New Pond Advice

[presto]

Hi Everyone,
My Father in Law has just built a new ponds in his field, it is roughly 50 feet by 100 feet.
The sides were build up using an excavator this past summer and the soil has settled, grassy weeds are growing and there are lots of frogs. Don't know what it will look like after winter though.

Is there anything that needs to be done to complete this pond?

The plan is to go fishing and release them in the pond. Are there more exotic fish that can handle winter in Northern Ontario?

Thanks

[Fishnut]

I'm not famillier with making a pond without using a liner of some kind, so I hope someone else has advice for you on that.

As far as the fish are concerned, you don't have to go fishing to get the fish.  There are fish hatcheries where you can buy fish  and release them into your pond.  You also want to be careful you're not mixing prey with predator.

Koi and Goldfish can live in a pond over winter as long as the pond is deeper than the frost line (typically 18" down).  They will be a beautiful addition to the pond, however they might be easy prey for herons, kingfishers and several animals.

[kennyman]

I think your really need to see how well it holds water and what the levels are like over the year. My mom has a dug pond stocked with trout from a hatchery and it is down three feet below the overflow right now. The Sodfarm out behind her is digging a second giant irrigation pond nearer her property because their first one did not fill up.

The golfcourse I work at has four dug ponds (one for irrigation) and we are only able to keep fish in one of them since it holds its water level the best.

What I am trying to say I guess is that a dug pond is rather unpredictable. You need to watch them for a while to see how they will workout.

[presto]

Thanks Kennyman,
The water level seems to be steady, the well a hundred meters from the pond always has water in it.
There has been very heavy machines packing the soil in and all the grassy weeds have secured the banks fairly well so far.

I think we will be cautious and add a few test fish from one of our fishing trips before we buy trout from the hatchery. A fox or coon can have a free lunch on me if it dries up.

Thanks for everyones advice

[The Pond Boy]

Presto,

For every pond, I would suggest to use a liner. This for the following reasons: To keep water in the pond when the ground water level is low and to keep the water clear. There are in this area lots of man made ponds who have problems with the water line and the water not clear.

Thanks,

The Pond Boy,
Greg