I am interested in a fish pond or a contoured dugout for trout. How deep does it need to be? What different does aeration make with necessary depth? North of Edmonton. I think they call us zone 3a
I used to work with a wielder that did this on the side.
He would dig it for you and fill it with what was needed so it would not fill up with weeds. I believe he is a member and would be in the fly fishing column ..
This is where you should have your post.
I am interested in a fish pond or a contoured dugout for trout. How deep does it need to be? What different does aeration make with necessary depth? North of Edmonton. I think they call us zone 3a
Attention Anti Hunters
Sit back
Pour yourself a tea
Watch us "sportsmen" attack each other and destroy ourselves from within.
From road hunters vs "real hunters" to bowhunters vs rifle hunters, long bows and recurves vs compound user to bow vs crossbow to white hunters vs Native hunters etc etc etc
.....
Enjoy the easy ride, anti hunters. Strange to me why we seem to be doing your job for you.
My father in law had an incredible trout pound, he stocked it with fresh water shrimp, the trout loved them and the trout were pink fleshed and delicious.
If you can get fresh water shrimp stock your pond with them you will be happy you did. The biggest rainbow I caught out of his pond was a very healthy 10 pounder
Not to rain on your parade but there are likely changes coming to fish stocking for ponds. The presence of whirling disease is has put a cloud over the whole thing.
As big as you can and 20 feet deep if possible. If I had the money I would get an Earth mover in and go till the budget ran out. If in a drainage area build in a drain system should you ever wish to scrape clean again.
Agree with adding shrimp the first year before stocking.
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It is not the most intellectual of the species that survives; it is not the strongest that survives; but the species that survives is the one that is able best to adapt and adjust to the changing environment in which it finds itself. Charles Darwin
years ago an old uncle of the wife would fill up a 5 gallon pail with wheat from the bin, soak it in water for a few days and then just throw it into the pond. Nice fat Alberta grain fed trout.
Had one dug 100 feet from my house 10years ago. 40 yards wide by 60 yards long and 20 feet deep. Aeration is mandatory if you want them to survive over the winter. Ospreys and blue herons can become problematic. Have one more week of work in Saudi Arabia and then fly home to pick up an order of brookies and browns to add with my rainbows.
In Alberta you can also stock freshwater prawns which would be nice too.
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This country was started by voyagers whose young lives were swept away by the currents of the rivers for ten cents a day... just for the vanity of the European's beaver hats. ~ Red Bullets
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It is when you walk alone in nature that you discover your strengths and weaknesses. ~ Red Bullets
years ago an old uncle of the wife would fill up a 5 gallon pail with wheat from the bin, soak it in water for a few days and then just throw it into the pond. Nice fat Alberta grain fed trout.
Pond Boss Magazine has a really good forum if you want to get great advice on planning your pond. There are people on there who do this for a living.
I wish I had the budget and the space to plan and build my own. But I was at least lucky enough to fall into a pre-existing pond on my acreage when we bought it. It's about 60' long by 30' wide and 14' deep. It's about half the dimensions I would like and the slope on the sides is too steep. Its 6 years old and I'm anticipating having to drain it and re-shape it in a couple years to fix the slope.
All that being said, I stocked about forty 6-8" rainbows in it 3 summers ago and they are now 5-6lb tanks. Their growth has been incredible in that amount of time. I aerate 365 days a year (schedule varies between summer and winter) and feed every second day in the summertime.
Advice on my own private fish pond
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