Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Freeze out and start over

All, been a while since I’ve been here. Brief summary, I have an 11 acre pond 40 feet deep, in west central Minnesota. I’ve always suspected that the fish do not occupy the deepest depths due to lack of oxygen.

When ice formed this year early and when cutting spearing holes for pike in mid-December, I noticed the water was clouded, first time I ever noticed that. Speared some nice 32+ inch pike by the way!! We had a lot of rain late summer and into the fall. I think a lot of nutrients got into the pond late into the fall. Thinking a bloom caused the murkiness.

About three weeks ago, the spear hole filled with sunfish and perch gasping for oxygen. Walleyes and pike were swimming with their backs near the bottom of the ice. Knew there would be big trouble, but there is no power to run any type of system near the water to keep the then 24” of ice open. It's probably near 30" now. I also live hours away. There’s still 2 months of ice to go!! Last week, nothing in the holes, saw a few sunfish laying on the bottom. So I’m sure I’ve lost my babies.

Definitely a little bummed the first day or two, but hey, nature takes its course. Now I see it as an opportunity. I’ve not really done anything to manage the pond to this point ever, but add some walleyes, which were coming along well, I might add. Caught a few on early ice, and they looked great.

There is quite a bit of vegetation, do I now begin this spring to control that more? I have a weed line at about 8 feet of water depth. In some places that's 60 feet, maybe more, out into the pond, should I start killing that back?

I’m thinking to add crayfish now, for some minor weed control and forage. I think I’ll add fatheads and lake shiners to the pond in the spring and let them flourish for a year of two before I add any kind of predator. I also want those minnows to kill mosquito larvae.

If I’m starting from scratch I’m thinking perch, walleye, and smallmouth bass. Toying with the idea of crappie, too. And down the road adding a tiger or two. But I have time to figure fish out.

Probably most importantly, how do I aerate an 11 acre pond in the future, once I start really managing fish down the road? Should I first begin to develop a plan to eliminate some of that anaerobic bottom material first? Bring electricity into the pond area as a first step?

Any chance something could survive this?

So, what do I do now, assuming this is now year zero for my pond?

I welcome thoughts from all of you. I look at this now as the start of a long term plan.

North40, I'm not an expert on winterkills but here is what I'm seeing:

1. You should do NOTHING till you have an aeration plan. If winter conditions typically produce 18-20" of ice and you aren't there to clear the snow then what will stop you from winter killing every year? Or are you saying that winter kill is due to a one time toxin event related to your 'bloom' that made the water murky?

2. I'm not following you on your desire to cut back on vegetation? Winterkills are worse in seasons with early and heavy snowfall. You can't control that and it sounds like you are too far away to clear a portion of the ice to get sun down to the plants. If the sun can get to the plants then the plants HELP you by making oxygen. If there are too many plants and limited sunlight then the plants hurt you by dying, decaying, and consuming oxygen. Plants are great for supporting the food chain as they provide cover for fry.

Again aeration is the only way to help mitigate the parts you can't control (how cold, how long it is cold, how deep ice is, how much snow you get, and whether plants reach the tipping point and die). There are some great recent threads here on solar aeration, but those successes have not happened in a location as far North as you likely are at.

A good quality windmill with expert advice on location, placing of the air lines to avoid winter freeze up, and a good quality diffuser membrane placed in the shallows may be the solution too.

Others can chime in too, but I would hate to have you go gangbusters on your stocking plan only to face repeated winter kills.

Thanks Canyon, we get that much ice most every year, and it's typically covered with snow every year. This year, ironically, we have had very little snow, so maybe only a couple inches of snow cover it this year. I have only owned the property for about 5 years. I'm not sure how often a die off may have occurred in the past. But, with a number of pike caught the last couple of years at 35", I'm guessing it's been that long since a die off.

I've never cleared it off in the winter, not the years prior by anyone and I've been in the area for 20 years.

Can clearing the outside edges by plowing keep all vegetation alive throughout the winter with 24" of ice, which is normal? that I can do in the future.

We had a brutal winter about 4 years ago, with lost of snow. Many ponds around dies off, but mine was fine. And I worried about it that year.

The reason I mentioned removing vegetation is due to the oxygen it'll use as it decays.

Before you stock anything I would double check for survivors, some of your smaller young of the year fish may not have died off.

Have you thought about what options you have for aeration? It provides lots of other benefits and is good insurance for the brutal winter years.

otherwise, I would say try to understand what made the water quality different this year since you said the snow fall was less and the amount of ice is 'typical'. Drill a hole and sample water now and see what you can tell about it?

or.. hope like crazy that global warming is real and continues to worsen rapidly so that winter time is months shorter than it is now...