I live in Florida but I have 18 acres with a cabin in Granville County NC. On my property I have about a 1 1/3 acre pond with a maximum depth of 5 1/2ft.......it actually averages about a 4.5ft depth almost throughout the whole pond. There is about 6 to 8 inches of muck. The pond is fed by a snowmelt stream in the spring and it holds water well. I would describe the water as tannin stained but not hot chocolate brown.

I fished the pond for the first time this past July. I spent 3 days there and fished a total of about 6 hrs. I caught 23 LMB on artificial baits, topwater frogs mostly and almost every fish I caught was between 15 and 18". I caught 1 smaller bass at about 12". The last day I decided to catch a few Bluegills and I caught about ten Copper Nose gills that were big and about 8". I also caught a solitary Crappie which was about 7 inches. Now this land has not been managed for what I assume would be at least 5yrs prior to when I bought it in 2013. It was supposed to be turned into a subdivision development but the plans got scrapped and the land was divided and sold in 3 larger plots. I would assume given the lack of smaller fish, that these fish eat every thing that results from their spawns.

So what do I have here?......the crappie worries me, because there has to be others. I saw bedding areas but didn't catch what I would consider a lot of gill's, I really worked for them.

I intend to eventually move there full time, but I think that is at least 5yrs off. So in the meantime I'd like to manage the pond. My kids are homeschooled and I can go to the cabin for as long as I want and at anytime of year.

Here are my questions:

I'd like to manage the muck a little without draining the pond. What could I add that would be non toxic to aid in bacterial decomposition of the muck?

I would like to add solar aeration or diffusers which might have some effect on that as well and help provide DO in the warmer months, the relative shallow depth worries me a little as well.

I was thinking on adding maybe 200 4 to 6" CBG to the mix to perk up the food chain, I think they would spawn pretty good. Maybe even add additional smaller ones for fodder and a small # of RES.

I think eventually I want to make a second pond for HSB or expand the size of the current pond by drawing it down a bit and excavating two sides to add area and some depth. I've got some serious clay. Any suggestions are appreciated.

Welcome to the forum!

With that muck level, to me, it's not that big of a concern. If the pond gets wind enough to ruffle the water, an aeration system wouldn't really help that much, except in winter if it were to freeze over for any long length of time (because of the depth of the pond). Since you have Coppernose in there, I doubt that is the case. If there are a lot of trees around, or it's in a hollow between hills, aeration might help, but I think there might be other things that can be done with that kind of $$ outlay. Solar isn't cheap.

Manage the organics that fall/blow into the pond. Leaves, grass clippings, etc. Minimize those. The more that the mucky areas are stirred up (as in a swimming area) the faster that the muck will decompose. You can add bacteria, but it is a slow process in reducing the muck, maybe a few inches per year, and for best results you have to add bacteria on a continual basis, it's not a one time shot.

Any CNBG that you add should be a minimum of 7"-8" in length to avoid being eaten by the bass. Next time you are fishing and catching bass, weigh them too. There is a relative weight chart in the archives, and if the bass are under that weight for length, then it's time to start removing about 40 pounds of bass this year. (of all sizes, but especially the skinnier ones)

I would concentrate on catching crappies too, and removing them.

The guy who lives on a lot next to mine is the local sheriff and he told me all of the land had belonged to his family for decades. He talked about fishing in the pond when he was a kid so it has been there for likely over 40+yrs. I guess the level of muck, considering the surrounding trees on 2 sides of the pond and that length of time isn't too bad actually.

It lays in a low area between a couple of rises in the land, I don't think aeration would hurt it. Do you know of a specific brand product of bacteria I could add in a multi application attempt to curb some of the muck issue?

I believed the bass were extremely healthy in their relative length to weight ratio, they certainly were not skinny fish. and seemed rather chunky to me.

Some potential suppliers from the PB Resource Guide:

http://www.pondboss.com/resource_guide.asp?c=19