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He Dug His Own Fish Ponds
When Joe Leihgeber of Williamsburg, Ohio, wants to go fishing, he doesn't have far to go. Two ponds on his land are stocked with Largemouth Bass, Small Mouth Bass, Hybrid Striped Bass, Bluegill, Channel Catfish, Flathead Minnows, Golden Shiners, Redear Sunfish and a few Japanese Koi.
To build his first 3/4-acre
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He Dug His Own Fish Ponds AG WORLD 29-2-21 When Joe Leihgeber of Williamsburg, Ohio, wants to go fishing, he doesn't have far to go. Two ponds on his land are stocked with Largemouth Bass, Small Mouth Bass, Hybrid Striped Bass, Bluegill, Channel Catfish, Flathead Minnows, Golden Shiners, Redear Sunfish and a few Japanese Koi.
To build his first 3/4-acre pond, Leihgeber rented a bulldozer and dug it out himself. He hired a friend to dig the second one-acre one. Because the dirt is clay and holds water well, he didn't line them with plastic. This year he plans to connect the two.
One area in the ponds is 2 to 3 ft. deep and covered with pea gravel so bass can spawn.
Another area is deeper and has a number of large pipes and barrels laying on their sides with gravel inside where channel catfish go to spawn.
Another section is 10 ft. deep and the fish live there during the winter thanks to an aeration system Leihgeber created by laying rolled up coil of drip irrigation on bottom. Weights hold the hose down. Then he hooked the hose to his air compressor. "When the compressor is pumping air through this drip hose, tiny beads of air come out putting oxygen in the water," he says, adding that the aeration system runs all year.
Leihgeber also put rock ledges along the sides and stacks of concrete blocks so little fish can hide from big fish. "This gives the little fish a chance to multiply and it keeps the bass busy trying to catch them," he says.
Every evening, he stands on one of two docks he built and feeds the fish in a 12-ft. dia. circle made by a piece of floating plastic pipe. It keeps the wind from blowing the food away.
Neither pond has dried up because when the water gets low, he pumps water from two nearby wells. "I only pump clean water that filters through hay fields, which is the best and works well," he says.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Joe Leihgeber, 1815 Bardwell West, Williamsburg, Ohio 45176 (ph 937 444-4835; email: Josephql2@aol.com).
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