Pond dreaming is over

[philbuilt]

More.........
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I did not have much time this year to dig. I did how ever put 75 shiners in to help feed the trout. Over the summer I would walk down
and enjoy it every chance that I got. The shiners must have a lot of
babies because there are now thousands and have grown allot. I did see a trout break water one night and it was very cool. The blue heron will now have bunch cheaper fish to eat. If Maine allowed bass I would much prefer them.
Phil

 

[EddieWalker]

Phil,

Thanks for the update and pictures. It's an amazing setting!!!

Eddie

 

[philbuilt]

Thanks Eddie,
If I had to guest I think maybe I dug out around 100 yds. I did how ever do some grading and smoothing around the edges. I month or so ago i have a mini excavator for six hours. Thats the dirt that you see in the piles. I was hoping that the fall would bring some dryer weather so that I could have hauled it off.
Your Lake continues to inspire me.
Phil

 

[philbuilt]

Hi all,
I decided to walk to the pond and check to see how thick the ice was and found this. No ice in the feeder pond.


Its 5 degrees out and the pond has 10" of ice. This is a repeat picture of when I dug it out this past fall. This little pond is about 2' higher than the big pond and is only running about a gallon per 2 minutes.


Phil

 

[EddieWalker]

60 degrees here today. I was in shorts and a T shirt!!!!!

Don't know about that snow and ice. It looks pretty, but I can't imagine what it takes to live in a place that gets that cold. The toughest decision that I made today was whether to work on my deer blind or go fishing. The kids wanted to bake cookies with Steph, so the decision was made.

Thanks for the pics.

Eddie

 

[NonTypicalCPA]

Thats a beautiful pond. I've just read through this thread - thanks for all the great pictures and information. I probably missed it but approximately how big is the surface area of your pond (1/2 acre, 1 acre)? The reason I ask is that I'm having a pond dug professionally and can't decide how big I would like it. Obviously the bigger, the more expensive. I'm thinking around 1/2 to 3/4 acre.

Thanks

 

[philbuilt]

NonTypicalCPA,
Thanks the pond is a little over 1/2 acre in its current state. The goal is to at least double its size or more. Time will tell. I'm hoping that we get a lot of large sign bases to do so that I can get more free rental hour on the mini excavator. Those little machines now cost around $200.00 for 8 hours of dig time. Most sign bases we will use it for 2 hours so then I take it home.

Eddie, SHORTS? We don't move dirt here but we can push large piles of snow. Its seat time and it has to be done. Its always moves to the top of the to do list with the wife. I like

For Christmas my wife bought me a game cam to put at the pond hopefully we will see the wild life this spring.

Phil

 

[EddieWalker]

Good thinking with the game cam. I had a drake wood duck in my small pond this morning, but I can go all week without seeing my big pond. My next game cam will go down there to see when those tracks are being made.

Eddie

 

[saltman]

I will take the cold weaher over the huge population of people that live in the warmer climates. I am off to Alaska as soon as I can stop working. You can have your 60 degree weather and 25 million people and in my case 70 degree weahter an 35 million people now in California! Maine has only 41 people per square mile! and Alaska 1 person per sq mile!

Nice pond, how about some small mouth bass?

 

[EddieWalker]

Wyoming is the least populated state per square mile in the nation. Granted, Alaska is probably second, I don't know the numbers of all the states, just that Wyoming is number one.

Eddie

 

[saltman]

Sorry to get off subject but Eddie I am sure you know as a Texan how massive Alaska is. Remember Alaska has double the square miles of texas.

Wyoming is the least populated state but per square mile Wyoming has 5 times as many people as Alaska. California now has something like 75 people per square mile, Wyoming 5 and Alaska 1. Not sure about Texas but I do know it's got 25 million or so people and growing faster than CA.

Oh well enough about nothing

Have a great weekend and good luck fishing.

Derik

 

[EddieWalker]

Your right, I got my trivia mixed up.

Eddie

 

[philbuilt]

saltman,
thanks
Small mouth bass or any bass for that matter are not allowed to be stocked in Maine. Although they are in many of the ponds and lakes in the state. I called the state game department of inland fisheries and asked if I could put 2 neutered carp to help control the weeds. that was a no as well.Yes I do like the lack of population here in Maine. I do travel allot and I'm always anxious to come home.

Eddie,
The game cam my wife bought me is from cabella's and uses 6 D size batteries. Do they last for some time or should I just wait till I get my solar panels and converter up and run power? I bought the set of 3 panels from Harbor freight on sale to put at the pond. I will put some lights down there for when my son comes home and camps out with his friends. He finally out of Irac and back in Okinawa.

Has any one Else tried the 45w panels from Hf ?
Phil

 

[JohnDeere4300]

More.........
View attachment 114389,View attachment 114390,View attachment 114391
View attachment 114392,View attachment 114393

I did not have much time this year to dig. I did how ever put 75 shiners in to help feed the trout. Over the summer I would walk down
and enjoy it every chance that I got. The shiners must have a lot of
babies because there are now thousands and have grown allot. I did see a trout break water one night and it was very cool. The blue heron will now have bunch cheaper fish to eat. If Maine allowed bass I would much prefer them.
Phil

I was looking and reading your thread and saw where a blue heron was mention. I built a pond several years ago and me and my wife caught bass, bluegill and crappie from the river and put them in our pond.

