making the ultimate ice fishing pond

[Trump]

hey guys i know a lot of us here in iowa fish farm ponds so lets open this can of worms and opinions.  we've been talking a lot on making a pond into a primo ice pond.  its around two acres and pretty bare hard clay and sand bottom with some more silty stuff up on the shallow end.  1/3 of the pond is 2 ft to 10 ft and then it drops all the way down to 23 ft.  theres great cattails around the deep stuff and we have 3 piles of ceder trees and willows sitting ready to drop and the cinder blocks are already tied on.  we were thinking three groups of brush 1 shallow like 10 feet one 18 and one in the 23 foot hole theres already a large population of crappies in it around 10 to 14 inches on the big ones but big heads skinny bodies.  quite a few little bass 10 to 12 inches some small gills big ones are 8 inches and like 10 catfish in the 2 lb range should we work at getting the bass out and get a bunch of the skinny crappies out or just dump some fat heads in and build up the crappies that are in there whats the thoughts have any of you had a project pond like this

[Ice_Fly_Guy]

I'd say you should do your best at thinning out the herd of bass and crappies and maybe throw some big bass in when you can.  If the crappies are looking stunted then competition for forage must be high. Sounds like it has plenty of depth to make for a great honey hole.

[mjlenz]

Put a flat head cat in there and that will thin some stuff out!  lol

[MelroseHawkins]

I`d throw a male & female asian carp in there & one alligator gar, buts thats just me.

[Trump]

ha funny Melrose that would be a huge negative as far as that flat head we actually had a flat head and a channel get out on another pond they were in a big live box we made when we do late trips to the river.  the channel is out but that flatty is still on the lose.
 but serious what have you guys heard about taking fish out and what to leave in I agree with you to a point blake do have you had experience on introducing a population of bigger bass in and heres a tough question can you have a good gill and a good crappie pond or is it a either or kind of thing? it is only two acres

[nnelzon23]

How many cedar trees ya got? Why not run a line of them from the shallow all the way to the deep? I would go 2 wide with a 5, or so, feet between. This gives you the opportunity to run up and down the line and find the size class of the fish you are targeting. I would take the trees and weight the top, then float the bottom. Take a 2 liter bottle and drill a hole in the cap. Run a thin piece of stainless cable through it and tie a not. Attach the other end to the stump. Then float it at the desired depth. I would go just off of bottom. It is a little harder to fish with the trees upside down, but I think it is better for the fish holding. The trees seem to last quite a while under water and off the bottom.

Do you have access to stones or rocks. We have a lot of farmers around with stone piles that they pulled from fields over the years and usually they would give them away. A nice patch of rocks is always a nice change of pace in those smaller ponds. I obviously havent seen your pond, but I would drop a bunch of big stones (milk jug size or a little under) in the same spot at about 14 feet deep. Let them pile and roll themselves.

 I also wouldnt be opposed to dumping minnows in a pond that size to get things going, after you run some cover into it. You need a good food source.

Also, with that water depth you should be able to keep good bluegills and crappie in a pond that size.

I am no expert and this is all opinion, but I have seen it done a time or two.

[Ice_Fly_Guy]

Cool idea on the trees.  Trump, I can't say that I have personally managed a pond or tried to alter one drastically, but in my experience fishing, the best ponds seem to have much fewer bass than panfish, but the bass caught seem to be almost always on the bigger side. My favorite farm pond has this sort of make up. Lots of huge gills, crappie of all size, and whenever I get a bass it is a whopper. I also believe you can maintain both gills and crappie with that depth but I think the bass need to be lesser, therefore bigger on average, so they can swallow down those aggressive gills with bad genetics that seem to take over an un-managed pond.

[Trump]

Hey thanks for the bottle trick nnelzon as far as number theres between 5 and 10 in each pile and about 4 to 5 feet tall the willows are 12 ft or so and about as big as a small car the two deep piles are the ceders and they're all tied together and there will be 75' between them picture the pond as a circle and the piles will be in a triangle we were also talking about the PVC pipe trick with 1' filled with concrete the other end capped so the stand straight up sounded neat

[Iceaholic]

The biggest 2 fish I've ever caught ice fishing (18" crappie and a 12" grandpa bluegill) were out of a 1/2 acre 8' deep pond with no structure but it was surrounded by tree's.  Only 2 fish I caught all day and the pond was so small I could flash the whole thing in 10 minutes.  I think there might have only been 2 fish in the pond    Goes to show, fewer numbers makes enormous fish.   

Also, having tree's that hang over your pond will drop bugs and makes a natural feeder.  Helps fish eat during spawn while they are trying to protect there beds.  In my opinion, tree's hanging over the pond are key to a healthy pond with big healthy fish.  If fish have bugs drop over there beds, they don't have to leave to eat and more eggs survive. 

Making structure tree's out of 1" PVC and elbows makes great structure and it's snag free! If your dropping cedar tree's, make sure you burn the needles off or the needles will fall off under water, fall to the bottom and no vegitation will grow there.  Good luck with the pond.  Sounds like it will be a nice one with 23 FOW 

[Loudmouth879]

I'd get rid of the bass and gills and make it a crappie pond and also throw perch in there and make it a crappie and perch pond (some of the best tasting fish imo) or dig it out and make it deeper for eyes!

