Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Muddy water Clear water. Really, really clear. What to do?

Quick background: Pond is at least 30 years old, as far as I know it's never been fertilized, average depth is around 8-9 feet, and I believe its water source is solely rain and runoff.

Can a body of water be too clear?

What we like about the clarity is you can see everything - snorkeling and scuba diving is fun. As for fishing, the pros are you can spot bass and target them.

The negatives are fish related - the bass can see if you're in their field of vision and this makes fishing more difficult, and the clarity is likely to impact the predation in some manner.

From December through May the water is crystal clear. June and July visibility starts to lessen, and in August and September it averages 4-5 feet. Late September through early November it moves from 3-4 feet to 4-5 feet leading into the super clear December.


I have wondered if I should mess with the clarity or not. Be it an algae bloom or a pond dye. Obviously if I do anything I don't want to have a negative impact on the body of water - too much algae or weed growth, harm the fish/frogs/wildlife.


Would like to hear thoughts from experienced pond owners / managers - if they had too clear of water and they decreased visibility and how, and the affect that had on fishing, etc.


Here are some pics from yesterday.

From shore into the water, the white circled area is 6 to 9 feet deep from shore moving toward pond center. You can clearly see the trees.




This is an artificial habitat sitting in 9-10 feet of water. not only can you it, but you can see every weed, rock and pebble on the pond bottom.




Same habitat as above, only the naked eye shot without the polar filter on the left.

It all depends. For fertilizing opinions and advice, I would want to know a relatively close location so the general soil fertility and climate can be taken into consideration. As you mention water clarity has pros and cons no matter the degree of visibility. You should determine a list of the pond goals and then prioritize them; most to least important. When you know the main most important goals for the pond then we can provide better focused advice. Clear water similar to yours is common in many ponds especially those with lower fertility. Winter conditions and region of the country can have an impact on water clarity. Biological activity is more common in warmer months so the water tends to be somewhat more cloudy the warmer the water gets. It is difficult to have nice clear swimming quality water and numerous big fish. Very clear pond water (10'-15') can have a few big fish /ac but very rarely lots.

Basslover, I am far from being experienced or an expert -- just started building my first pond, in fact -- but I think the real experts would tell you to test your water's alkalinity & pH.

If you are in pine country, as my pond will be, then the odds are high you have acidic conditions. That keeps phytoplankton numbers down, increasing water clarity but decreasing biomass.

The usual solution is to put agricultural lime on the lake bottom. Special boat rigs are used to do this on existing BOW.

If acidity is the issue, this should help. After liming & getting pH to more neutral levels, you can fertilize. However, be sure to check for any excessive plant growth before fertilization, they can suck up the good nutrients and create a mess if you aren't careful!

Some people do like clear water.? I do.

Are you trying to pack in as many fish as you can?? and how hard does the lake get fished?? sight fishing is fun. but fish do learn

I just slung the lime around the rim of the pond from the lime truck into the water in a number of places and it worked fine. Few months later the ph and hardness was in a decent range. I then started feeding the fish on a regular basis and from what I hear you don't need to fertilize when you feed due to nutrients in the feed



Pat

Pat, I've had similar questions re feeding & fertilization. I know you won't get a green phytoplankton bloom in very acidic water, but can feed replace fertilizer after the pH is balanced? Is it just a case of try it and see, where clarity beyond 24 inches shows that fertilization is also needed?

Anybody had experience with this? Pat, what kind of water clarity did you get after liming? Did you notice an uptick in the fishery?

For growing fish in clear water set up a feeding area thick with cover and feed Aquamax 300 and 400 to your small fish and if your energetic in the summertime also walk around the shoreline tossing small handfuls of that feed to the small fishes... They will train very fast...

Then you can also set up a feed program to feed the bigger fishes with Aquamax 500 and 600.

