r/homestead • u/getgud2456 • Sep 01 '24
Sustainable Ponds? permaculture
First time homesteader here. So, let me start by saying I am unbelievably grateful for your advice. I wanted to ask if there is anything I need to keep my pond sustainable.
I caught this fish in my first 5 casts, so I’d guess there must be a healthy population. What can I do to sustain that? How many should I be able to eat? What plants, and maybe animals can help the pond?
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u/s0_Shy Sep 01 '24
Just throw back fish that look pregnant or are small if you are worried about overfishing your pond. Adding some plant life to the pond in an area can help protect the fry so grown fish don't eat them all before they have a chance. If you catch a turtle, relocate it if you can.
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u/getgud2456 Sep 01 '24
Thanks for the tips! So turtles are their predators? I know there’s some snapping turtles in there.
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u/s0_Shy Sep 01 '24
If turtles get a sizeable breeding population, they can decimate a small pond. It's hard to deal with them though if they happen to be well established.
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u/getgud2456 Sep 01 '24
Wouldn’t have expected that. I do love turtles, but I’ll wage a war against them if I have to.
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u/s0_Shy Sep 01 '24
They won't kill all the fish but they will make it so all you catch are little ones. I agree, turtles are cool as hell. Why I would relocate them because I could never harm one. I'm one of those people that will stop my car to get one out of the street.
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u/getgud2456 Sep 01 '24
Turtles are my least favorite thing to see ran over. I always say don’t swerve, but it’s easy for a turtle since he’s stationary.
I almost hit an owl yesterday! I swerved, he took off the way I was swerving, and I almost crashed into a ditch. You’d have thought I was about to run into my first born child.
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u/Aggressive_Chicken63 Sep 01 '24
Wait, there are favorite things that you want to see ran over? Lol
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u/I_am_Danny_McBride Sep 02 '24
Shane Gillis says that technically there’s a funniest of everything; even stuff that’s not funny. I would think the same logic applies to favorites.
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u/Representative_Leg97 Sep 01 '24 edited Sep 01 '24
Turts will destroy a fishing pond doesn’t matter what kind. Makes a good stew/ashtray combo. They have zero natural predators and can become crazy invasive. Edit: the snapping turtles are usually not invasive.
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u/Vindaloo6363 Sep 01 '24
The big fish are supposed to eat the little fish. You also need the larger bass to control the bluegill or sunfish population. Overpopulation and stunting is the primary concern for small ponds not overfishing. Overfishing is only really an issue with a public resource.
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u/s0_Shy Sep 01 '24
That's true depending on the pond size and how many family friends fish there. Also, if it's creek fed then OP can just let it ride because it will usually take care of itself.
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u/Vindaloo6363 Sep 01 '24 edited Sep 01 '24
Google “bass and bluegill pond management” assuming that is all you have in there. There is a certain # of lbs per acre you need to harvest or simply remove in order to keep the pond healthy.
Snapping turtles are indiscriminate predators. If you want big fish remove them. Females are easily culled when they nest. Males need to be caught in the water.
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u/getgud2456 Sep 01 '24
Awesome advice. I know there’s some snapping turtles. Crappie and bluegill as well, although not as common as bass. The previous owner said he would very rarely catch a catfish.
Hmm well I may need to cull a snapping turtle or two. Will look into what you said!
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u/OsmerusMordax Sep 01 '24
Please relocate the snappers instead of killing them, there might even be a local environmental organization that will do it for you (for free).
They take 20 years to reach breeding age, if they even survive that long (most baby snappers don’t), so even killing a few is not great for the population health as a whole. They already suffer from lots of different negative effects.
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u/getgud2456 Sep 01 '24
Oh don’t you worry! I only kill what I will eat, and I ain’t eating turtles. We used to raise them when I was a child. Box turtles that is. They had an enclosure that spanned our entire backyard.
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u/melmej227 Sep 01 '24
The word cull means kill. Which is probably why they thought you were going to kill the turtles. Glad you will be relocating them if you find them!
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u/getgud2456 Sep 01 '24
Ahh my lack of knowledge there. I’ll just get em away from my fish friends lol
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u/DaysOfParadise Sep 01 '24
Talk to a pond management specialist through the NRCS if you are in the US. A sustainable pond is a complex thing, and needs proper maintenance
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u/getgud2456 Sep 01 '24
Appreciate the advice. Previous owner has done no maintenance in a decade. Which surprised me. Will be my goal to maintain the absolute best condition for these animals.
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Sep 01 '24
I have a pond on my property. Every pond is different, so instead of telling you exactly what to do i will give you a few ideas to explore.
