She Goes Trout Fishing Inside Her Home

She Goes Trout Fishing Inside Her Home AG WORLD 30-4-23 Dee Ward loves fishing for trout. In fact, she loves fishing for trout so much that she and her husband Barry built a 6-ft. deep, 10 by 15-ft. pond inside their house so she can cast for trout all winter long. "I buy 6 to 8-in. Rainbow trout and let them grow as big as they want," says Dee. "I've tried Brown trout, but they kept jumping out. I've landed 2-ft. trout out of here." Ward's pond takes up an area of 20 by 25 ft. in a two-story room. Pond water from outside is pumped to a small 3 by 5-ft. pond where the water is filtered before exiting out over a waterfall into the large pond. Ward's first attempt at an inside fishing hole was to use a swimming pool liner. "I ended up with 5,000 gallons of water in my basement," she recalls. The second effort for her and Barry involved hauling in stone and dirt to a recessed area near an outside deck. They are in the construction business, so they applied their talents and earth moving equipment to the job. They built a stone wall using large stone block at the basement level. Earth was then compacted against the block and built up to provide the 6-ft. depth. The deck was extended around the pool and then everything was enclosed as a part of the house. A 1.5-in. water pump at the basement level moves water back up to the pond. A bio-filter processes the water. Barley powder flour collects nitrates and breaks them down. "The water is crystal clear all the way down," says Dee. "There isn't any sludge buildup at all." Ward says trial and error has been part of the entire project. "Trout require a lot of air, so the more water movement you can have, the longer the fish will live," she adds. "That's why we have the waterfall and even a floating fountain, all to bring oxygen into the water." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Dee Ward, Nelson Rd, Monroe, N.H. 03771 (ph 603 638-4706; dbw4260@hotmail.com).

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