Do you mow right down to the water or leave a ring of vegetation? I have been leaving a 2-3 foot wide strip of grass for the frogs to hide in. It's too muddy right by the water to mow easily anyway.
I used to allow about two feet of growth around my little pond, but have become more prone to keep a manicured look now. My full pool line is about a foot below the bank so it stays firm around the edge, but I use my weedeater and a walk behind mower around the pond. The mower is set to mulch, so it doesn't discharge clippings. Traveling in a clockwise direction, the weedeater tends to sling refuse away, but you still get a little in the water, especially when I top off the water willow that grows out to about 6 inches of water. I have a few clumps of rush that I leave alone and this year I've had some emergent grasses start to take hold in spots which is providing natural cover to minnows and fry and small frogs.
Supposedly geese don't like vegetation around the pond, but muskrats sure do. I like to keep the edges cleared as much as possible.
Yup - Muskrats love it, but my retired neighbor traps and cleans them out each winter. We have overbuilt dams, so they is not a problem for me once the plants get established. However, left unchecked, the muskrats will decimate the emergent plants. As it is, they just trim them back.
On my main 3 acre pond that has a level "bench" covered in gravel right up to the waters edge I mow right to the water. I say gravel covered but the gravel has mostly turned to grass and after 4 years what was a driveway is mostly mowed now, which was by design. Eventually it will all just look like grass but will have a solid base underneath we can drive vehicles right along the pond edge. This pond is just south of the house and is kind of an extension to our yard so we keep it looking "country yard" maintained. Not urban maintained by any means, but not a farm pond either. I can take our 72" Bad Boy zero turn mower, leave the deck in top position, and mow hanging over the water to pretty well clean up the edge without using a weed eater except in a few places around the dock or overflow pipe. I just throw the discharge side clippings away from the water and only a minute amount ends up in the water. The fish follow me around getting the grasshoppers and crickets that jump in.
My ponds south of the small creek are not kept or mowed nearly as closely or kept as nice. The banks on the dam are steeper and would be harder to keep mowed close. I hang a 15' flexwing pasture rotary mower over the edge of the water a couple times a year to keep things from getting too overgrown but it is not kept manicured by any means. I do try to keep it "fish-able" around the entire shore line of all the ponds.
