I have a 30 acre "dead lake" in South Alabama that is about 8' deep at its deepest spot stocked with LMB and bream. It is overpopulated with LMB in the 12 - 14" category. The lake is almost an oval shape and gradually gets shallower around the banks. The average depth is probably 5 feet. The lake is limed as necessary and fertilized each year. The watershed is about 100 acres, and well water is pumped into the lake with an electric powered water well during the summer months to keep the pond full. The water level drops down about 2' for three to fours months if the well is not used. The problem with using the water well is it creates an algae bloom I assume from whatever happens to the water chemistry when all this well water is introduced. We have a fish kill about every 5 years or so. We have also stocked the pond with Sterile Grass Carp that helps a little but doesn't solve the problem.

I have two questions. One is will aeration help prevent the algae bloom, and the second question is can I get away with not pumping in well water during the summer months and just let the average depth of the pond lower to where the lake has an average depth of about 3'? This lake has produced LMB in the 5 - 8 lb category consistently in the past as well as very large bream (over 1 lb.), but inevitably there is a fish kill that negates all the efforts.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts/comments.