I don't know what happend, suddenly the screen hopped and my first post went out incomplete. Maybe my finger hit the Enter instead of Shift?
Trying again. I have a small 1/2 acre pond in Central Va. We had it dug in 97 when I retired, it was a gift from my mother in law. But it was up to me to stock it and get the initial water plants going. I made a few mistakes that I'd like to undo but don't know th best way. I'm considering draining the whole pond and letting it lie dormant and hope the roots to several varities of aquatic kudzu that I put there will be gone.
The worst plant is the Marislea 4 leaf clover that actually wouldn't be so bad if it were only in one area. It's kind of pretty and provides good cover for the forage minnows, young bass and bluegill to hide and reproduce. The other plants are manageable using rakes, Isralei Carp and Koi. But if I do dry it up and start over I will not re-iontroduce them, I put them in as oxygenators but now I don't think I actually need them and thin I could find some oxygenators that are less invasive. I don't like the idea of using chemicals and weould like to find something that eats the vegetation.
Overall, I have really enjoyed having the pond, it is a fishing pond and we eat regularly out of it. I have LMB, Bluegill, Red Ear sunfish, Channel Catfish that do not reproduce and have tried to put some bullhead catfish in but they haven't established a breeding population. I have also failed to get bullfrogs reproducing for more that two or three years before the need to restock comes up again. I put some eels in but haven't seen them again since their release. I do like to eat eel but think it is likely impossible to get them to stay.
