Missouri Pond Handbook Missouri Pond Handbook Written by Ken Perry Illustrated by Diana Jayne Revised by Mike Smith and Andrew Branson Missouri Department of Conservation 2901 W. Truman Blvd. PO Box 180 Jefferson City, MO 65102-0180 mdc.mo.gov Copyright 1996, 2002, 2006, 2009, 2011, 2015, 2018 by the Conservation Commission of the State of Missouri Equal opportunity to participate in and benefit from programs of the Missouri Department of Conservation is available to all individuals without regard to their race, color, religion, national origin, sex, ancestry, age, sexual orientation, veteran status, or disability. Questions should be directed to the Department of Conservation, PO Box 180, Jefferson City, MO 65102, 573-751-4115 (voice) or 800-735-2966 (TTY), or to Chief, Public Civil Rights, Office of Civil Rights, U.S. Department of the Interior, 1849 C Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20240. Table of contents From the water’s edge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Developing a new fishing pond . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Pond drainage area .........................................6 Dam ....................................................11 Construction .............................................12 Post construction .........................................17 Landscaping and habitat development .......................19 Maintaining your pond ....................................20 Managing a new fishing pond . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 How to stock .............................................27 Sources of fish ............................................29 Producing fish in your pond ................................30 Carrying capacity .........................................32 Managing for good fishing .................................34 Harvesting fish ...........................................35 Why ponds fail to provide good fishing ......................37 Managing an old pond . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Evaluating your pond .....................................38 Evaluating your fish population .............................42 Improving and maintaining your fish population ..............43 Pond renovation ..........................................47 Nonfishing ponds .........................................47 Common pond problems and recommendations . . . . . . . . . 48 Small pond management ...................................48 Aquatic plant management .................................48 Muddy water .............................................52 Leaking ponds ............................................55 Fish diseases and parasites .................................56 Wildlife and your pond ....................................57 Aquatic hitchhikers .......................................59 Appendix A — Government offices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Appendix B — Fish stocking recommendations . . . . . . . . . . 64 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 3 From the water’s edge A pond is more than water held back by a dam. It’s a place for deer to stop for a drink in the evening. For raccoons, it’s a smorgasbord furnishing tasty delights. To frogs, it’s a place to start their young on life’s adventure. To fish, it’s home sweet home. For a pond owner, it might be a place to spend a quiet moment during a busy day or a place to toss out a line and be rewarded with fresh fish for dinner. Or perhaps it’s just a spot to rest and observe the waterfowl and other wildlife that come for food, water, and shelter. Ponds also may provide a water source for livestock, fire control, or for watering the garden. If you are ready to build a new pond or you currently care for and manage an older one, this handbook is for you. Many common pond problems are part of the natural aging process. Each drop of water that runs into the pond basin carries with it the mechanism for the pond’s eventual destruction. Every drop carries silt and organic material, some of which settle in the pond. The accumulation of this material over many years will eventually turn the pond into dry land. The life span of the pond depends on many factors. With poor preconstruction planning and no management, it might cease to meet your needs in less than 10 years. You can prolong the time that the pond is an enjoyable part of your life by using the building and management techniques in this handbook. A very productive, enjoyable, and relatively maintenance-free pond will be the result of proper planning and management. Older ponds, too, can have a longer life span if good management techniques are followed. This booklet is your guide to building, enjoying, and prolonging the life of your pond. Use the diagnostic tools, recommendations, and the additional sources whose addresses and telephone numbers are in Appendix A to create the best possible fishing water. Missouri Department of Conservation staff will gladly assist in your efforts to realize maximum enjoyment from your pond and its surroundings. Then, on those lazy summer evenings when the day’s work is done and the fish are striking at each cast, you will know that all your planning, preparation, and management were worth the effort. 4 Developing a new fishing pond The success or failure of a pond may depend upon the site you choose. Careful site selection will save construction and maintenance costs and increase the benefits you receive from your pond. Although most potential pond sites have some characteristics that are less than ideal, many deficiencies may be overcome with proper planning. When thinking about location, don’t forget about convenience. Remember: A well-planned pond that is close to home and easily accessible will be used more often and provide more enjoyment than one that is far away and hard to reach. In addition, it is more likely to receive proper care. You also may want to consider locating your pond where it is accessible to the disabled and elderly. This may mean building a nearby parking area with a gentle slope to good fishing spots. Because moving earth is one of the biggest costs in pond building, you will want to pick an area that will keep this expense at a minimum. The most economical site is one that requires the smallest dam to impound the largest volume of water. An adequate amount of soil for dam construction must be on site or very near. An ideal location would be a natural low area or wide draw, narrowing on the downhill side. The area to be flooded should be as flat and wide as possible to obtain the largest water volume in relation to dam height. Ideally, more than half of the pond should be deeper than 5 feet after filling to decrease potential aquatic vegetation problems. Most nuisance aquatic plant growth occurs in shallow water. Creek beds or large, deep draws should not be dammed unless excess water can be diverted around the structure. Creek drainage areas often produce runoff water quantities that are too great to control except by large, expensive dams. They may require a permit from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. A word of caution: Conversion