Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Trade-off I'm Willing to Make

After lurking this site for a couple of years now and making just an occasional comment, I've come to realize that about the only thing we all have in common is some configeration of a hole in the ground with water in it. Possibly not even that for some after this years drought.

As a kid back in the late 50's and early 60's the family pond I fished was what we know now as one "bass heavy" but the fishing was great. Modern practices of feeding, fertilizing, liming, aeration, etc. were mostly unheard of. When you fished, you caught fish, fellowshipped with others, enjoyed nature and the peace and quiet of the pond and its surroundings. Distractions were few.

That pond is now the property of others. However, aesthetics and tradition now mean everything to me and my family's current pond. As much as is possible, I want it as of old. It is now three years old and I have fed the bream to jump-start them to a catchable size (3/4-1 lb.) but I think I'm going to stop feeding. I don't mind the expense. I do mind the fish crowding to one area and acting like a lot of humans; greedy and lazy. I don't even like the appearance of the feeder. It is not aesthetically pleasing to me. My plan from now forward is to fertilize only to maintain a visibility of approximately 24" from spring through fall and lime as needed. I want my bream to roam the whole pond (six acres) and fishing to be enjoyed over the whole pond. I know I will sacrifice ultimate size but the trade-off to me is worth it.

My philosophy I realize is not for all. The trade-off between production, aesthetics, and tradition is ongoing. To each his own. I must say though I enjoy reading every article in "Pond Boss" whether they apply to my situation or not. I have also learned a lot from those who post on this site who know far more about pond management than do I.

Ah yes, to each his own. As is often stated here, "What are your goals?". You've defined yours and I can relate. I fertilize neither my ponds nor my wheat patches.

My only concern is the possibility of a DO crash in an unmanaged/fish heavy, fertilized pond. Of course, intense management earned my 2 crashes. Do it your way and enjoy it. Life is short.

faw,

I grew up (some debate this) fishing a bass heavy pond. I never knew the difference, but instead loved catching many 1lb - 2lb bass every trip. Those poor bass were so hungry they would bite anything once...red worms, H&H spinners - I even hooked one on a budwiser can lure. Great memories.

Best of luck on your success.

Gator

A few basics to think about wrt your situation. The first rule is its your pond and you make the decisions. We will help and support you during the process. An informed pond owner who knows what to expect in advance is best prepared to do the job right.

Generally (rough #s)a pond which is fertile and has supplemental feeding (not an aquaculture operation) will support 400-500 lbs+- of fish per acre. Of that 25% by weight will be the top line predators and 75% forage fish. You have that by now as described (in the south in 2-3 years a new pond with no changes in mgt. reaches bio-mass capacity).

If you take away the feed and keep the pond fertile the number drops about 25% . If you don't reduce the number/biomass of fish by the amount of productivity reduction you can cause serious damage to the quality of the fish population. You may well have lots of skinny poor conditioned fish both predators and forage.

It is not a pretty sight and it takes a while to fix .

I understand the goal and wishes and IT CAN BE DONE. Just start taking out fish well in advance and a bunch of them. My guess 100lbs per acre at 25% predator and 75% forage within the first few mths after you quit feeding. Expect wild swings in population dynamics until you stabilize at the lower rates. Little to no reproduction and missing year classes of both BG and LMB are common. The fish that are in good enough shape to spawn can die as a result of the stress when coupled with not enough food. Their offspring are often totally consumed resulting in missing year classes.

It will be a management challenge to make the move with success. It has taken 8 years of work to do this on ponds where someone (not me) fertilized for a few years and then essentially stopped. After the crash I got to start the rehab process. In that case 75% of the productivity was lost with no reduction in fish #s. What a mess to deal with.

This effect is exactly why the pond management books warn about starting a fertilization or feeding program and not continuing it. Doing so is far worse than never starting such a program to begin with.

Good luck and let us know how things go.

Thanks for the input fellas. I might add that my dicision to discontinue feeding is not set in concrete. I may continue feeding if convinced discontinuance could be devastating. The feeding I have been doing has been supplemental to fertilizing; not feeding to satiety. I too have experienced a DO crash resulting from overfertilation. As those who have done this know, it makes one feel totally stupid and incompetant. To waste years of effort in one moment of carelessness is a real drainer. However, I learned a valuable lesson not to be soon forgotten. My own rules of fertilization (some of which are well documented) are as follows:

1. Never fertilize by calendar.
2. Never fertilize by generally recommended amounts per acre of a particular fertilizer blend. Every pond is a law onto itself.
3. Tread carefully if using granular blends (the old type). Personally, I will never use granular blended fertilizer again if I can avoid it. I was using super phosphate when my DO crash occurred. I am not blaming the fertilizer, only myself. I just believe fertilization becomes trickier when using granular due to delayed reaction and desimination times and maybe other factors.
4. In the spring, begin to fertilize by threshold water temperature. I personally begin to fertilize only when the water temperature has generally stabilized at around 70 degrees. This is usually sometime in early April where I live. I think there is a real danger when fertilizing during periods of increasing water temperatures in the spring. My crash ocurred in early May. It seems to me that planctonic response to fertilization is more rapid and total the warmer the water gets. The scenario seems to be this. No response is seen to fertilizer. Impatience sets in. More is added. Water continues to warm. The color explosion occurs as critical mass (so to speak) is reached. Darker by the day. Gulping fish. Dead fish. Total recrimination. Kick the dog.
5. Add fertilizer in increments. You can always add more later. Be patient. Impatience is a real killer, to fish that is. A point of no return has been reached once the fertilizer has been added.
6. Do not willfully go below visibility of 24 inches. I know 18 inches may be ideal however I would rather err on the high side. I may reach 18 inches but not on purpose. Trust me, if visibility reaches 12 inches or below, things get tense.
7. Do not attempt to correct planctonic explosion by addition of algicides. I tried this. For me, it only resulted in a faster crash. In hindsight, I believe I may have survived my situation if I had not tried a partial planctonic kill with Cutrine. I believe Greg Grimes stated that he had guided a customer through a sechi reading of less than 6 inches. I will never again attempt the chemical remedy.
8. Discontinue fertilizing during July and August. These months of tepid water, thermoclines and stratification to me are not conducive to fertilization. The risk is too high. I'll live with visibilities of 36 inches.
9. Begin again to fertilize in September when days shorten and temperatures begin to fall.
10. Discontinue fertilizating around mid October.
11. Never fertilize based on previous years schedule. Each year and season is a law onto itself. Rainfall changes, temperature changes, watershed area changes, alkalinity changes, etc.
12. Be flexible and adaptable in your thinking. Only fools have closed minds. Always be willing to change when circumstances and respected advice warrant.

By the way, has anyone ever seen a report or study detailing alkalinity/fertilizer/temperature relationship in ponds relating to bloom? I haven't. It seems to me there has to be a predictable relationship between total alkalinity, fertilizer (maybe only phosphorus), and temperature that could be helpful to those of us who fertilize to achieve a desired bloom.

Please take exceptions to my rules. They are merely my own thoughts based on my limited experiences in my area. I may be totally off base with some of my personal rules and certainly am not recommending them to anyone.

Excellent post. Thanks for sharing your accumulated knowledge.

Total recrimination--kick the dog. Funny.