Hi, I'm from the province of Saskatchewan in western Canada. My friend and I just purchased a quarter of land last summer with a beautiful 80 acre lake on it that we are developing for lake lots(see our website http://www.newlotsonlake.info . The lake is spring-fed and shaped like a frying pan with gentle slopes and then a flat bottom which is only 7 feet deep. The lake does not get algae blooms and contains very little subemergent weeds but the water is not real clear but more tea-like. We know that at one time the lake was quite a bit smaller than it is today but during the mid-1950's the lake was flooded by high water events and has been kept at this level ever since by a beaver dam on the north end. This flooding killed much of the forest along the shoreline which now has a lot of dead spruce and poplar in the water which we have been removing. Our Fisheries Biologist shock tested the lake last summer to find no game fish but a very high population of fathead minnows and sticklebacks. Much of the shoreline under the water is made up of sandy muck (the land is very sandy around the lake) and when you walk in it there is often a sulfur smell and it gets very turbid (like you spilled oil in it).
We would like to put about 1 - 2 feet of sand on the ice in a few areas in the winter so that when it melts we would be left with a more sandy bottom for swimming. This is how they make many of the beaches on the lakes in our area. Will putting sand on the bottom of the lake have a positive, negative or neutral affect on the minnows?

Hi duckdave, I'm a novice at this but it sounds to me like you have a great opportunity to create a good game fish lake. As a fisherman I wouldn't want to see all of the flooded timber removed, but I can see how the average homeowner might not appreciate it.

It's interesting that beavers seem to be maintaining the water level. Has anyone talked about removing them and rebuilding the dam. Again, I'm a novice, but I like the idea of having the beavers maintain the dam. I wouldn't be surprised if it isn't recommended though.

Sorry I don't have the knowledge that you need but I'm sure someone will chime in soon enough.

PS. What's a "quarter of land"? It sounded small to me until I read that it has an 80 acre lake on it.:)

I doubt that it would have much effect on the minnows. Sand, at least in Texas, is nothing more than finely ground rock.

Hi GW - a quarter of land in Canada is 160 acres. All of our land is divided into sections which are 640 acres and then divided again into 4 "quarters" of 160 acres each.
We are thinking about putting a man-made dam in this fall just to make sure the lake level is maintained. You might be interested in taking look at the slide show on our website - this is probably much different country than what you are used to.
Thanks