Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Renovating a Pond or Lake? Advice/Questions

I'll try and keep this as short and to the point as I can.

My grandmother own 60 acres of farmland. There is a rather large man made pond on the property originally for livestock. After my grandpas passing 26 years ago my uncle and grandmother stocked if with panfish, small mouths, and perch. Living in Wisconsin she used an aerator to keep the wildlife alive and well in the winter months. About 5 years ago she stopped running it due to costs.. Anyways I figured most everything had died out because of that. Now that my boys are getting to the age of fishing like I once did there I plan to put in the work to make the pond fun again. I went up today and noticed some small minnows or whatever swimming around only about 5. Which surprised me.

So I'm looking for advice as where to start. The aerator isn't an option anymore and I think those pond de icers won't work because there isn't an outlet anywhere near this area.

I'm looking to build a little beach on one end and add some wildlife in the most cost effective way possible. Please any advice is welcome. I have a young family I'm looking to build memories with and the budget isn't there for a huge project here.

I should also mention the deep end of the pond is about 15 feet deep at most and the water levels of the pond seem to stay consistent throughout the year.

Thanks ahead of time!!!

Welcome to the forum, Erd50!

It is highly unlikely that all the fish died once the aeration was stopped. Fifteen feet is a good depth for a pond in WI.

Air for aeration can be pumped over very long distances, and at far lower costs than any electric de-icer.

I'd suggest you and your kids fish it with all sizes of hooks and baits, especially live bait under bobbers to see what is there. Keep records of species, length, girth and weight to help get a sense of overall health. This info will help you form goals and know what needs to be done to reach your goals.

Welcome, sounds like a 2nd generation of memories in the making. If it were me, I would try and establish exactly what you have by way of depth, and fish present. Have you tried fishing the pond, or setting traps? You need to know if any undesirable species are present, and if the pond is still deep enough to sustain fish through those cold winter months.

Good chance you will end up with aeration of some sort yet again, however.

Thanks for the comments. My buddy and I are heading there after work to fish the heck out of it and get an idea of what is going on under the water.

One idea I had for the winter months is heading out with an ice auger once a week or so, but I'm guessing that may not make much difference.

Other than getting into the pond what is the best means of being able to check depth? Any tricks people have?

Cast a real heavy weight and a small cork out. Make note of the "depth" of the cork. If the weight pulls the cork under water...reset it a little deeper and keep measuring until one time you cast it the cork floats. Then you know you hit bottom. If 10 or 15 ft deep just pick up the weight and throw it out. That would be easier than trying to cast that long a leader. Just a thought.

You could also use a slip float rather than a fixed, and keep setting the depth stop until the float no longer "sets". Much easier to cast than the long leader associated with a fixed float.

+1 This is what I do but it does take some time to do it this way. A lot more effort than just dropping a graduated line with a weight over the side of a boat/canoe.

You can put a larger slip sinker on your line, then a bobber. Cast out with bobber tight to sinker then pull one foot of string off your real till bobber shows up.