I have a 1 acre lake in the center of 10 acres of property. I bought the place in 1999. At they time, it had grass carp, bluegill, Good sized black crappie and a few medium sized bass. The lake is part of a shallow ravine that the original owner dug out. His wife told us that before it was completely dug, they got a big rain and did not continue the digging after that. After about ten years, the grass carp died off. Then I started getting duckweed which pretty much took over. The lake is fed by what I refer to as a dry stream. It only provides runoff after about an inch of rain. The condition of the lake now is shallow with too much muck in the deep end. I would estimate that half of the lake is 4 feet or less. The other half is about 7 feet deep with a lot of muck. I can take a canoe out and push a paddle down about 2 feet into the muck, while getting a flourish of bubbles coming to the top. The lake is pretty much surrounded by trees and get a ton of oak and other leaves in it each fall.
I had two fish kills mostly occurring in the early spring, or at least showing up in the early spring after the ice clears off. I bought a windmill aerator (Koenders) several years back to provide some air for the lake but it probably wasn't enough to do the job. Now, it has gone belly up and I can not get repair parts. I had thought about getting the lake re-dug, so I had a couple of old friend that liked to fish, come out several times and catch everything they could. Then, after a couple of quotes for doing the job, I decided I could not afford it. One guy wanted $47,000 and that was with the muck and mud hauled 300ft to another low place. The next guy wanted between $15,000 and $30,000. To me that meant it would be $30,000.
So, here I am, getting ready to put fish back in it, with some grass carp and a few talopia. I have some Macro Zyme to help reduce the muck and am wondering what the best way to add additional air into the lake to assist the bio degrading of the muck and to help the fish. I am starting slow with the fish and am putting 100, 3-4 inch black crappie, 100, 2-3 bluegill along with 5 pounds of flathead minnows. There are presently a ton of bullfrog tadpoles in the lake that will help feed the crappie.
Anyway, I am sure my numbers are off as far as restocking but it is a start and I can add a few bass later. The lake had nice bluegill and crappie before so I guess that is what I am trying to get it back to. I may add a few channel catfish also but just 20 or 30 that I catch elsewhere.
Ok, that is it in a nutshell. I just found this site a day or so ago so have been feeling around in the dark for a while. I have read some on here about a muck pump but am not sure they are in the US or just overseas. I have also read about a nice 1/4hp air pump that would last for years and was rather economical.
Any advice would be appreciated.
