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Joined: Oct 2013
Posts: 4 Likes: 1
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OP
Joined: Oct 2013
Posts: 4 Likes: 1 |
Iowa 1.5 acre pond, 2.5 years old channel cats, redear, fhm, lm bass, hybrid bluegill, crappie, windmill aeration
we had a hard winter, never lost my aeration hole but had up to 20" of ice on most of the pond, ice just got off yesterday, only one dead redear floating
my question is--- did i survive winter that well or did fish die and sink? will winter kill fish sink and disappear? how can i be sure i came through such a brutal winter, i had more die than that last year but they all floated
i had an otter for about 2 weeks last fall and i hope he didn't do too much damage before he moved on, but i was expecting to see some floaters this spring
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Joined: Aug 2016
Posts: 491 Likes: 13
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Joined: Aug 2016
Posts: 491 Likes: 13 |
how much snow was on the ice in terms of depth and time frame? That can be more impactful than anything. From what I've seen, many will float but I'm sure several sink too. Nice to see Iowa folks on here
Mat Peirce 1.25 acre southeast Iowa pond LMB, BG, YP, WE, HSB, RES, BCP
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Joined: Oct 2013
Posts: 4 Likes: 1
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OP
Joined: Oct 2013
Posts: 4 Likes: 1 |
matzilla, how does your pond look? i am in tama, like i said my ice is off, and no floating fish, so i am hopeful. seen some small fish in the shallows.
we had about 8" of melted/refrozen hard pack snow on top of the ice, but only for 30-40 days and i always had a 30' aerator hole open
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Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 67 Likes: 3
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Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 67 Likes: 3 |
When I had it happen, everything floated and was frozen in the ice except the LMB. The bass all died (around a hundred) & I never saw a single one of them - sunk like stones I guess. It turned out only one single CC survived and I didn't realize it until a couple of years later. That was a nice size fish!
East Central Missouri 1 1/4 acre pond, build fall 2011 1/8 acre baitfish pond build fall 2022
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Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 8,792 Likes: 68
Chairman, Pond Boss Legacy award; Moderator; field correspondent Lunker
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Chairman, Pond Boss Legacy award; Moderator; field correspondent Lunker
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 8,792 Likes: 68 |
Vast majority of morts sink...many that float and make it to shore are harvested by scavengers overnight, so it's hard to determine the extent of a kill event if judging by floating morts. I'd guess less than 10% of morts would ever be witnessed based on my experience.
Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. ~ Henry David Thoreau
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Moderated by Bill Cody, Bruce Condello, catmandoo, Chris Steelman, Dave Davidson1, esshup, ewest, FireIsHot, Omaha, Sunil, teehjaeh57
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