One of my family friends own some land near where my dad recently bought our land. He has a few small ponds and recently purchased a 2 1/2 acre pond. He asked me for help on how to get rid of some vegetation in one of his ponds. The last time I was at his property I found out what type of plant it was and gave him a website that lists ways to remove it.

I asked him if I could manage the ponds for him and he said yes. I am so excited that I can actually start to use some of the stuff that I have learned over the past year. One of the ponds is bass crowded and another two are muddy. Next time I go down there I will try and get some relative weights and make a management plan for him. Then decide if he needs to stock any bluegill or other forage fish.

If there is anything else that you think I should do I would appreciate the input.

Enjoy yourself?

Make sure you know what the property owner's goals are. In all the excitement of this kind of situation, it would be easy to manage toward what you want, without considering what he wants. Treat it like a business, wrt making the customer happy - that's the best way to keep managing his ponds.

A young fish squeezer looses his virginity....story at 11.

I hope you're charging him a good price!

Good luck, Chris.

Yes Chris I have a suggestion. Read Basic Pond Management if you have not already done so. Keep in mind the basic biology of water / fish /plants and nutrients and their relation to energy from the sun. Take and keep notes (pics) with dates, times and conditions.

Most of all enjoy the journey !!

I went down to the ponds this weekend and got some pictures of the vegetation. All of the ponds have water primrose and at least two of them have FA. There are some that I couldn't identify. I also caught a 8 in. bass in the big pond.

I think this one is Widgeon grass or bushy pondweed, but I am not sure.


The one I dont know is the one in the middle.


I think this one is either bulrush or soft rush.

Chris,
Are you referring to the green plant that is growing straight up above the water? Does it have any spines(thorns)on it?
It almost looks like what I have some of.....waterleaf. Mine will get little blue flowers on it later in the season. Don't try to pull it without GOOD gloves as the spines will bite.

Chris look here.

http://aquaplant.tamu.edu/database/index.htm

I would just concentrate on the FA first. The other stuff can be fished around, unless it is really bad.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by BarO:
Chris,
Are you referring to the green plant that is growing straight up above the water? Does it have any spines(thorns)on it?

Yes that is what I am referring to. I couldn't tell if had spines, I didn't get a good look at it.

Thats where I have been looking. I just wasn't sure if they are what I think they are.

Chris, Grass carp do a great job on pond weed. They love it. It can take over. I put 7 of them in a one acre pond that was pretty well choked up with it. It took a year but now there is no vegetation of any kind. Only 2 of the carp made it and they are whoppers. The 2 remaining ones are able to maintain it.

Grass carp, I believe, will also eat the other stuff if it is just coming up and tender in the early Spring before it has a chance to get tough.

Tilapia will eat the FA if they don't get artificially fed.

Of course, at this stage, some of that stuff might have to be nuked.