Anyone have a pond on your property

[wdfifteen]

Once again turning to the brain trust for information.
I'm looking at a homesite that has 15 acres and a one-acre pond. All I know about the pond so far is that it has an aerator.
So, what's is like living with and maintaining a one acre pond.

[devodave]

Our pond is maybe 1/3rd acre. Spring and runoff fed. Don’t really maintain it as it is over a 1/4 mile from the house. It seems to do pretty good on it’s own.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Be careful, typically any such body of water will put you under the US Army Corps. of Engineers jurisdiction if you ever want to build on the property. Usually permitting is simple, but can end up being very, very, very much not. Just be cautious and ask the right questions.

[bpu699]

Isnt the aerator/fountain just to prevent mosquitos? If its not an issue, why do it? Our neighbors have ponds... no Aerators...

[Seahawk]

I have an acre pond on my farm which was once a tobacco farm. Ponds were created so during drought years the tobacco could be watered.

The pond is man made and fed by rain run-off from about 1/2 the farm acreage. It has a an overflow drain pipe as well as dip in the earthen dam should the drainpipe get overwhelmed - which it has a few times. The overflow feeds into the marsh that runs down the right side of my property.

In the picture below, which is over tens years old, you can see the pond on the left side, maybe an acre/acre and a half in size. As you can see the fields are wet from a recent rain.



The good:

Wildlife magnet. I'll sit in the breezeway at the stable, settle in before dusk and quietly watch the parade.

Low maintenance, especially if it is already aerated and designed properly. I would have whoever does pond inspections in the area come take a look. Figure a few hundred a year in maintenance, etc., if you don't have plant life issues. Your local ag agent will know the details in your area.

If it is deep enough, you can stock it, especially since you already have the aerator.

Nice to look at.

The bad:

Wildlife magnet.

As other have mentioned, make sure you understand the legal and environmental liabilities in your area.

Ice. When the pond freezes over once a year or so, we had to watch the dogs constantly so they don't venture our on the ice and fall through. I keep an long, extendable ladder and rope, as well as one of my old kayaks, at the stable just in case. Since we board horses, we also made the owners sign a waiver if they have kids...ice or not.

Other than that, you do have to deal with bank erosion, at least I do. I also keep the grass trimmed around the pond, which is a pain but worth it.

[Steve Carlton]

Flattbutt has a pond at his house in New Jersey. Let's just say he's a very likeable guy and doesn't have any enemies, either.

[T77911S]

use a sickle mower blade on a tractor to cut around the pond.

[sammyg2]

[Tim Hancock]

Ours is about 1/3 acre. Copper sulphate several times in the summer along with a couple gurgles of Aqua shade is about all we do to keep the algae at bay. This year however I bought some Tilapia in the spring to help with the algae. We have very large bass and bluegill in the pond along with bullfrogs. Never have seemed to need an aerator. The pond was dug in the late 60's when house was built. Just this year I put the stone around it. Nice for the grandkids to swim and fish and is also helpful to drop/park the boat in when trailer needs service.

[Borders Reivers]

Hope you enjoy snakes.

[berettafan]

beautiful homesites guys.

[wdfifteen]

Going to go see it Friday.
My insurance company says you get small break on insurance if the pond can be used for fire fighting.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

Going to go see it Friday.
My insurance company says you get small break on insurance if the pond can be used for fire fighting.

Which we do as well. Sign on the road for the turn for our farm lets the FD know where to get fresh water for their needs.

[RKDinOKC]

Some family property 360 acres has 3 ponds. One is 5, 3, and 1 acres. The 5 and 3 are fed by runoff. The 1 acre is spring fed. The 1 acre is crazy with blue gill, bass, frogs, and turtles. The 5 has bass and beaver. The 3 acre is relatively new and is the only one that has a major algae problem. Has a big fountain aerator and have been stocking with sterile carp and doing some kind of chemicals. Still over run with that algea stuff. The 5 and one have been stocked with bass and sunfish respectively and the property has also been well stocked with rabbit and quail for more than 50 years. And there are various deer feeders (as if they needed them).

As I was growing up it was where we went camping and hunting. In 2000 my brother built a couple of cabins and added the 3 acre pond out in front of one of the cabins. Not stocked for hunting and fishing any more. Brother's father-in-law's dad did that.

[KFC911]

There are some cool ponds on this thread .….. all of 'em are unique and my experience with my three spring fed (only), differs from everyone else's...I love 'em!

[T77911S]

tim,
beautiful property.
BTW, I need a tractor. any chance you can swing by myrtle beach?

