Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Seining pictures of my pond I'm draining down

Oh yes he got female bluegills, bluegills I couldn't sex and smaller bluegills for his pond. I also gave him male yellow perch and some of the big females.

I'll see if Norm wants to come back out or if not it shouldn't be as hectic so I can take pictures. BTW the pond was down 42 inches this evening.

I did tell him he did a great job and I will send him a link to this page. I also corrected his name listed as Norma originally!

Thank you all for your kind words. Cody and Condello are the ones that originally turned me on to male bluegill and female yellow perch pond management.

Here are the two tanks I sunk when I drained the pond last time. They are now recirculating tanks at two high schools.

I also used the boat as a holding tank.

Some pictures last time the pond was drained down:

Had to put the intake of the pump inside a fine mesh cage as small bluegills were clogging it up.











Check out these bluegill beds!



There shouldn't be any Chara this time. I had a good algae bloom that started last summer in conjunction with the Aquashade.

The ridges you see off the breaks are not due to the pond banks sloughing. I had the edges dipped a few years after building the pond and he could only reach out so far with his excavator.

Also note I did not have a pier going all the way across at the time.

He made out like a bandit then

Nice pics I love the dock you have going through the middle of the pond. How deep is your pond what size of pump are you using, and how long does it take to drain it?

He earned it.

Here's my dear ol'dad catching as many fish as he could before the last drain down. Looks like he's fishing at low tide.

The max depth of the pond is 9 feet on the nose. I am using a trash pump that is rated at 200 gpm at zero head. It takes a couple of weeks or more non stop 24/7. Unfortunately I have to shut it off at night before I go to bed as it would run out of gas at some point during the night. I also drain the pump tank as it's been getting below freezing just about every night and I don't want to risk any damage. And roll up the discharge hose and bring it in during the night to keep it from freezing solid.

This pic looks like something from the orient:



I should have gone to bed by now, but took a long nap earlier. Stuck awake! maybe watching the boob tube will do the trick.

You're right it does. It looks much better with most of it under water!

What percentage of fish do you think you remove with just the seine alone? I am curious as to the effectiveness of it... And, great photo documentation. you never cease to amaze me at what you're able to do.

It's hard to say as this is the first time I've used a seine preceding a total drawdown. I didn't have a seine the last time. The last time I did a total drawdown we just fished it really hard before completely drawing it down.

I will say the pond was not built for seining as the banks are too steep for easy seining. And we're not seasoned pros that seine on a regular basis although Scott is definitely better than me.

A member of my aquaculture board of directors runs a fish farm that apparently has ponds that are built for seining, and he says he gets very high percentage of the fish in the ponds.

BTW I got my 200 foot seine for $50.00! A fish farmer in Minnesota was retiring and shipped it to me. He didn't even want shipping but I insisted. He said it's had a lot of pulls but should do the job and it has! I cut off 60 feet for my production ponds that are only 40 feet wide. So the seine in the water is 140 feet long with the pond 130 feet wide.

Update:

Pond is now less than 5 feet maximum depth



More bluegill beds showing up as water level drops and exposes them:





The seine is dry enough to roll up and put away.



Geothermal discharge fully exposed now:



Close up showing trash pump with intake (green hose) and outflow (blue hose).

Cecil, you need a bigger pump? I've got a 16,000 gph pump, 20+' of suction hose and 100' of 3" discharge hose. The pump will run about 14 hr on one gas tank filling. Even in in these temps, no need to drain at night 'cause it would run all night long. I'll bet it's 17°F here now.

Scott, I got a 3" extended run pump this year with very similar numbers to yours, and am extremely happy with the choice. I was surprised at the volume difference between it and my old 2" pumps.

Cecil/Scott, how is the pond going to be refilled?

Also, can one of you explain the geothermal hose? I'm not familiar with that.

Scott,

I'm good. Actually I can barely afford the gas as it is as business is basically nonexistent right now and has been all winter. Since most of the bluegills are under 10 inches and the yellow perch under 14 no sales there either.

It will be completely down this coming weekend.

I have a well at the highest point of my property. Since I will be running it through my trout pond soon I can kill two birds with one stone by allowing it to overflow into this pond to fill it up at the same time.



Open loop geothermal heating and cooling. Well water is used to heat and cool the house and then it's discharged into the pond.

I *wish* I could do that! Our well does not have near enough flow rate to pull that one off, and it is too risky to try another well to find it doesn't have enough flow. Buried loops and excavation just cost way too much, as does getting the house retrofitted with duct work.

The cost of propane may just make it seem like a steal soon though. $3.59 a gallon! Arg!

Multitasking at it's finest! Good luck with all this. Very informative thread.

I wish I had closed loop. It would be more economical as the well would not be needed. Not sure I could afford to modify it though but I may do some checking.

My main concern right now is the clogging of iron and carbonates in the discharge line. Its seems to flow O.K. though - at least for now. My local plumbing supply said they could run a benign chemical through it. I will see how much it costs. Now may be a good time with the pond down and fish out. I almost wonder if I could do it myself. Shut the furnace down and cap the end of the hose temporarily. Then run in muriatic acid and let it sit for a little while. Then crank it back up.





Is that a good price for propane? With all the natural gas developing in this country you'd think the price would go down?

Cecil I don't think your dog is too happy in the one pic Maby the new diet

Nah she's good at making faces. I made her sit for the picture as I was trying to take a pic of the net and had her on the leash at the same time. She's got a knack for moving just as I snap a picture.

Excellent thread...Lots of good info in here...

When I switched from a 2" pump to a 4", I didn't notice any increase of gas usage. If anything, I think I used less because it gets the job done faster where the other engine and 2" pump would still have been running, and running, and....

Makes sense but I have other things to consider, such as, the amount of flow going into the highway ditch as although I am not doing anything wrong I don't like to attract attention.

I had a neighbor whine to the water division of my dnr about my well pumping but fortunately I was under a certain gpm rating and didn't even need a permit. I don't know for sure who it was but I have a good idea as he's complained about the noise of my compressors even though he lives a few hundred feet away. LOL

He wants to purchase the open land next to me from a neighbor, but if it ever comes up for sale I get first bid. He shot himself in the foot by not being very friendly to the neighbor with the land before he was interested. The guy with the land and I get along really well.