wont me much of anything in the form of overhanging branches. I used to love fishing under those cause they always seemed to hold bass and bream. Is there anything we can do to substitute for the lack of that kind of stuff? Anything good we can plant along the water's edge that will grow and provide overhanging cover? Sorry I can keep asking questions forever but then this will turn into 5 pages. So will just let people throw out helpful advice. If you have dug a few ponds of your own and can offer some advice that would be great. Also any other advice regarding adding anything that will help my fish grow fast would be great too. And just mainly need to know about how to add places for bass to hang out. I mean when I go fishing I know what to look for and where they are but when building your first pond I dont want to over look anything.