Long farm week & projects!!! Pond, trees & Prize winning bean plot too!!! :)

[Sligh1]

Maybe not prize winning. This is new farm that has been “bucks only” for past management & I have my work cut out for me!!! Killing a lot of does this year!!!! 8 acres beans, done perfect- fertility, rate, germination, spraying. Will produce a big huge goose egg- around ZERO bushels . 1st 2 pics are new farm with 5000000 does. 3rd pic is beans where I’ve managed doe #’s. Planted with days of eachother. Lil difference

Managed farm, balanced deer #’s...

Brassicas... overall good. Some drilled and some “no till” with cultimulcher. Look close- u will see patches of clover I left for diversity. No N applied- burnt down clovers for N needs.

This pic might not look like anything. I shoulda done better job. But- got on a “line” where clovers taper off & brassicas start & u can see the old rye mix following dbltree rotation. Building soil, rotating, producing & utilizing N. Will be 3 food sources or choices in 1 plot.

Mulched every fruit tree with limestone or woodchips. Thousands and I’m so sick of trees it’s crazy.

Made an existing pond into 7.5 acres with some obvious but clever thinking of my buddy. 25-30’ deep & loading with structure. The old 4Runner hauled 8 good size cedars per load. Shelves, rock piles, trees, etc. for the kiddos.

Lil canal about 8’ deep & 20’ wide connecting a nice existing pond.

Long days, lots more to do, hot & nasty but wouldn’t change a thing I spose. Time for season!!!


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[Hardwood11]

Looks great Skip

 

[MN Slick]

Very nice and I like the canal idea to tie the ponds together.

 

[Brett Morris]

I've always dreamed of building a pond like this. Keep us updated Skip!

 

[deerdown]

Got a lot done, got a lot more to do I suppose... Never ends

 

[cybball]

Love this stuff. That pond looks great. It's nice to start fresh and put your own design on it. Tons of work getting done there!!

 

[Sligh1]

Love this stuff. That pond looks great. It's nice to start fresh and put your own design on it. Tons of work getting done there!!

That’s the ironic part.... I’ve fixed up countless farms, “built habitat” or “rebuilt farms”, u name it- on farm stuff for deer/habitat/wildlife/conservation... know the routine.
ON THE OTHER HAND!!!!!!!??!?!!???..... ponds- I suck!!!! Any tips appreciated!!! I’m not good at this stuff!!!!
-Lots of structure will be added. Don’t know what I should or shouldn’t do though. I mean.... do I need lots of rock or not really? Is sand or pea gravel needed or not really? Pry want sand for kids to swim.
-it’s deep so I dunno if solar aerators critical? I spose they can’t hurt & I need to get right sizing. Will have major grass buffers as well, huge grass waterways & eventually within short time have surrounding drainage in crp.
-it’s got some bass & blue gill in it. Which clearly creates a challenge. What are my options for getting this dialed in for a variety of fish with the issue of having fish in there now?!? Will add grass Carp too. Want monster bass & if started from scratch would load up with fatheads & bluegill. maybe with cover they might survive if I put tons fatheads in?? Would love some channel cats & down road crappie but don’t know if that will hurt ability to have big bass???
-fish feeder worth it?
What else should I be doing?!?! Thx!!!!

 

[goatman]

Fish feeder will add size to your bluegill and in turn help the bass size but the grass carp will suck up the feed really fast. Having a great population of bass will add to the size of bluegill. I had big bass for the first 10 years of my pond but when the originals died out so did the size. Get bass from two different sources so you kind of have a hybrid effect in the bass. I added crappie after the bass and bluegill became established. Most of the crappie are between 10 to 13" but probably have a effect on the bass for forage fish. I don't mind smaller bass if the crappie and bluegill stay good size. You really have to stay on top of a pond to keep it perfect. Like yearly shocking which I have never done. A fish manager said one time the perfect fish for big bluegill is a hybrid striped bass. His mouth is smaller than a largemouth bass. Now that would be a ride to hookup with one of those. I'm happy with the grass carp and don't have to do chemicals for the moss and coontail. Now if they would just eat cattails that would be great. Haven't seen any in the yard yet eating grass so they must have plenty to eat yet.

 

[Sligh1]

Last “big one”. Bro did this. Almost done. My little man is in the bottom if u look close. Coring out a lil more. Will add structure, rock, etc. 40’ + deep. Gonna try smallmouth, perch, etc - just need to figure out how & if works just fine. I think it’ll work. This one gonna try leave largemouth out.

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[northcedar]

Geez these are awesome. So these are "keeper" ponds as in farms you own for good, or fixing up to sell? Don't you have a 40 acre pond on your home farm already? Do you guys own all that equip in the pics or are you using a pond builder? That's sure a dream of mine, to have a large pond like that. Keep showing updates!

 

[Sligh1]

Geez these are awesome. So these are "keeper" ponds as in farms you own for good, or fixing up to sell? Don't you have a 40 acre pond on your home farm already? Do you guys own all that equip in the pics or are you using a pond builder? That's sure a dream of mine, to have a large pond like that. Keep showing updates!

My home farm I’ll keep forever yes. Love it. I don’t have the 40 acre lake farm . Only reason I actually have ever sold a farm in last 10 or so years was to add on to my home farm - mainly to consolidate - again, for family.
I just added on behind the house & with 2 kids and 10+ nephews & nieces- this is why we did this. For them. I honestly don’t spend much time fishing but I will now & do it with the kids & for the kids. Want it to be great fishing to get kids “hooked on outdoors” vs electronics or some other garbage. Plus they love it. Nephew pulled a 20” walleye & some big bass out tonight from a 2 acre pond I have- he was stoked!

A 7-8 acre pond & above 4-6 acre that’s deep as can be plus a lot of 1-2 acre ponds- should give them lots of fun. Gonna try stocking some different. Like i said, this one here be for smallmouth, perch, few walleye maybe, etc. got one I’ll do catfish, etc. & the big one I wanna make it so kids can catch jumbo bass. . It’s a one time deal here as I’ll never sell home farm & Me & bro teamed up to knock this all out as the kids are all 1-10 years old. Lots of good memories ahead & kids that love being outdoors I sure hope.

 

[Wi transplant]

Awsome skip! I grew up with 2 large ponds on our farm 5 and 7 acres and the one thing we learned about aeration in ponds is need to run or dont run . what i mean buy this is keep them running or off not good to start n stop . my dad hsd airators off going into winter then decided in middle of winter to turn them on !! Oooh not good !!! Something about mixing the water and shocked the fish. Lots of die off.!!! My 2 cents

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[Wi transplant]

Also take a look at. Kesters wild game products. There based in wi and have one of the only supplies of products for ponds . plants seeds ect. Catails bull rushes differnt vegitation . so u get the "good" weeds in your new pond !! Hope this helps

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[crietveld]

Skip if you haven’t allready check out pond boss forums. Lots of good info on fish stocking and habit. Kinda like IW for ponds


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[entropyfx]

Looks awesome!

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[Pops]

Great to see you are still posting, Sligh. I hope to get in a good visit soon. It’s been several years since I was on this site.

 

[deep woods goat hunter]

Skip if you haven’t allready check out pond boss forums. Lots of good info on fish stocking and habit. Kinda like IW for ponds


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Second on pond boss forums. My ol man is a pond nut and is always talking about that forum


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[Hair&Scales]

So wheres the family form I need to fill out to become a nephew? These ponds are what dreams are made of.

 

[Hardwood11]

Are you slaying some does??

 

[Sligh1]

Oh yes . Some does are biting the dust. BIG TIME!!!