Opinions Needed - 06/10/11 04:59 PM
A few years ago I purchased some property that had an existing 3 acre pond on it. From the looks of the pond and the existence of sand/rock pits nearby, I presume the pond was used for sand many years ago and filled in with water once they stopped using it.
When I acquired it, the pond was overgrown. I went out with a flat-bottom boat and determined that the depth was consistantly 4 feet (assume that was about where they stopped digging and sand settled, evening the bottom out).
A few months later I had a contractor come out and dig along the north side. He found almost 100% sand and so I asked him to dig as much as he could along the north end as deep and far as he could reach. My guess is that we probably have an area along the north side that is 12-15 foot deep, about 20 foot wide and covers about 2/3 of the north end.
The pond had bullheads, sunfish, carp, toads/tadpoles, painted turtles and snappers. The first fall (2009) I added 7 grass carp, 300 BG and 100 LMB. Last summer I added 50 WE.
There is a creek that runs through the property. It appears that the water level rises and falls with the water table as it looks like the creek is usually at about the same level as the pond. So the remainder of the pond runs about 4-5 feet.
Last summer I saw some of the bass but so far this year I haven't seen a single one. We continue to catch tons of BH and an occassional GSF. In the last couple of weeks I've seen the GSF start to spawn.
My questions:
Where are the BG and LMB?
What steps should I take to help the LMB population and cut the BH population back?
I think I'm moving in the right direction but I'm probably frustrated that it isn't happening as quickly as I would like. FYI, I'm located in northern Iowa.
Any advice would be appreciated.
When I acquired it, the pond was overgrown. I went out with a flat-bottom boat and determined that the depth was consistantly 4 feet (assume that was about where they stopped digging and sand settled, evening the bottom out).
A few months later I had a contractor come out and dig along the north side. He found almost 100% sand and so I asked him to dig as much as he could along the north end as deep and far as he could reach. My guess is that we probably have an area along the north side that is 12-15 foot deep, about 20 foot wide and covers about 2/3 of the north end.
The pond had bullheads, sunfish, carp, toads/tadpoles, painted turtles and snappers. The first fall (2009) I added 7 grass carp, 300 BG and 100 LMB. Last summer I added 50 WE.
There is a creek that runs through the property. It appears that the water level rises and falls with the water table as it looks like the creek is usually at about the same level as the pond. So the remainder of the pond runs about 4-5 feet.
Last summer I saw some of the bass but so far this year I haven't seen a single one. We continue to catch tons of BH and an occassional GSF. In the last couple of weeks I've seen the GSF start to spawn.
My questions:
Where are the BG and LMB?
What steps should I take to help the LMB population and cut the BH population back?
I think I'm moving in the right direction but I'm probably frustrated that it isn't happening as quickly as I would like. FYI, I'm located in northern Iowa.
Any advice would be appreciated.