Anthropic
I had no plant life untill feeding started. Now have FA in areas. Not sure if that was started from excessive feed or just a natural progression of the pond aging. After liming the ph and hardness came up and water cleared some. I still have issues with runoff clouding the water still. But to answer your question about fertilizer, I think the feeding will replace some of the fertilizer requirment, that just is my opinion- maybe someone that has more experience will chime in


Pat

Pond is in Georgia in the Piedmont area.

I'm certain the fertility is low but haven't done any testing of water yet. That is on the ASAP TODO LIST.

Surrounding hills have clay, soil, and loads of rock - granite, mica, etc.


To help with the forage fish, predator fish, and fishing, I have been and am continuing to place artificial habitats as resources allow.

The main goal is a healthy pond to increase likelihood of everything living as it should.

The secondary goal is a fish happy pond wherein strikes are common. And they are - as long as you cast the country mile or you hide. Seriously, I've made a ghillie suit when targeting certain LMB. Because of the clarity once they see me it is tough to get a strike. If I come in behind them they're much more bite happy, or if I come in beside a blind (of felled trees or tall grass). It's just a tad funny (and frustrating) to essentially stalk the LMB like this.


First step is testing the water to learn how healthy it is I think.

Agreed. I need to do the water test.

Are there any recommendations from forum members on test kits, or do you all recommend sending the water off to a real lab?

I (and my family) enjoy clear water for sure. It is beautiful how it is glass-like and you can see everything. But the fisherman inside of me is wondering if the water is off (pH) and I need to lime.

I'm the only person who fishes our pond, perhaps once a week or every other week. My kids will fish with me on some of these outings and occasionally I'll bring a friend along to our little utopia to enjoy it. lol

I've been thinking of tagging the fish and recording all landings, and see how lands effects strikes of each fish. And then ultimately cull the fish that no longer strike (on the rare occasion that they then return to strike and are landed say after a year of not being landed).

I have only 16 LMB in the pond (and forage fish and some remaining CC).

Thank you. I have been looking at the solar / battery powered feeders as we've no other power source. I did buy a couple bags of feed but bought this Winter so I am waiting for the weather to warm up more consistently. I think the bluegill will feed on the pellets as they swarm when I feed wax worms.

The bass come around when I drop trout and minnows in.

There are pros and cons for sure! My pond is quite clear as well. My PH is about 6.6 ALK is about 80 so not the best and I do have pine around also! My pond does get bloom from time to time though. In this pic below though you can see just how clear it can be, and I am with ya on trying to catch them LMB. I normally stay away from them till the shadows get longer on the pond or if its cloudy out! Then its a bit easier! Or like you said have some good casting gear!! The rocks you see on the far edge of this pic are in 5 ish feet of water.

Pat,
I also started noticing FA after I started to feed. I don't think it is directly attributed to the feed, though. My pond was new in late 2005 when I put the BG/CC than the LMB in May, 2006. I started feeding 2 or 3 years later due to poor BG recruitment resulting in stunted LMB. I "think" the food nutrients increased the pond fertility after fish processing it which, of course, added more pounds of fish which add more nutrients, etc.

My pond is similarly clear, but PH is on the high side and alkalinity is also high. Nutrients are certainly also low.

I have been tempted to try to balance things and fertilize, but I enjoy the swimming and visibility too much to trade it in for better fishing.

AFAIK having a bloom helps baby freshly hatched fish in your pond to find a readily available food source. That gets them larger faster to provide food for larger fish on up. Feeding only hits larger size classes, not the fresh hatchlings. If you are having good survival rate of baby fish, then your feeding program should be fine I suspect. If not, then you may wish to try to achieve a bloom.

Personally I am afraid of overloading my pond with nutrients, getting a good bloom at first, then getting a FA problem which would ruin swimming.

Oh, to figure out the most important factors of your water quality you only need basic water tests which can be purchased at a good aquarium fish store, and even pool stores have them. May as well have a test set on hand if you start liming your water.

Clear, REALLY clear water sounds perfect for stocking blackchin shiners. They add variety to your forage base, but need clear, sediment free waters. Heavy runoff events may make water turbid again and I'm not sure how much or how long they can handle.

Blackchin Shiners