For what it is worth, I have a small pond (1/4 Acre about 12 - 14 feet deep when full) in Northeast Minnesota about 30 miles southwest of Duluth. I live a fair distance from my pond so I can't get there immediately after a snow. Prior to this year, I did not have power available so I tried to go up on weekends and clear snow. I thought based on Woods experience, if I could keep the snow off the ice, the trout would be fine. Both winters my trout looked great (using an aquaview camera throught the ice)until sometime around late February when I had what appeared to be a complete fish kill after a heavy snow storm that I didn't get cleared for 2 - 3 weeks.
This year I don't have fish in the pond going into the winter. I lost them during a record period of high temps this summer. There might be one or two strays, but next year I'm going to restock again and use an aerator on one end of the pond and see if I can get fish through a winter. So far between winter fish kills and record summer heat fish kills I'm 0 for 3 with trout.
BZ - I'm curious what kind of fish you are raising. Maybe I just need to try something different since trout are a little more sensitive than some other options.
