Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Made it through the worst summer ever

We still have only seen about 1.5 inches all summer. all of the rain either goes above us or below us. I know people are suffering with the flooding out mid west and or down in Texas, but I would welcome any rain at all other than the misting we have gotten.

Cecil:

1) I've always spelled it "wazzoo"; for some reason I can't find a dictionary entry for the word to check it out.

2) A number of years ago we lost a string of cordless phones due to thunderstorms. I put all the cordless base units on double input surge protectors (110vac plus the phone line) and have not lost any in storms since.

some un-official help

bz - Did you get any of the big rains we had this last week?

We had .85 inches of rain from May 1 through the end of June. Our pond was the lowest it has ever been as well.

After the recent rains it is now a couple feet above normal for this time of the year. Our pond is a gravel pit type pond too, though it is 15 feet deep at the deepest and averages about 10 feet.

We also have a river that runs by the pond on the east side. If there is a lot of run off into the river the pond level is influenced by the adjacent high water. The cool part about that is the pond water rises into the vegetation on the pond banks and causes all manner of furious pond activity. Fun to watch!

Dwight, we've gotten two rainy streaks. In one a week ago I got 3 inches, recently 1.75 inches. I need 6 to 8 inches more before my pond will be at normal levels. But it has come up from 25 inches low to 18 inches low. I'm still worried about the winter but if I can gain about 12 inches depth I think I'll be OK. Sounds like you've got a neat pond. My recent epansion brings me to about 3/4 acre which really is about big enough if one really wants to manage it.

reading all these posts about water levels, rainfall amounts, ice thickness etc was interesting as all of these subjects were on my mind of late. Our 6 to 7.5 foot deep, 2/3rd acre pond is in Central Wisconsin around the Adams area. The summer has been another low rainfall summer and our pond was be down about 3 feet so had but 4 foot depth at the deepest. We have had about 8 inches of rain past few weeks and now the pond is back to 5 foot depths...need some more rain.
This is the first year we stocked and started with blue gill (300) and fatheads (1000) and aerated now for about a year. Just recently the smell has vanished and the water is looking pretty good. Additionally we introduced some muck reduction pellets that have also helped. All and all the pond appears to be much better now. The blue gill are everywhere and minnows swim in schools of 20 or so. Naturally we wanted to get a few LMB in there but with the water levels and winter looming was nervous about 2 feet of ice and 2 feet of open water so somewhat encouraged by reading remarks posted and thank you for that. The nearby river seems to have a major affect on my water levels. The soil is sandy.

This week as we were traveling up to the pond I noted some ponds about 20 miles south of ours were overflowing their banks and expected ours to be similiar. Unfortunately that was not the case and our pond remains about 2 feet short. Saw a draught monitor chart on the local weather station and like Minnesota, Wisconsin has had copious rainfal in certain areas while other parts of the state are very dry, especially Northern areas. Sort of rambling here but wanted to let the prior posters know that all this information is both informative and somewhat soothing. We are in similiar boats.

yoli,

Beautiful area your in. I love the Necedah Refuge and Meadow Valley area for hunting and the cranberry festivals.

First trip up this year and amazed the bluegill made it through the winter. As stated when we last were up in October 2007 the pond at the deep parts was about 5 feet. I placed an aerator in some 3 feet of water and put it on timer for night run only. Had to run 300 feet of line to the water and was not able to bury any of it.

The winter was heavy with snow and frequent below zero temps with a 27 below in March. Expected the worst and yet did not see one dead bluegill. They all seem very frisky and threw some pellets to them which they made quick work of.
Maybe a few LMB can be added after all as I would not expect future conditions such as low water level coupled with difficult winter weather to be any worse.
Ceadmin, yes our property actually adjoins the refuge and its 65,000 acres. It's just us and nature. The prior owner had the property for 15 years and stated they never saw another person while on their land. So far we have not either.