This is a new one, at least for me. On our land, we have two duck habitats. We lease these out to hunters for duck season. One, which floods about 50 acres and one (a new one) which floods about 20 acres. We have had the 50 acre habitat for several years now and lease it out. (Except for last year, which was so dry that it never filled with water.) The large one has a PVC pipe at the lower end which we are able to open in order to drain the habitat for the summer and grow grasses and crops. We then plug it in the early fall so that fall rains will fill it and flood the grasses and crops. This also provides food for the ducks. As an interesting side note, when we drain it, it always has fish in it. We don't stock it. But in the 6 months that it is flooded, a few fish have accumulated. Usually yellow perch.

The smaller habitat is new. Flooding it for the first time this year. However, it is different from the first. It (thanks to advice from a couple of conservation specialists) contains 7 ponds and will flood them. They were dug with scrapers, so they are each about 6 feet deep and about 10 feet wide at the bottom. The sides angle up so that they are about 20 to 25 feet wide at the top. They are all 100 to 300 feet long, slanting down at each end to the 6 foot depth. In other words, long skinny ponds, deep in the middle with shallow ends. When the habitat floods, they will not be visible, they will be under water. But when we drain it in the spring, they will continue to hold water.
The reasoning of the conversationists was that they would grow plant and animal life (snails and tadpoles) that the ducks would enjoy eating. As a side note, a large stand of trees will also be flooded.

Now for my question. What to stock these small ponds with? Whatever I stock will be very suseptible to swimming off when the drain is opened. So I have to keep that in mind. Also, the ponds are so shallow that they will be very mossy in the summer. We aren't supposed to kill the moss, supposed to encourage duckweed. I do want to stock something to discourage mosquitos from using the water to multiply. But I do not plan on working too hard for such small ponds. My thinking is bluegill. But I would value your opinions. One last thought, just outside this area is an older established pond, stocked with catfish (and including some mudcat) that will overflow into this area. So it will probably eventually get catfish in it whether we want it to or not.

Nick Smith