Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Pond Management Software

I am writing a fishing log program and would like to add pond management section to the program. I would like any suggestions for what this pond management program should consist of. Things like date of stocking, fish stocked, vegetation, notes and comments and storing pond images. This program will be available free to pond boss readers.

make a section where you will be able to record and chart data of different fish species on an x y plane...for instance let one be the length the other be the weight....this way when you see a grouping on your plot you'll know where to harvest....at least i think everything i said is correct, if not someone correct me.

It's very cool that you would allow us free access to this. I have been dealing with Bob Lusk on starting a pond club. We are a group of serious pond owners. I know of no other source of free info.

Mike -- In addition to recording fish lengths and weights, it can be useful to track fish caught per time spent angling (catch per effort). The number of fish caught and the total time spent fishing (by individual angler) would be all you needed to record. Then, interested pond owners could track catch per hour over years, and look for trends. They can also look at trends for different sizes of fish, as long as lengths also were recorded.

Dave

Brian,

I will try to find a web site that will allow a free download of this software or I will start a web page.

Mike,

This program sounds great. If you are still looking for ideas, in addition to fish measurement information it would be helpful to have a place to log information about stocking (species, quantity, size, date, etc). Also water test info, feeding, forage addition, weed treatments, etc. and renovation information such as the addition of structure, spawning beds, draw down, etc. Basically a log where you can track any of the basic pond management activities and use this information to track its effect on the fish population. I look forward to trying out what you end up developing and appreciate you offering your program to the readers of the site.

kevin b

mike, how large is this program? depending on the size i may be able to host it for you with a couple of websites i had...also what are you writing the program in(language)?

I could post it as well if it is not too large.
Probably up to 5 meg would b no problem.

Mike,
Along with David's suggestion how about incorporating lunar charts, it would be intresting to see if they corespond with when big fish/small fish are actually caught over a period of time!
Ric

Thanks for all of the replies.

I think I can add most all of the suggestions without too much difficulty. Some may take longer than others(lunar cycles). The program should be less than 5 meg. If it gets too big I make break it into two programs, one fishing log and one pond management program but I don't see any problem with size.

The program will be free standing, meaning you will not have to buy any other program to run it.

This may take a few weeks because I have another job and I program for fun but I will get it done.

Thanks, Mike

It would be awesome if it used some type of fishing log for data entry. A page with a fill in / drop down selections for date, weather, temp... After fishing, we could put in the data for how many we caught and their sizes. It would then use this data to compile reports for the size versus weight charting, etc...

Nick,

That is exactly how this started. Fish Manager (so named for lack of a better name) will have a fishing log based on the paper one downloadable at bassresources.com with some minor changes.

The update form will have drop down boxes with species name, fishing location, structure and cover, vegetation, weather, clarity, baits and lure information with entry fields for other data.

You might incorporate a drop-down box that indicates whether an individual fish was harvested or released.

I need some ideas for the pond management part of the program. These are what I have so far what other types of info do you need?

What kind of fields should I have for feeding (date, feed type, source, comments, timing, rate...?),Renovation (date, type, comments ...?), Stocking (date, reason, species, quantity, size, source, comments...?), Pest treatments (date, weed or pest species, pesticide used, treatment type, rate, comments...?), Water test (date, ph, hardness, light penetration, turbidity, Suspended solids, heavy metals, phosphorus, nitrogen, temp., potassium, calcium, o2, comments...?). If possible how are the test results provided to the pond owner (ppm, milligrams per liter...).

Thanks ahead for all the help. Mike

Mike, As long as the record size doesn't get out of control, you might consider an open space for special notes or other things not considered at design time. It would also let the user customize it for their own special needs. Some people might want to know when they started or changed their aeration and others don't use it. There might be other personal considerations.

Great idea. How can we be notified when it is ready? How about a email list?

Great idea. How can we be notified when it is ready? How about a email list?

Mike,
Pond Management portion should include date fertilized, secki dish visibility in inches, how much ferilizer used. Also, not sure if this needs to be in the pond management section but the number of bass taken out and the weight. If this could automatically add and show total and total to goal would be good.

You might want toconsider making the software sort of "script" based. That way everything is controled and saved to some sort of text file. This would help in that say I want to send my data to someone like Greg Grimes, I can just send him the data file. Also please try not to tayler the software to "Bass" managaement. It seems everything is sort of slanted towards bass fishing these days..

mike hadn't heard about your progress with the software...how's it going? update us.

From his previous comments, it seems that the software is going to be a database with some forms on top of it. Depending on the database used, you should be able to just copy the DB file, export it, or easily share it some other way.

Did anything ever come of this software? I would be very interested in trying it out if it is available.

kevin