Found this excellant forum and magazine in January. I am in East Central Ia. with a 1 acre pond I 1st stocked in the summer of 03-normal upper midwest stocking-RES,HBG,8" channels. Went thru the fairly open winter with no problems with winterkill, but was worried non-the less. In 04 I added, in two seperate stockings, LMB, more catfish,HBG and grass carp. I decided that I wasn't gonna worry about winterkill anymore and installed 800' of 1/2" black pipe powered with a 1/4 horse Gast motor connected to a stainless steel homemade bottom diffuser. It was beautiful, rivaled the fountain at Buckingham Palace. We froze early this winter, went to 12" of clear ice in late November. My aereator was chugging along handsomely leaving me a nice 20' diameter circle in all that ice. I did notice as I walked the ice that I was seeing dozens of fingerling bluegill dead at the bottom of the ice. Well we got snow and rains and my cleaar ice disappeared and I thought no more of the problem. Tried fishing multiple times with my brother this winter and caught nothing-strange we that thought, must have been fishing with a full moon. THEN I began reading this forum, esp on winter aeration. I had to swallow my stomach contents quickly. Being the stubborn Bohemie I am I refused to shut the aerator off-finally did it the end of Febuary. Now the ice goes off and comes back, but when it's off I am finding dead Redears to 6" and yesterday some larger Hybreds. Time will tell what I may have left this spring. At least I now know thanks to this forum-oh well,live and learn-but if ya gotta learn this is the place to do it. Thanks-Postbeetle
