Pond Boss Forums AERATION Should I aerate? Have had the aeration going for 2 weeks...no fish!

Hey all- I havn't posted a whole lot on here but I read the forum every day. Anyway, we bought a new place 2 months ago and although the pond 1/3rd acre was real healthy even when we bought it (had a fountain going all summer) I decieded to make things a bit quieter around the pond and installed 3 diffusers giving the pond more oxygen and making for a nice quite time down by the pond. I am running a medium sized 1/3hp sweetwater vane compressor and 3 air stones. The pond is aprox 275 feet long and 20 feet on either end and 10 feet in the middle.

My question is that since the installation of the system I have yet to see any fish in the pond. 2 week prior to the install we stocked 150 Pumkinseeds (3-6" long)75 bluegill same size as the PS, 50 6-8" YP and another 10 8-12" LMB. The pond had only a few LMB in it prior to the stocking and also native mud minow's. For those wondering I am located in Southern Ontario.

Anyway, just wondering if this is at all common to see nothing. I did find a few dead Pumpkinseed (3) but they look liked they were attacked by the |Blue Herron that has been near the pond since the stocking...I am trying to make him go away...SHHHH!!! Before the aeration though I would see the fish swimming in schools and would even catch them. The past 2 evenings now I have tried with a worm and bobber with not even a bite!

One thing I should also say is that the temps are really changing here now as it goes down to the mid 30's in the evenings and is in the 50-60's durring the day (this has happened since the install of the aeration also)

Thanks in advance...Ryan

I think fish might be tending to get deeper and scarcer now that Fall is here. The aeration would hopefully have made it even easier for them to go deep.

I hesitantly ask what kind of aeration startup schedule/timing you used after adding the compressor and airstones?

I new I forgot to mention something!!!

The pond is 4 years old and has minor sediment on the bottom.

My schedual for startup was 15mins 1st day, then doubling the time untill it was running 24/7.

I saw no effects of lack of oxygen durring this time or even any real stirup of the bottom material. The first time I turned them on I saw some stuff come up with the bubbles but that was probably due to how I put them in. I had them going on shore and pulled from the other side of the pond with my fishing rod/6lbs test line. When the stones where in the center where I wanted them I just did a quick snap of the line freeing the stones on the bottom.

Ryan

Sounds like an good startup schedule.

okay, so is it at all normal for the fish to go total dormant and not be seen (2-3 feet of visability in the pond right now)once the water temps drop like that...could the cold water mixing with the warm also do that seeing its the pond is 20 feet deep.

Ryan

You certainly may have something else going on, Ryan, but at least twice a year I have to remind myself that fish live in 3 dimensions and that fishing is a 3-D sport - I lose track of them a couple of times each year and have to re-establish what depths they are at, as the move from deep water to shallow and back again later.

If I remember you have a very well landscaped pond, if you had a fish kill you would have seen at least one dead fish somewhere. I thin it i is just temperature/time of year related, very normal.

Ryan,

Your start up procedure is exactly what we recommend. Great job if you did it on your own. If it was a recommendation from someone, it was good advice.

Since the installation of the aeration system, you are now mixing the water from the bottom to the top. Your temps and oxygen levels should be fairly consistent throughout. This being said, prior to the installation you had the combined situations of warmer weather and possibly stratification (especially given your depth). These things would keep your fish in the shallower waters where they are more often visible.

Now that you're experiencing colder weather and have good mixing, there are more hospitable conditions in the deeper areas of your pond, and the fish are likely retreating to those areas.

At this point, if your oxygen levels are good, and you aren't experiencing any turbidity from the stirring up of bottom sediments, I wouldn't be too concerned. As some of the others have mentioned, you may have to go looking for the fish now that they have more area to occupy, and that's 1/2 the fun.

A word of caution with air stones though, some people have experienced turbidity issues when resting air stones right on the bottom if they have a good amount of muck. Sometimes they settle into it and stir it up. If you start to experience an issue with this you might want to elevate them off the bottom a little.

thanks guys. I did a little fishing this morning again with no luck. I was again just using a worm/bobber and the only spot I got any action at all was directly in the middle of a 10' spot of maple leaves that had collected on the surface. The leaves are really falling now and I am doing my best to collect them off the surface before they sink.

Does anyone have any good idea's for deep water fishing for BG,PS,YP and LMB??? I have been casting a plastic crayfish with a 1/8th ounce jig head to to try to for the LMB but with no luck...a month ago I had lots of luck with that.

Ryan

here is the link to my other post http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=125922#Post125922

incase anyone is wanting more details on the pond or how it looks.

Try Condello's 1/32 or 1/16 oz jighead (chartreuse) with an inch segment of nightcrawler on it. Cast out, countdown while it falls (try to get it just above the bottom), and retrieve slowly with jerks on the rod. This is a really good technique for deep water bream, and I have seen Bruce catch lots of bass this way too.

I would switch to minnows to see what action you get, bait fishing is better in colder water temperatures, everywhere I have ever fished anyway. The colder the water the slower the fish will move and lures are less likely to get hits where bait is still and easier for fish to prey upon. It's time for a fish harvest anyway right?? It is fall??