blair - I have some experience with Canadian lakes (MS thesis). Since you are at a more northern location and your mean depth is around 12 ft with weekly episodes of wind sweeping across the water to produce white caps, I doubt that your lake needs mechanical or supplimental aeration. In more northern waters that do not get real warm, wave heights that produce white caps can often mix the oxygenated water down 12'-15' deep or deeper depending on wave height and surface temps. This also depends on the fetch (unobstructed wind distance) and the long axis orientation of water body. If trout are able to survive all summer in your lake it is likely DO is adequate at all depths all summer. Before I would buy an aeration system, the lake should be checked for dissolved oxygen concentrations at several of the deepest locations in mid-August to check for the degree or amount of stratification. The wind may periodically destratify your lake before the DO is consumed near the bottom.
What other fish are in the lake besides what you stocked? Do you have a native minnow population and do you know what species they are? Is the lake fed by a stream? Is there an outflow?
Last edited by Bill Cody; 07/20/08 03:21 PM.