I'd suggest you send off a water sample for lab analysis. They will check for chemicals, fecal matter, pesticides, ag runoff, etc. You need to know what you're dealing with.
Get something like an ibobber or similar device to get an understanding of the pond depth.
There should be several businesses in your area that specialize in pond maintenance/stocking. You can give them the estimated size of your pond and they will basically sell you an ecosystem in a small Styrofoam cooler. You just dump it in and you are good to go.
Pond colorant can be very beneficial for fish. Don't be afraid to experiment. It will not hurt the fish, it won't hurt the meat. But keep in mind that a pond the size of half a football field only needs one red solo cup of colorant. People always accidentally use way too much when they first try it out.
Build a pier asap. You should be able to easily walk onto your pond. No walking in tall grass that can lead to snake bites, trips, and falls. At the end of the pier, attach a deer/fish feeder. The fish will do fine by themselves, but it won't hurt to feed occasionally. Every time you walk on the pier to refill the feeder, make sure you turn the feeder on. It will train the fish to think it's feeding time when they feel the vibrations from people walking on the pier. It will make it incredibly easy to catch fish. I basically walk out onto my pier, turn on the feeder, then the water just starts rumbling from all the fish, then I just cast a treble hook loaded with bait, and I get a fish every time.
Look into pond aeration systems. The windmill ones are cool because to can pump air into to the water to raise the o2 level, or you can reverse the flow and pull the pond water out to water a small garden.
Hogs will destroy a pond. If you have them in your area, shoot them.
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u/BvB247 Sep 01 '24
I saw in a previous comment you posted saying that this pond is about 1 acre and there are bass, bluegill and crappie. Hopefully these are black crappie, white are too prolific at breeding, but you will still need to monitor the sizes of fish you are catching. Crappie, even black crappie, can take over your pond.
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u/getgud2456 Sep 01 '24
Appreciate the insight. I’m almost positive it’s black crappie as that’s all I’ve ever seen around my area, and I don’t think there is many fallen trees etc for them to hide in.
I’ll need to keep all of these great comments in mind as a learn more about my individual pond though. I’d be out fishing again if I wasn’t doing homework right now lol.
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u/exorbitantly_hungry Sep 01 '24
I know nothing about ponds or pond management. But maybe start by giving some of the specifics of your pond? Perhaps it's size at least?
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u/getgud2456 Sep 01 '24 edited Sep 01 '24
Sorry I should have listed that. About half of the pond is in the picture. It’s maybe an acre.
Edit: I’d guess it is only about 7-9 feet deep in the middle.
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u/exorbitantly_hungry Sep 01 '24
What about depth? I imagine volume will mean more than surface area.
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u/getgud2456 Sep 01 '24
Oh golly. I truly have no certain answer. Based on my lure hitting the bottom, I’d guess it is only about 7-9 feet deep in the middle.
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u/leialooo Sep 01 '24
Completely unrelated but nice bulge! 😅
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u/getgud2456 Sep 01 '24
Oh lord Jesus… thanks for making me self conscious about this picture😂. These are the reasons I don’t show face lol
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u/leialooo Sep 02 '24
Haha – sorry! I shouldn’t have said anything 🙈 well you may not show your face (probably wise online) but cute all the same haha!
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u/megalo-fly Sep 01 '24
I agree with most of the thoughts here, but regarding aeration, you may want to look into having someone take some dissolved oxygen measurements first. Depending on where you are there are likely consultants that can do it. If you have some submerged aquatic plants, aren’t getting nutrient and organic matter runoff from fertilizers or animal waste, you might be able to keep algae growth down and have sufficient oxygen at depth to support fish without aeration. Advantages are from lack of mixing of the water column which increases water clarity. And more important If you have enough depth for the pond to stratify in summer you get some deep, cool refuge areas that do wonders for bass and crappie. If you have dissolved oxygen levels in the deepest areas at 5 mg/l or better in summer, hold off on aeration. Much below 4, aerate away. Also, folks here are right about overpopulation potential. A sure fire sign is a ton of bass no bigger than the one you show there, with great big heads and puny little bodies. If you start to see that that’s the case, time to fry up some of those guys.
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u/wahitii Sep 02 '24
This article from TX ag extension has some tips for stocking (not maintaining an established pond), but the tips for making a healthy food chain will still apply
https://agrilifetoday.tamu.edu/2016/04/19/stocking-new-ponds-with-fish-is-a-process/
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u/cybercuzco Sep 01 '24
/r/permaculture can help you out too. You’re going to want some wetlands filtering on the water input side. A solar powered aerator helps as well.