So this is an update on my 34 acre lake. I installed a vertex system just over 1 year ago. During the past winters the lake DO2 would drop to 3-3.5ppm at this time of year.

We finally got some nice weather and I ventured down to the lake and drilled a hole. The water seemed to have more visibility then in the past and the DO2 was just over 10ppm at 8 feet deep. It's starting to look promising, now to just get the shack out and wet a line.

So is it running in the winter under the ice or is this improvement solely due to keeping an anoxic layer from forming in the summer and subsequently from coming up during the fall turnover?

Good news Blair - post photos of our YP and trout for us to enjoy!

The system runs almost all year. I only shut it down for a few days while it was freezing. So the geese and ducks wouldn't think it was a fun place to hang out after everything else froze over.

We went into freeze up with a few days of heavy wind so that probably helped also. The water quality was slightly better all summer but could still use improvement.

Blair,

You can leave the system running during freeze up. I will come over and use my own way of convincing the ducks and geese to not stick around.

Thanks for the update Blair! I still can't believe you installed it through a foot of ice last December! You are crazy!

Sue, you'd be amazed at how fast the ice melts once the system is turned on.

I did the same thing that he did a few years ago, installing a system thru the ice. But, the ice was only 6", not a foot. I left the hose on top of the ice and it sank when everything thawed in the Spring.

The hole in the ice went from 2' square to almost 20' diameter in a day.

That sounds very encouraging Blair!
How did the fish do last winter, any/many dead floaters come spring?
How big are your trout now?

No floaters last spring but no sign of life either.

Likely because they can enhabit the deeper water now that there is no thermocline. (my guess)

Water clarity has went way up to around 10 feet. It was really nice to be able to look around with the camera. DO2 was still right around 10ppm. With this heavy snow cover it should be as bad as it gets for DO2. Looks like it's time to spend some money on more fish in the spring. I am going to keep an eye on the dissolved oxygen since the clarity has jumped recently.

Aeration lifting the ice. Its kind of hard to see but there is an area running diagonally across the picture. Ice about 2/3 of an ac has lifted 15inches above the rest of the lake because of trapped air.
The ice was 4inches thick when I started the aerator and its been running for a week. That is a heavy load being held up!!! [/img]

When you hear a big bang you'll know when the bubble burst.

Too cool Blair...be careful venturing around that area - don't want you near a fissure. When will you start fishing?

Holy cow!! That's amazing!

I usually put the shack on when we get 15-16 inches of ice because it is darn heavy and takes a small tractor to move it out there. I have caught 3 rainbow trout from my small pond through the ice about a week ago.

Wow! That is cool! Keep us updated!

I think the air will eventually find a way to escape. Thickening ice will heave due to expansion and form cracks. One knows this is happening when loud cracking is occurring during very cold temps. As seen previously on the forum, the air pressure bubble can explode the ice. Is it a good idea to drill a hole at or near one end of the expansion and allow the air to escape or is that very dangerous and life threatening?

I would say it is unsafe to be around. It was overcast and snowing today so it was hard to tell if it went down or not but I think it did.

This is the aftermath. I really thought it was going to crack and settle gently but by the size of the chunks there was a fair bit of movement involved. We never heard anything.


[/img]

Amazing! I'm surprised it took so long to open the ice!! It took over a week?

2 weeks
When it lifts the ice like this it takes a long time to melt because there is no contact with the warm bottom water. The other air stations have been open for a week or so.

Oh yeah and highs of -23c (-7F) and lows of -34c (-30f) don't help the processes

WOW!! That's cold!! I think I'll take the afternoon off and hit the beach.

That is amazing ! Learn more every day here. Thanks Blair.

Now get out there and pop some YP! Post photos, and send some of that chilly air our way in NE - we need some ice!

As some of you know I have been struggling to keep fish in my lake since we moved here in 08. I have never seen any fish under the ice until today!!! 3 rainbow trout have cruised by the camera in an hour. Though they haven't taken my hook I am still very excited to see them.

Harvested my first fish ever(5yrs trying) out of my lake this morning. I put 275 rainbow trout in mid may at 5". I placed a 50 foot gill net at let it sit over night. This morning we pulled out 13 trout average just a about 2 lbs. They are healthy, fat and full of fresh water shrimp with a deep pink/orange flesh. Brining for the smoker!! /[/img]

I pulled one rt out last night that was 20" and weighed 4.5 lbs. I can't find any wr charts for rainbows but I think it will be high on the charts.

A pond/lk 20" rainbow has standard weight of 3.44 which puts the WR of Blair's trout at 130. Nice trout. Setting a gill net under the ice is an good accomplishment. Nice job.

Blair, the standard weight tables for rainbow trout and brook trout will be in the next issue of Pond Boss. If you want copies now, send me an email. David.Willis@sdstate.edu

Thanks for the info. They are in the smoker right now

What to go - that's an absolute hog!

Ready for smoking.
[/img] He doesn't have the Condello technique down but here is the 4.5lb rt [/img]

It's hard to have do the Condello pose with thick mittens on!! (Not that I would know)
Congrats Blair!! When should I expect my smoked trout sample in the mail?

WOW ! Those are so fat/big they don't look like RT ! Nice work ! Is there any forage other than shrimp ? Must be.

Just bugs and shrimp by the billions.

A list of bugs I have seen

Acari water mites
Round worm nematode s
Caddisflies
Dragonfly larvae
Waterboatman
Giant water bug

Well this winter I shut down half of my aeration system thinking it would still be fine. The last 2 days I have seen at least 2 dead trout get plucked out of the melting ice by seagulls. Last winter was more likely to have a fish kill here and they survived with the aeration running full capacity. Next winter it will be running full out again.

Kind of a bummer

Blair:

Two out of how many in there? It could be that they just died of natural causes if you don't see many more. I usually have a half dozen fish croak over the winter no matter what I do.

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Thanks Scott I am still hopeful. The ice will be off in the next couple of days and that will tell a better story.

Unfortunately, many trout sink after they die, so you might not see a lot of floaters.

The only way to know for sure is to wait until it warms up a bit and fish it. Or, if they were eating pellets last year, feed 'em.