Ok guys here goes...1st post. I have been asked to take over the managment of an exsisting pond and would like some input from everyone. I have become a member of the site a few weeks ago, have read the posts every night, as well as Bobs first 2 books, and some back issues of the magazine. What I have learned is that the more I learn the less I know.
Here is what we are up against. Our main goal is to raise quality largemouth bass, but have an atrractive, healthly, fishable pond that one could catch a catfish and some bluegills for the kids. The lake was impounded 3 years ago, is approx 2.1 surface acres, with 90 acres of steep watershed, with a current unknown average ft depth, although based on elevation change the deepest part is very close to 20 ft. I will be workig on that data soon. There is alot of runoff and water is nearly always running over the spillway, which is the way all of the water currently exits the pond. Luckily there is a 6" pipe that runs under the dam with a valve in it that could be used to let water exit from the bottom, that is not being utilized today.
I purchase an AQ-2 test kit and here are the results.
pH 6.2
Alkalinity 15
Hardness 10
DO 9
Ammonia Nitrogen 0
Nitrite Nitrogen 0
Do these make sense?
Water temp was 14c at the surface near the shore where all water samples were taken. I will get out further in the lake and get deeper samples soon.
Clarity is somewhat muddy after rain due to the lack of grass in some key spots. Currently working on getting some vegetation going now.
Approximatly 400 bluegill, 100 Georgia's, 50 catfish, 200 6in largemouth bass and some minnows and tadpolls were stocked 6 months after the lake was full.
That fall the bass, bluegills and Georgias bit like crazy. The next year they still bit, but they were not growing as fast as was hoped. Still today they will bite but not as crazy although the bass are definitly skinny.
Our ideas have run the gamot but what is the best plan of attack? From my limited knowledge I can imagine getting the piping sorted out so that we can drain from the bottom of the pond, get the alkalinity in line, and try and figure out what forage to restock.
Where to start? What is the best way to get the alkalinity squared away? I will work on setting myself up to post pictures as that my help expain myself better.
Thanks in advance
