Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations The pond is full again!

Coach: Yep, still on, it just depends on when Rex will schedule a delivery.

Todd, I had an idea when I renovated the pond that this would be an ongoing problem, so I dug the pond down to 22' depth to compensate for the water loss. Good thing I did, Hurricane Ike came thru right after we were done and before I could get soil erosion established. I still have 14'-15' of water when it's down, and now I'm guessing the deepest spot is 17'-20' deep.

In my quick walk around today, I noticed what looked like clouds forming a couple of feet below the water surface. I tried taking pics, but they don't show up. I've seen it before, and I believe it's a plankton bloom starting. The BG are muddying the water on most of the South shore, making spawning beds, and there are a few RES in even shallower water doing the same thing. I also saw one school of 1/4" or so long baby LMB that was about 18" in diameter. I couldn't see pappa tho.

Eric, Dave or anybody else, providing the weather doesn't turn sour and drive the BG/RES off of the beds, how long should it be until the BG lay eggs and successfully hatch? The males just started nest building yesterday.

Reason for asking, is that they are in shallow water, and last year I believe the pond level dropped before the eggs hatched. I saw very little recruitment from last year. This year there is more water, later in the year. If necessary I can pump water into the pond from the neighbors pond and from the well to keep the level up until they finish spawning. Full moon is right around the corner.

The geese are another matter. There are 3 families with babies that want to call the pond home and I'm chasing them off the pond every day. At first they just swam out into the pond, but once I started slinging lead close to them, they got the idea, left the pond and went into the flooded woods. One family and the goslings I could live with, but not 30+!