Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Help snow removal

I think this is the right place to post this. What is the best way to remove snow from my pond? Is an atv with a snowblade the best way? Does the atv slip too much when you get some slush on the ice or will it handle snow slush etc ok?

Thanks in advance for the help.

fyi i live in northern wisconsin so lots of snow

You will probably need tire chain on your atv. I do some plowing with my side x side and tire chains on the back tires make a big difference.

I use a side x side UTV to do most snow clearing of less than about 10 inches. Like Blair, I've got chains on the rear tires. I also load the rear bed with 300-400 lbs., of weight. Without the weight and the chains, I'd have a hard time getting out of the garage if I was pushing a load of snow on frozen ground, even with the aggressive tires it has.

My driveway is over a third-mile long, and includes a very steep ravine. We got 8 inches of snow yesterday, and I had no problem plowing it with the 14 HP UTV. It was also pretty cold this morning (about 0 F degrees), I didn't want to try and start my diesel tractor. At least the UTV has a roof and windshield, which really helps when it is cold and very windy.

I let all but a little air out of my ATV tires and get great grip on the ice. You want them almost flat.

I don't have chains, but I have not needed to plow more than 4" off of the ice yet. The black ice we had a little while ago was tough to get started on though, but it worked.

For plowing, you really need to plan a good pattern to get more than a few inches off of a larger pond in a reasonable time. You don't want to have to back up a lot if you can help it. 2-3 large overlapping ovals while pushing snow to the outside edge with an angled plow seems to work best.

Expect to freeze to death in the meantime. All I know is those thumb-based accelerators leave you with a very numb appendage. Wear snowmobiling mittens.

Lastly be careful of piling up too much snow near areas where the ice may be thin. I had an "incident" where the weight of the snow plus the ATV and myself broke the ice at a steep angle. Luckily I was able to goose it in the slush along with the plow still on solid ice to get out. I had visions of my ATV and myself frozen into the pond until late spring.

Hey guys excuse my ignorance but why are we wanting to clear the snow off the ice? I could guess to let the light in for phytoplankton growth and plants. Ponds with out aeration?

If it was me I would push with a blade and blow it with a small walk behind snow blower. This would get the weight off the ice. Should I worry about getting the snow off when I do not have any plant life in the pond.

Cheers Don.

Dono,
This is certainly not my field of expertise since I live next to the Gulf of Mexico but...

I'd say your first thought was correct. These plants make the oxygen your fish live on while the pond is covered in ice and need sunlight to photosynthesize. Even if you don't have rooted plantlife or FA growing, you do have the type of algae (phytoplankton?) in the water that feeds newly hatched fish and make the oxygen your pond needs in the winter.

Clear ice without snow lets light in to foster photosynthesis and make O2 (DO).

Make sure ice is thick enough before you and/or snow-blower plummet to the bottom.

I like the ATV + plow method(we call them 4-wheelers here in contract to the death trap 3-wheelers) as they spread the weight fairly wide, plus they float. Sorta. At least without a plow on it. Even so, have to be very careful. Otherwise you may have some costly structure.

Do I dare ask how you know that they sorta float?

Plus how does he know they won't float WITH a plow on it?

Ya they float quite well. The plow may have her a bit nose heavy. You can get floats that strap on in the wheel rim and you can drive the four wheeler like an amfo six wheeler.

Cheers Don.

I used to take it over to some friend's land to root around, and we would go across a deep creek bend. They float high enough to keep the intake out of the water, but barely. Not good when it goes under!

The plow would be very nose heavy, and my plow plus me I am almost certain wont float, and it will most certainly put the intake under water.