After a year a blue heron started coming around, i never saw it catch any fish but it probably did.

Then i had a white heron coming around, i started letting my black lab out, She would run straight down to them and they would fly off.

I always see the blue herons at a lake we fish at but had never seen a white one, until the one at our pond.

I took a picture of the white heron, my pond is to the left of it.

 

[scoutcub]

Phil;

Great project! I'm hoping to do something similar in the next year or 2 in Ohio.
I grew up in MA, and we had a small farm pond on the property. I used to fish in nearby ponds, lakes and streams, to stock "my" pond. I caught mostly bass and bluegill, and the pond thrived for many years...until an otter got in there last year and ate all the fish! We discovered it too late, and he had been having a feast for who knows how long. I only get to visit home once a year, and last summer found it odd all the fish had gone.....
Anyways, the bass kept down the population of bluegills and frogs, I actually had the bass "trained". I would walk down to the pond and grab a few small frogs, toss them in.....and BAM the bass would attack. After a few weeks of that if a person would approach the pond, you could see the "v"'s of the fish swimming towards you.....what fun
I did catch some trout, and my dad stocked the pond once with 100 trout, but they all headed downstream or perished. From what I understand, trout need running water or deep cold water to survive.
Also, there are catfish across the street that are good bottom feeders....
SO my question is....do you just not want to fish elsewhere to stock your pond with Bass/bluegill/catfish? Is the state assisting with funding, and just wants to raise more trout? I'm just curious why, if you want Bass in there, you don't go catch some?
Please keep the pics/info coming, I'm learning a lot!

 

[scoutcub]

Phil;

Great project! I'm hoping to do something similar in the next year or 2 in Ohio.
I grew up in MA, and we had a small farm pond on the property. I used to fish in nearby ponds, lakes and streams, to stock "my" pond. I caught mostly bass and bluegill, and the pond thrived for many years...until an otter got in there last year and ate all the fish! We discovered it too late, and he had been having a feast for who knows how long. I only get to visit home once a year, and last summer found it odd all the fish had gone.....
Anyways, the bass kept down the population of bluegills and frogs, I actually had the bass "trained". I would walk down to the pond and grab a few small frogs, toss them in.....and BAM the bass would attack. After a few weeks of that if a person would approach the pond, you could see the "v"'s of the fish swimming towards you.....what fun
I did catch some trout, and my dad stocked the pond once with 100 trout, but they all headed downstream or perished. From what I understand, trout need running water or deep cold water to survive.
Also, there are catfish across the street that are good bottom feeders....
SO my question is....do you just not want to fish elsewhere to stock your pond with Bass/bluegill/catfish? Is the state assisting with funding, and just wants to raise more trout? I'm just curious why, if you want Bass in there, you don't go catch some?
Please keep the pics/info coming, I'm learning a lot!

 

[scoutcub]

Phil;

Great project! I'm hoping to do something similar in the next year or 2 in Ohio.
I grew up in MA, and we had a small farm pond on the property. I used to fish in nearby ponds, lakes and streams, to stock "my" pond. I caught mostly bass and bluegill, and the pond thrived for many years...until an otter got in there last year and ate all the fish! We discovered it too late, and he had been having a feast for who knows how long. I only get to visit home once a year, and last summer found it odd all the fish had gone.....
Anyways, the bass kept down the population of bluegills and frogs, I actually had the bass "trained". I would walk down to the pond and grab a few small frogs, toss them in.....and BAM the bass would attack. After a few weeks of that if a person would approach the pond, you could see the "v"'s of the fish swimming towards you.....what fun
I did catch some trout, and my dad stocked the pond once with 100 trout, but they all headed downstream or perished. From what I understand, trout need running water or deep cold water to survive.
Also, there are catfish across the street that are good bottom feeders....
SO my question is....do you just not want to fish elsewhere to stock your pond with Bass/bluegill/catfish? Is the state assisting with funding, and just wants to raise more trout? I'm just curious why, if you want Bass in there, you don't go catch some?
Please keep the pics/info coming, I'm learning a lot!

 

[scoutcub]

Phil;
Very sorry for the triple post, I'm currently at my job overseas and the internet connection is not very good at all. I also humbly apologize to the many readers.
.No, you dont have to answer me 3 times!!
LOL


Frank

 

[philbuilt]

johndeere4300,
Thank you for the picture of the white Heron I/ve never seen one.

scoutcub,
Thanks for the kind words and don't worry about the triple post.
I can't even transplant the bass from another pond or lake due to the possible contamination of a stream near by. I understand that cats will stir up the bottom to much and cause more muck than I already have. I decided to hold off adding any more fish till the next big dig.
Phil

 

[philbuilt]

I decided to try and add something to watch when we go down to the pond. The new additions are a Bird house made from an old doll house that I made for my wife. And a "duck Factory"
Here is a link to the plans that I used.
Build Your Own Duck Factory

We put this stuff in place while I could just cross to the Island on the ice.
The Bird house on the stump of a birch tree that died.


Here is a stand made from scrap steel in the shop.


Here is the factory on it's stand.


Have any of you built one of these and do they work? The goal is to have non domesticated ducks that will go away and come back each year.

Phil