of streams or wetlands to construct a pond may be against the law. Check with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for more details. While planning your pond, check your property deed for recorded easements for buried pipelines, power cables, and overhead lines. The restrictions in these easements and their locations may alter the site you choose. Pond construction must not impact a public road or a neighbor. Locating a pond near established wildlife cover will encourage use by birds and other animals. It is possible to develop wildlife cover and travel 5 lanes after the pond is built, but it takes less time and effort to take advantage of what is already there. For more information: Go to mdc.mo.gov/wildlife for the Conservation Department’s resources on wildlife management for Missouri landowners. Pond drainage area The size of the drainage area, or watershed, is an important consideration in site selection. The drainage area includes the pond’s surface area and the land above the pond that provides water from runoff. For fish production, about 15 acres of drainage area for each surface acre of water is best. The Conservation Department recommends that the ratio of drainage area to pond surface, also called watershed ratio, ranges between 10-to-1 and 15-to-1. The exact ratio for a particular location depends upon annual precipitation, soil type and condition, the amount of and kind of vegetation covering the drainage area, and the steepness of the drainage area. Ponds with excessive drainage areas often are not suitable for fish production. They tend to be muddy, silt in rapidly, and have erosion problems in the spillway area. Runoff from normal rainfall can flush out much of the microscopic plant and animal life that fish use for food. A temporary shortage of food may result, and fish growth will be slowed. In ponds with excessive drainage areas, fish may swim out of the pond during heavy rains. If the drainage area is too small, the water level may drop too low to support aquatic life during extended periods of hot, dry weather. Less water means less oxygen available to fish. Warm water also holds less oxygen than cold water and could result in a fish kill. Smaller water volume means decreased surface area, decreased food production in the pond, and slower than normal rates of fish growth. Shallow water allows aquatic weeds to become abundant. If the drainage area of a potential pond site is too large or too small, the effective drainage area sometimes can be adjusted through terracing. In a watershed that is too small, terracing can be used to divert water to the pond. Similarly, water can be deflected or terraced away from a pond site if the drainage area is too large. Note: The vegetative cover in a pond’s drainage area greatly influences both the quality and quantity of water that run into the pond. Ungrazed timberland and stable grasslands provide the cleanest water source. Cultivated land in the drainage area contributes the poorest quality water to the pond. The silt-laden runoff from row crops and associated agricultural chemicals can shorten the life of a fishing pond, result in a fish kill, drastically reduce fish numbers, or affect their rate of growth. 6 To avoid a muddy, unproductive pond, you should keep the percentage A healthy pond of cultivated land in the pond’s drainage area to a minimum. Good soil needs at least conservation measures, such as terracing, minimum tillage or no-till, and 100 feet of strip-cropping, should be in place on row-crop land before a pond is built. A dense vegetation minimum of 100 feet of vegetated filter strip should be maintained between between it the pond edge and any cultivated land. A similar filter strip should be and any maintained between the pond edge and areas frequented by livestock. cultivated land. Plant cover in the drainage area also affects the quantity and the rate of runoff a pond receives. The best situation is one where the entire drainage area is covered with thick vegetation. This slows runoff and may reduce expense in the design and construction of spillways. The drainage area should be free of pollution sources. Ponds receiving barnyard or feedlot drainage, domestic sewage, runoff from heavily stocked or fertilized pastures, or other high nutrient inputs won’t support fish successfully over many years. These materials promote the growth of aquatic plants. Too much plant growth leads to a loss of dissolved oxygen as these plants die and decay. These nutrient sources also promote the excessive growth of filamentous algae, which is also known as pond scum or moss. To keep your pond healthy, eliminate these sources of pollution before you begin construction. Either build a lagoon large enough to contain all the nutrients so that none can flow into the pond or pipe the drainage from these sources to a point downstream from the pond. 7 Chemicals used in the watershed may impact the fish in your pond. Think about potential problems before using any chemical in your pond’s drainage area. Insecticides are particularly deadly to fish. Dead or contaminated fish could result from a moment of carelessness. Water sources Streams are usually not suitable water sources for fishing ponds. Their watersheds are generally large, which means they can carry a high inflow of silt into a pond. High flows result in muddy, unproductive water. In addition, many stream fish are not adapted to the pond environment. They may not provide sustained good fishing and can carry parasites or disease organisms, which can impact the fish in your pond. Drainage from Springs usually are not good sources of water for fish ponds. The area barnyards where the spring water originally enters the ground may be miles from promotes your pond. Because you have no control over this area, you won’t be able to the growth monitor chemicals and other pollutants that are introduced into the spring. of nuisance Possible pollution isn’t the only problem. Spring water may be too cool for aquatic plants good growth of bass, bluegill, and channel catfish, and it may be too warm and wide to successfully raise trout. The clarity, high mineral content, and stable water fluctuations temperature encourages the growth of excessive aquatic vegetation. A bottom of dissolved withdrawal spillway can sometimes solve these problems in a spring-fed oxygen in the pond. pond, which Very few ponds are actually spring-fed. Cold water near the pond bottom eventually is a common natural pond condition not necessarily related to springs. True results in spring-fed ponds will have water flowing out of the pond during all but the unhealthy fish. driest of times. For more information: To build a spillway to use in a spring-fed pond, go to short.mdc.mo.gov/Zqj for the aquaguide on “Bottom Withdrawal Spillways.” Types of soils and bedrock The soil at the pond site should be deep and contain a high percentage of clay. The best soils are those that allow water to penetrate very slowly. Examples are clay, clayey and sandy loams, and loams. Most Missouri upland soils contain enough clay for good pond construction. A simple test for clay content is to squeeze a handful of fairly 8