[Iceaholic]

A perch dominate pond....now that's a great idea!

[Trump]

Iceaholic great input never knew about the cedar needles defenently will be getting them off.  And the thoughts on bugs off trees makes lots of sense thanks as far as the perch go that's a gamble a buddy put some in his pond somewhere around $600 worth. that pond was brand new 2 years earlier and 3 1/2 acres with a creek in the middle there were 2 or 3 dozen crappies 7-8" and just as many 6" gills no bass either.  And no perch was ever caught that's a pricey bummer

[Loudmouth879]

Iceaholic great input never knew about the cedar needles defenently will be getting them off.  And the thoughts on bugs off trees makes lots of sense thanks as far as the perch go that's a gamble a buddy put some in his pond somewhere around $600 worth. that pond was brand new 2 years earlier and 3 1/2 acres with a creek in the middle there were 2 or 3 dozen crappies 7-8" and just as many 6" gills no bass either.  And no perch was ever caught that's a pricey bummer

I fish a private pond (not sure of acreage) all that is in there are bass, perch, pickerel, and bullhead's no gills and the perch are the dominant fish catch them regularly 13-15" and there are some nice bass in there too.... pickerel believe it or not are stunted apparently and nobody caught one over 24" this year

[Shack man Shoney]

Im a big fan of stacking up oak pallets 4'-5' and fastening them together with 3" stainless screws. Makes a great inexpensive artificial reef. A concrete block wired on each corner will hold it in place underwater and just strategically locate them where you want to fish.

[MelroseHawkins]

I'd get rid of the bass and gills and make it a crappie pond and also throw perch in there and make it a crappie and perch pond (some of the best tasting fish imo) or dig it out and make it deeper for eyes!

I would think you would need some predator species. Bass need to keep the pond in check.

[MidnightRambler]

I would think you would need some predator species. Bass need to keep the pond in check.

I've never seen anything good happen to a pond when its manager disregards the basic bass/bluegill mix completely and starts throwing in different species of fish because they sound cool.

[MelroseHawkins]

I agree. It surprises me that crappie wouldnt do well but they don't recommend them. I would say a huge no for perch. Not good over time. I also realize someonr has figured this out and knows more than i do.

[Loudmouth879]

I'm not going to argue with you guys but here are some of the perch we caught in a perch dominant pond.....









all between 11" and 15"

[Ice_Fly_Guy]

Those are nice fish!  Along the lines of pallet stacking-I used to work at a greenhouse where they bought thousands of young plants, grew them, and retailed them later.  These young plants came on a large pallet, the same width as a regular pallet, but about 4 feet tall, with about 5 wooden shelves, of sorts, to hold rows of flats of the baby flowers.   I kept one and plan to sink it someday. Contact a local greenhouse for some structure, the one I worked at just throw them in the burn pile anyway. Right now would be around the time they would be getting these plants in.

[MelroseHawkins]

I'm not going to argue with you guys but here are some of the perch we caught in a perch dominant pond.....

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all between 11" and 15"

Those are nice fish. Can I ask how old of a pond it is? I could see early on success, but we've seen nice sized lakes get run over with stunted perch that can't top 6". Does this pond have a lot of pickeral (see you are from NY) or bass? Maybe they keep them in check. But, you are correct, darn impressive from a pond!

[Loudmouth879]

Those are nice fish. Can I ask how old of a pond it is? I could see early on success, but we've seen nice sized lakes get run over with stunted perch that can't top 6". Does this pond have a lot of pickeral (see you are from NY) or bass? Maybe they keep them in check. But, you are correct, darn impressive from a pond!

It used to be water source for the fed and state prison it is by but it is only 10ft deep so it has been around as long as the prisons which have been a long time..... There arent many pickerel in the pond but the average size seems to be 16" haven't caught them bigger than that.... There used to be a nice bass population according to the people who have fish there for many years but that has since declined.... no crappie and no bluegills in the pond.... and when you jig its all perch that are 4"-6" in length and occasionally you'll catch a big one jigging but they come on tip ups for the most part..... 

[Trump]

ive always heard along with say walleye and smallies that perch wont reproduce in your average pond.  and im talking our ponds like a blocked creek or a water shed.  dont you need flowage.  besides the point were not putting perch in

[Loudmouth879]

dont you need flowage.  besides the point were not putting perch in

nope

[Shack man Shoney]

Nice perch!!! So do they spawn similarly to walleyes relating to hard surfaces like rock piles and underwater road beds then??? just curious about the structure that is in that pond?

[jlaclair]

kill all the bass and stock trout in your pond 

[Loudmouth879]

Nice perch!!! So do they spawn similarly to walleyes relating to hard surfaces like rock piles and underwater road beds then??? just curious about the structure that is in that pond?

Perch don't make beds when they spawn they typically go to shallow areas and disperse their eggs on some sort of structure and the female is accompanied by two males and she just releases her eggs and the males fertilize the eggs.... I know there are some weed beds and downed logs/branches in the pond so they use those

[matzilla]

that's correct, perch do well in decent sized ponds and sand pit type bodies of water with strong weed lines and/or wood type cover. Plus they're a great food source for bass, cats, etc