Pond Boss Forums AERATION Systems questions IceFishing

Aeration is really only needed in the Winter months if snow cover builds up thick enough on the ice to block sunlight from entering the pond, and persists for some time (1 day probably not a problem, 1 week I would be worrying).

Some PMs remove the snow from there iced over ponds, sometimes just in strips, to allow sunlight in for photosynthesis. Some practice minimal aeration to melt a hole through the ice and snow, allowing air exchange with the atmosphere. Either method will suffice to prevent a low O2 winterkill.

Aerating too much in the Winter (constantly running a deep water airstone/diffuser) can be hard on fish (especially warmer water species close to the edge of their range, such as RES in Ohio) by supercooling the pond water and denying fish a relatively warm 39 deg F refuge at the bottom of the pond. Minimal aerator use or moving the bubble source to shallow water helps prevent this.

If you haven't seen it yet, check out the archive thread Aeration Simplified.

To sum it up wrt icefishing, Winterkill can be prevented with little or no ice disturbance.