[LEAKYSEALS951]

Originally Posted by Tim Hancock

We have very large bass and bluegill in the pond along with bullfrogs. Never have seemed to need an aerator. .

I think your aerator is parked right up there on shore. In a 1/3 acre pond, I would call that boat "The Amazing Bass-o-matic"

[KFC911]

Looks more like a ski boat...knowing who the owner is

[id10t]

Mom shares one between 3 other neighbors, pond is 3 to 5 acres depending on water level.

No issues over the decades (UF swim team used it in the 1910s for practice) until she added some water lettuce. That took some work to clear out, eventually poisoned it.

Went dry 7 years ago, we got rains again so it is as full now as it has ever been. Pond record fish is 14.75lbs bass caught in '78, I've caught a bunch between 8 and 12lbs.

Her neighbor paid to have it restocked after the Great Dry, fishing is good now, bass are pushing 2lbs.

Here's a little thing I wrote about it a while back -

There is a pond in town (has some local history associated with the local university dating back to the early 1900s), I started riding my bike there and fishing when I was 4. My parents bought a house on it when I was 6, my mother still lives there. When full to the rim, it is about 4 acres. and 15 feet deep in the middle. Not a lot of cover along 1/2 the bank, the rest is a section of reeds and a patch of cypress.

Record bass caught in '78 was 14lbs 13oz on a certified scale. I've caught 20 or so between 8 and 10lbs over the years, and have seen others do the same.

In the late 80s, the pond "turned over" and all the big fish died - hundreds of bass over 4lbs or so, belly up. Of course, when they started decaying the water got bad and took out some of the bigger bluegills, and most of the crappie. The pond recovered.

The 90s started a dry spell - incredible heat, and without the massive flooding rains of summer. The pond shrank. We'd finally get some rain, or a close brush with the remnants of a tropical storm, and the pond recovers.

Again, we had a massive fish kill, not nearly as many big fish as the first, and the buzzards feasted. The pond recovered - barely.

Into the 2000s, the pond got smaller and smaller. Could still catch fish, but the crappie were gone as were the catfish. The bluegills were stunted.

The winter weather pattern changed, no longer a massive rain every week followed by cold clear crisp days, only to cloud up and rain again the next week.

In 2005, we got 2 hurricanes. Mom's dock was destroyed (3rd time), not to be rebuilt. The pond water level was back to where it was in the 70s.

The summers and winters got drier and drier.

In 2010, the pond nearly disappeared. A big mud bog, with a little bit of water in the middle. The pond was on its last legs.

In 2011, the pond dried up. The bowl was covered in grass and weeds, and I was finally able to see the areas that I knew only from years of exploring with a fishing line. I could see the small cuts and culverts that I felt my weighted worms dropping into. I could see the remnants of an oak tree crown where I could usually catch a bass or two. The big flat area on the north side, where the bluegills would bed in the spring months. The massive stump right in the middle... right where that record 14lb 13oz bass was caught.

In 2012, Tropical Storm Debbie passed directly over us. The pond had water again, perhaps a foot deep in the middle, with all sorts of grass and weeds growing out of it. Within weeks, the mosquitoes bloomed. The city dumped a ton of gambusia in the pond, and life started returning.

Since, the "normal" summer weather pattern of afternoon storms has started returning. The pond is now full and looking much like it did 15 years ago, with some changes. The dock on my mom's side is still gone, and her garden has expanded to the edges of the pond. A few new cypress trees are growing, and after dealing with the water lettuce, weed growth from the dry period, and a few downed trees the water is good and cover exists. The gambusia population boomed, and the turtles, bull frogs, and leopard frogs have returned in numbers.

In April 2014, one of the other property owners on the pond paid to have it restocked. 500 juvenile bluegills and 250 fingerling large mouth bass were added, as well as some catfish. I've casually been checking things out since on a regular basis, and noticed that several larger bass had been added and nested on the north side of the pond this spring. With polarized sun glasses, I was able to see the black tails of juvenile bass today.

Since I had a little bit of time to kill, I went to my car (I keep fishing gear there *always*) and setup my ultra light rig with a 1/8oz beetle spin.

On my first cast, I caught this guy - about 2lbs. 3 more casts and I caught 2 juvenile bass that were about 8" long, and I could see many smaller fish chasing my lure.



The pond is back....

[flatbutt]

50 acres of water covered with winter ice. Our size is such that we have two dams so nothing like a farm pond. But the DEP can be a nightmare so check local laws.