Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Muddy water What in Sam Hill is happening?

Quick summary

Enjoyed a 7 week ice fishing season, water clarity around 84". Two weeks ago ponds thawed thought Spring was on it's way - water still ultra clear - turned on well to top off after long dry winter.

10 days ago began to get cold again, might even get some ice, so I shut down well to allow to lock up again so we can continue the hot ice bite.

Pond locks up everywhere except strip along the dam. What the heck - 75 widgeons, mallards and a dozen canada geese! Chase them away.

All area ponds now locked up, return two days later expect full ice, open area now is LARGER, waterfowl droppings all over ice, water is now turbid with visability of maybe 12". Chase waterfowl away.

Come back today and while larger area lakes are actually fishable now due to ice thickness, my pond is now 100% open, and same damn waterfowl.

I now understand since I have some of the only open water, that's what's concentrating them there. I think they'll disperse once ice melts on other BOWs.

Why is my pond turbid? Visability today was maybe 18" - still very silty. I noticed a lot of pondweed washed up on shore...could it be they are feeding on it and pulling roots out, and this is the reason for the turbidity?

Need your feedback, I don't like this - no ice and turbid water. Is JHAP behind this?

I'm thinking the waterfowl are stirring up the shallows wading/paddling plus ripping up pondweed which disturbs the clay bottom and that's what is creating the turbidity. Their swimming plus turbidity in the pond [darker color water] is absorbing more solar energy and melting ice.

Does any of this make sense?

Does anyone want to come duck/goose hunting tomorrow?

TJ, geese keep the middle of my 15 acre pond ice free no matter how cold it gets here. They do stay until they run out of food or other places melt. We used to kill our limit quick but it hasn't frozen here in 3 years. They come back pretty soon after you shoot them so you are probably stuck with them until warmer weather.

TJ, that's exactly what it happening. The waterfowl are pulling up the rooted plants, stirring up the bottom. Their droppings going into the pond aren't helping matters any either. IIRC, one goose - 1# of droppings per day.

If waterfowl season was open, I'd be considering a drive.......

A neighbor had a 1/2 acre pond. One pair of Pekin Ducks (2 birds) dabbling all along his shoreline on a daily basis kept his pond turbidity at 12". Once the ducks were removed, it jumped to 48+ inches.

wow essup thats amazing i was considering a gaurd goose to watch my pond for fish theives but I gues that would have been a huge mistake with my little puddle.

Thanks guys, I thought I might be onto something there. Amazing how much a pond can change in a matter of days. I have no clue how to discourage the waterfowl - guess I'll have to live with it until iceout again.

yeah right, you will find a good way to deal with them, or you have all ready?

TJ, you know how, believe me. And you probably have the resources at home.

http://birdcannon.com/

We have a couple air cannons used to help prevent birds from eating our sweetcorn. Most recently used them to scare off some geese. Had probably 2,000 (mainly snow) geese using my big pond as base at night for a few weeks. They messed up a lot of hay and wheat during that time and covered just about everything in droppings. It was bad; but also amazing - about 17 acres of water mainly covered in white. It looked like a snow bank from half mile away when they were in the fields (got some pics and video while in a field). I think I might explore how much could charge people to hunt them as a way to get rid of some and generate revenue if they return next year. Any idea what the going rate might be?

I don't know but they are doing some serious on their northern nesting grounds in the arctic. It would be good to reduce their numbers, which are higher than normal thanks to our farming practices.

http://www.mhhe.com/biosci/pae/es_map/articles/article_40.mhtml

Rangersedge
I have been guiding here in southeast NE since the conservation season opened in the spring. The snows have become smarter with each generation. They are hunted nearly 9 months out of the year, and they live to over 20 yrs. old.
If you are in the spot they want to be in you can do very well, if not it can be hit and miss. We can use electronic callers and unplugged shotguns, as well as no bag limits. On a good hunting day, you can really stack them up.
Guide rates vary from $125 to $200/gun/day. Setups vary from layout blinds in crop fields to heated pitblinds with cooked breakfast and lunch.
On a good day it is not uncommon to bag over a hundred with
5-6 good shooters. On a bad day they will not finish to the decoys other than a few singles or pairs. Decoy costs and a caller setup can run a few thousand dollars .We typically use 800-1000 decoys in each of our setups.
On a big migration day it is an amazing sight indeed.
TJ put a scarecrow dressed in full camo in your boat and make sure he has a gun in hand. Ha!
Brent

Rangersedge

lassig here on the forum hunts them and I believe he may do a bit of guiding too. Hopefully he'll see this and chime in.

TJ, have you been monitoring your water temperatures by chance? I suspect the answers you've received above are right on. Another thing that could add to the issues is if your water temps have de-stabilized. Under the ice, bottom water is warmer, so you have stratification. If your surface water warmed to the same temp as the deeper water, you could have had a turnover that could add to the turbidity.

The rates mentioned by fullpond is if you have all the gear which as mentioned runs into the thousands very quickly (10 to 20K for a complete setup to hunt 4 to 6 guys and be mobile). Not to mention that if you charge to hunt you have to carry liability insurance.

I hunt snows in Saskatchewan each fall and have the gear to hunt them. If they ever cause the problem again just give me a call and I can get rid of them for you. We will make sure they find a different place to locate.

Good feedback thank you very much guys. Bob, no water temp readings, but I'll give that a shot.