Pond Mgmt 101

thanks george, I no dought will have some more questions in the coming days.

I am just a click away.

Geo

George,
What are your thoughts on pond aeration? My pond is about 1 acre in size. I have yet to verify depth. But I have been told by 4 of my neighbors that it is over 20 ft deep, all of which saw the pond in construction. I have been looking at the electric systems, and the windmill systems.

Tr17 - Before you spend any money you need to talk to me. I have built aeration systems for ODWC in their CLOSE TO HOME Fisheries program and have installed them. Please send me aPM with your contact info and I will explain the differences and properly guide you.

I am in the process of ridding a pond of turtles because they have eaten all the vegetation in the pond and the fry have no place to hide and grow. I placed a trap in the pond yesterday morning and the trap produced 2 before dark.:) I anticipate that the trap should empty the pond within 10 days to 2 weeks.Thumbs Up I will restock coontail into the pond and monitor its growth. The trap will possibly have to be put back in the pond periodically to be certain that no turtles re enter and sabotage the plant growth. The pond that I am referring to is the 3 acre Canadian Co pond that I have been managing for some time now for big bluegill and redear. I c&r some 9" bluegill yesterday when I was catching bait for the trap. The male BG are starting to turn from yellow/orange to very light purple indicating that spawning is not far off.Hands ClappingThumbs Up Is anyone interested in pictures of the trap in order to make your own?????

CG

The trap is doing its job. The turtles are slowly being caught and removed from the pond.

We built and used one for our pond several years ago. Ours was trap-door style...very effective. I always hear that turtles are bad for ponds, can you elaborate on it? Is it just the loss of plant material which in turn reduces safe places for fry?

Penny - Yes, if the pond has plenty of aquatic plants then the turtles keep the plants trimmed. When the turtles get the upper hand or the pond has no plants then the fry have no safe haven. This pond has no plants and I am trying to introduce some coontail to protect the fry but the turtles wiped out what we stocked. So I am trapping turtles and after a couple of weeks of nothing in the trap I will re introduce the coontail and monitor for turtles.

I have fished the 10 acre lake that I manage near Hinton twice since Father's Day. We harvested 19 bass and crappie the first trip and 33 bass and crappie today. I also fished for bluegills and caught 6-8 that were 4 to 6". The gills were in spawning colors and probably were copper nose bluegills. These fish were a combination of my original stocking and spawn since some of the fish were 4". The bass have grown to around 15" to 16" and were healthy. We caught a few that were 10" and some around 12" which indicates to me that we are seeing some recruitment. The crappie were averaging 13" to 13.5" and healthy. I will fish this pond again this Fall in October and see what the summer growth appears to be.

The summer heat is oppressive and is taking its toll on people and the environment. There is no end in sight until September. By then we will have no grass for cattle and alot of cattle will be sold off. The fish kills in farm ponds is increasing at a more rapid rate. I have installed 1 aeration system in a 2 acre lake and I have another one to install in a pond this weekend. Pray for rain. If anyone has questions about aeration let me know. In the mean time pray for rain.