Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Trout Spawn-Cecil, Mike-or anyone

Fella's a quick question. I have noticed the past week to ten days that my pond is much muddier than before. The pond is approx 1/2 acre and will be a year old in June. Fresh water can be pumped anytime-aeration systems, bacteria, ect. My initial thought was that it was due to rain and runoff but we didn't get any last week and it got worse. I have a liner with 1 ft of top soil in the liner. The fish bite is almost totally off also. I did catch a big female two weeks ago and she was full of eggs. Even thought they can't repoduce will they still try to build a nest and go through the motions ect. I guess what i'm thinking is the water problem is all due to them spawing and stiring the bottom. I also assumed that this is why the bite is off so much also. I look forward to your posts.

Sorry about the double post, please ignore the second one.

jdm

Yes, some females will attempt to make a redd (bed) (with trout the female makes the redd), while others will reabsorb their eggs. Your males make be fighting too, which could stir up the bottom. It's stressful on them so do don't be surprised if you see some mortalities.

I have all males so I don't have too many problems. But even my males will become harder to catch around spawning time (my rainbows are fall spawners). I've see brown trout and steelhead in the wild that are as difficult to get to bite as salmon during spawning time.