Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Abysmal catch rates

1.5 yr old 1 acre pond with bluegill and bass in NE Tx. Installed 2 bottom aerators about 3 mos. ago and bass catch rates have been poor ever since. We have also had lots of rain up to the current time since then including a massive rain that led to large volume runoff over the spillway and lots of silt deposited at the top of the pond near the feeder creek. This has all led to muddy, low visibility water consistently. We also have about 3 feet of green algae on the surface extending from the shoreline around the entire pond. All of these variables are very different from last year BUT we were catching a lot more fish before all this even in the summertime last year. What do you think has happened? Is the fishing just poor because of muddy water? Has the aeration dispersed the fish throughout the water column and made them more difficult to catch? Did we lose fish when all the water went over the spillway?

Just an amateur, Pondwish, but from what I've heard from the experts, muddy water & aeration are most likely culprits. Fish have to see your lures, and aeration opens up much more of the pond for them to spread out.

Spillway losses usually don't involve huge numbers of fish, though every situation is different. I had an event in 2016, but it didn't affect the fishery at all.

My pond got kinda muddy a couple of months ago. During that time, the fish fed poorly and bit worse.

Muddy water is probably your biggest issue. My pond is the same age as yours, so not catching many fish now may be a good thing. Might try some ag lime when it dries up some. I added 6 tons and went from 6-8" to about 25-28". Took about 30 days to really clear up.

Pondwish, since you're NE TX, I might check the water hardness. Gypsum might be an option to help clear the pond.

http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1044&context=ewfsc8

I would also ask about your DO levels. Does your water smell?

The PH and total alk numbers need to be know as well.

Do you use a syphon pipe to pull bottom water, or do you just let top water run out of the spillway?

Visibility is an issue for LMB, they are primarily sight feeders.

Ag lime or Gypsum may help if you know how to test your water chemistry.

Is your aeration running 24/7? If it is your water temp will be way to high. Run the air at night and it will help cool the pond water down. IF left to run in the day the water from top to bottom will get hot really hot.

The extra heat and nutrients from the run off event will be making your FA round the pond in the shallows that are really hot.

Run air at night rake out as much FA as you can.

I wonder if chronically muddy water is associated with slower growth, especially for sight feeders such as LMB?

Thanks for all the wisdom, folks! I am running my aerator 24/7 and have been contemplating shutting off during the day so that will be one of my next moves. 3 mos. ago, about the time I started aeration, alkalinity=55 and hardness=40. I will repeat.