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Message
Stocking a newly dug pond??
Posted on 2/3/26 at 7:51 pm
Posted on 2/3/26 at 7:51 pm
How long does it take for the water quality to allow for fish stocking for a newly dug, half acre pond? Are there filter/settlling systems that can be utilized? Sorry for my lack of knowledge…..
2
Posted on 2/3/26 at 11:21 pm to threeputt23
You should get in touch with a company like Southeastern Pond Management to help manage that. they can probably provide fish too, when the time comes.
This post was edited on 2/6/26 at 3:18 pm
Posted on 2/4/26 at 12:09 am to threeputt23
How long has the pond been filled with water? Rainfall-runoff water used to fill it or was it filled from a well? Is the water fairly clear or very turbid (muddy)?
Bottom line - it doesn’t take long, week or 2, after filling to consider stocking, but it might best add amendments, for example, agricultural limestone before stocking, if required.
I like this recreational sportfish pond management booklet as a reference guide Managing MS Ponds and Small Lakes. Read it - 3 or 4 times until you understand it….lol.
Shoot an email to Rusty Gaude with LSU AgCenter Cooperative Extension Service for assistance-potential site visit (free). LINK. Rusty has decades experience in recreational pond management and aquaculture. Technically he is not assigned to St Tammy Parish, if that is where the pond is located, that would be Carol Franze LINK but the 2 will work it out.
You have one chance to get this right from the get go without setting you back 3-4 years and having to start over - don’t mess it up.
(where am I coming from? I’m a retired fisheries-aquatic biologist by profession and I assisted recreational fish pond owners for 3 + decades as a LSU AgCenter professor).
Bottom line - it doesn’t take long, week or 2, after filling to consider stocking, but it might best add amendments, for example, agricultural limestone before stocking, if required.
I like this recreational sportfish pond management booklet as a reference guide Managing MS Ponds and Small Lakes. Read it - 3 or 4 times until you understand it….lol.
Shoot an email to Rusty Gaude with LSU AgCenter Cooperative Extension Service for assistance-potential site visit (free). LINK. Rusty has decades experience in recreational pond management and aquaculture. Technically he is not assigned to St Tammy Parish, if that is where the pond is located, that would be Carol Franze LINK but the 2 will work it out.
You have one chance to get this right from the get go without setting you back 3-4 years and having to start over - don’t mess it up.
(where am I coming from? I’m a retired fisheries-aquatic biologist by profession and I assisted recreational fish pond owners for 3 + decades as a LSU AgCenter professor).
This post was edited on 2/4/26 at 10:01 am
Posted on 2/4/26 at 10:55 am to CrawDude
I’m in the planning stages. Thanks for the informative response!!!
Posted on 2/4/26 at 11:21 am to threeputt23
quote:
I’m in the planning stages. Thanks for the informative response!!!
OK. Then also contact the USDA-NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service). Federal agency, they can assist you in designing the pond, blueprints, etc. including taking soil core samples to insure the soil holds water, if they feel it necessary - all at no charge to you (well you pay for it with your federal taxes) - hopefully nothing changed on that end since I’ve retired.
Here is the link to the NRCS offices in Louisiana - get the contact information for the office that handles the parish the pond will be built in (appears to be Amite and Franklinton for St Tammany) and give them a call as to what you are wanting to do. LINK.
Here is their in-depth publication Ponds - Planning, Design and Construction
This post was edited on 2/4/26 at 11:24 am
Posted on 2/5/26 at 4:00 pm to Spankum
quote:
Southeastern Pond Management
Posted on 2/11/26 at 8:19 am to CrawDude
I've got an older, established 8-10 acre pond that was drained after Katrina due to salvinia infestation. It has mostly been un managed in reference to fish. I would like to see if our fish population is healthy. Would that LSU link be who I should contact?
Posted on 2/12/26 at 9:20 am to burgeman
quote:
I've got an older, established 8-10 acre pond that was drained after Katrina due to salvinia infestation. It has mostly been un managed in reference to fish. I would like to see if our fish population is healthy. Would that LSU link be who I should contact?
An established pond that size requiring a fish population assessment using electrofishing boat-gear to make the assessment would require an outside firm-consultant. A couple companies are mentioned in this thread that do this. A couple others owned by professional fisheries biologists based in Baton Rouge, but do work around the state, are Aquatic Solutions LLC (Mark McElroy; no website) and Louisiana Pond Management (Ken Rust, Google their website) - I have no idea of the cost but wouldn’t be cheap.
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