Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Muddy water Do GSH contribute to muddy water conditions?

The reason I ask is, my pond has about 4" visibility and appears a brown muddy color. After getting a jar full of the water, I could hardly even see through the jar. After letting it set for a couple days, the water has completely cleared up and the once suspended matter has settled to the bottom. The water looks like drinking water now, which is total opposite from what the pond looks like. After numerous unsuccessful fishing attempts in my pond, I bought a cast net. All that I can catch with the net are several 3" long GSH with each cast. What I believe living in the pond are frogs, tadpoles (mostly gone now), turtles, and lots of GSH. The pond is not aerated, no inlet or outlet, and is surrounded by trees so not a lot of wind. Makes me think the GSH are stirring up the bottom while looking for food?

Forgot to mention, pond is probably 1 acre in size now (down from the lack of rain) with an average depth of around 6ft.

I didn't think GSH were known to stir up the bottom? What fishing methods have you used? If you haven't tried it yet, put a crawler on a tiny jig and let it sit on the bottom and see what hits it.

Can you post a pic of one or two of the GSH? I don't believe GSH even in very large number would stir the bottom up.

Bullheads maybe?

I wasnt sure If gsh stir up tr bottom, but was an idea that popped into my head. I'll try to catch a couple real quick and post pictures. As far as fishing methods, ive tried a worm on a bobber at different depths and road runner jigs relentlessly. I never have any luck. An occasional bobber bump from what I expect to be the small GSH but generally nothing. Im fairly certain there aren't bullheads in there. Infact I'm not sure there are any other types of fish in there. I've thrown BG and LMB in there but never see any signs of them existing. I don't know if they die or are extremely good at hiding and not biting. I never see any dead either.

How big and deep is this pond?

I would guess about an acre. Normally larger with 3 to 4ft sections but those areas are mostly dried up now due to the lack of rain. I'm left right now with between 3/4 to 1 acre with around 5-6ft average depth. Before the drought, average depth was more like 9ft and size was probably more like 1.5 acres. I've never accurately measured it, just going strictly by an educated guess.

http://acme.com/planimeter/ Try that website, may help you get a better idea as to just how large the pond really is...

Seems like you might be having winter kill issues but it is hard to say for sure.

It looks like my pond is a little under 3/4 acre right now. Normally about 1.25 acres. It's mostly sand underneath the top layer of organic matter. I did have a fish kill during the 2010/2011 winter since it was frozen over for a very long time. Basically all that was lost was GSH, and a mixture of about (40) BG, LMB, and crappie, but I had thrown some in the pond a week prior after ice fishing so I think that's where those came from. I'm not sure that any of the dead gamefish actually originated from my pond. Since that time, I have thrown in about (50) 6-8" LMB and (100) 4-6" BG. I'm not worried about proper stocking numbers, I just want to see if anything will live and grow in the pond besides GSH. So far, no signs of anything but GSH. Here are some pictures I've taken. I hope I tag these right.

Below are pictures of my pond. The 3rd picture is where the pond kind of journeys through a more wooded section where it's traditionally only about 3ft deep. Right now it's down to inches. Normally the islands only have about 1ft or so of the cap showing. I think those were originally left for waterfowl.

http://imgs.inkfrog.com/pix/k_kindig11/pond1.JPG
http://imgs.inkfrog.com/pix/k_kindig11/pond2.JPG
http://imgs.inkfrog.com/pix/k_kindig11/pond3.JPG
http://imgs.inkfrog.com/pix/k_kindig11/shoreline.JPG

Here are what I believe to be the GSH. I threw out my cast net one time and got 11 even though it was a terrible throw.

http://imgs.inkfrog.com/pix/k_kindig11/solo_gsh.JPG
http://imgs.inkfrog.com/pix/k_kindig11/solo_gsh2.JPG
http://imgs.inkfrog.com/pix/k_kindig11/11_gsh.JPG

And last is a water test I did in some mason jars. The far left is a sample of water just taken that shows the current water clarity. The middle jar was a sample taken about a week ago and has been left to sit and settle. The water cleared up significantly. The previously suspended matter is reduced to very fine particles at the bottom. The far right jar had a teaspoon of alum added to it and then was allowed to settle for a week. It has great clarity and the matter has clumped up and settled at the bottom. It is slightly clearer than the middle jar but not by much. I'd be happy if I could get the clarity of my pond like the middle jar.

http://imgs.inkfrog.com/pix/k_kindig11/water_test.JPG

Those look like shiners to me.

That's what I thought. Don't ya think BG or LMB would live in
The pond if the GSH seem to do so well?

IYes, those are GSH. If they can survive, others should as well... I still believe you may have more than GSH in the pond.

Lots Of GSH is a good problem. Good luck getting some thing else to establish!!

Have you thought about an ariator or difuser to help with things?

Or placing a little structure in the pond to attract what game fish might be alive??

Doesnt look like you have cows on the place, but do you?? they can keep places muddy.

and over excess of turtles can too. but that problem would be a little obvious.

If you do have rain events and wind events often enough it might keep your pond stired up? how many days before your jar cleared?

Does your pond clear under ice?

Hi KK

I agree with all the input here thus far - presence of GSH is not a bad thing, but I suspect something else is keeping your pond turbid. I haven't heard of a pond of shiners keeping a BOW turbid before, but one never knows.

Turbid water checklist:

Wind against bare banks causing erosion?

Ionic imbalance [checked with jar test, eliminate this possibility]

Muddy runoff from watershed?

Livestock wading in pond?

If none of these are the case, you most likely have fish digging into the clay bottom searching for invertabrates [carp, catfish or bullhead] in the pond, as has been postulated in other posts.

My recommendation is to fish with a crawler either on bottom, on a small jig, or suspended beneath a float and see what else you catch. I suspect you'll sample other fish which could be the origin of the turbid water.

We can make stocking suggestions even with a pond full of GSH - you'd likely have to begin with adult fish to help control their populations, though. Let us know what you catch in traps, net, or via angling and we can take the next step together.

There aren't any cows on the property. It is possible that muddy water runoff could contribute some, but since we have had much run in the last couple months, it can't be the only problem. The water cleared up in the jar test in about 2 days.

I have thought about an aerator, but was holding off to first see if any gamefish would even live in there. As far as structure, I was also holding off on that for the same reason even though some structure can be found for free or cheap.

As of yet, nothing has been caught. I fished for awhile with crawler under bobber. I will keep trying. I'm also going to have a water sample sent out and examined.