Hello everyone I'm new to the forum
I live in south Louisiana and have 1/2 acre pond that has a bad coontail grass problem in the summer for past 3 years but dies back a lot in winter. I plan to put some carp in the early spring. Five fish I guess from what I read. My question is would it be better to rake my pond before putting them in. Would they be able to keep up if not once the grass comes out of dormancy? Thanks

Welcome to the forum!

I would go ahead and rake it because the first year the GC are in the pond they typically don't visibly show they are doing a lot of weed control. They keep eating the newly growing plants, and it sounds like the coontail will be already coming out of it's dormancy before you stock the GC. You know that Coontail can be removed by raking it from the pond but will re-establish from any remaining fragments, correct?

Yes I am aware. I was going to make a large rake out of galvanized mesh wire and wrap it around a rebar frame and drag it back and forth with my tractor. I figured it would be better to get the most of it out so it would be easier for them to control it. Thanks for the input.

Ross,

Welcome to PBF!

What kind of fish do you have in the pond now?

I have just some small bream that I stocked from the front bayou. I use to have a lot of bream and LMB but my pond water flipped after a cold hard rain few years ago. I lost everything. I introduced the coontail grass from the back bayou 3-4 years ago when my water level dropped a lot and I was worried about losing my fish. I plan to aerate this spring as well. Stock the GC and a 1/2 acre bream and LMB stocking kit. To it get back going hopefully on the right foot. The pond it 200ft x100ft. Depth is 4-5 ft on one end tapering down to 8-9 ft depending on water level.

Ross, good luck with your GC plans.

If you move water from bayou to pond, or pond to pond, you might want to look at mesh filters from Pentair. We always use the 300 micron filters on the water outlet hoses, and no aquatic weeds have been transferred from pond to pond.

Don't think I'm going to be moving any more water. With the aerator I hope to be fine.

Ross. Welcome to Pond Boss. Hopefully you will develop a nearly overwhelming obsession with pond management while following and posting on this site. I've got it bad now.

I drag Elodea occasionally from my 1/4 acre pond in a similar manner to what you propose to do. I use 2 150' climbing ropes tied to opposite ends of a 12' piece of steel bridge decking. I run the ropes through blocks (pulleys) suspended from trees (a redirect) and attach the ropes to my tractor. There is no room to drive straight away from the pond-that's why the redirects. I spread the vegetation removed on garden areas for mulch/compost. Generally, the piles of weed drug up are loaded with crawfish, insect larvae, etc. so I'll let them sit on the bank for several hours to allow most of the critters to return to the pond.

I put 5 approx. 10" GC into the pond last spring. They grew to 16" over the summer. As Scott suggested, the fish didn't seem to make a dent in the weeds this first year. I'm expecting they will get ahead of the weeds this next growing season.

What are your goals for the BOW?
Good luck, have fun with your pond, and please post reports of your progress.
Roger

BOW? Sorry I haven't caught on to all the abbreviations yet.

Don't worry, we've all been in your shoes. BOW = Body of Water.

Here's a list of them all.
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=92442#Post92442

Ok I found the Abb. List on the forum. My goal for the "BOW" is to be able to take the God Children fish and have the perch as we call them and LMB. big enough to harvest.