I've followed, with great interest, some of the threads dealing with pond/ice winter kill this year. Frankly, some of the comments really surprised me, especially the warnings from some of the most revered contributors on this site. Well, unfortunately I have been forced to perform an experiment on this topic for all of us northerners this Winter.
Let me set the stage. My pond is a 5 year old 1/2 acre lined pond located in north central Ohio (Tiffin). Half of the pond is 12' deep with the rest being beach area and other habitat structure & sand shelfs that I created for fish habitat/spawning. The average depth of these areas is 4'. I aerate 24/7 from mid-April to mid-November and shut it down completely over the winter.
The bio-mass is as follows. 30-35ea. 4-5 y/o HSB around 3-5lbs each & 20ea. 6-8" HSB; 80ea. 4-5 y/o YP 11-13" & 30ea 6" YP.
Also approximately 30ea. 10-11" BC, 3ea. LMB (4lb) & 3ea. 13" WE.
Up until this year ice cover has not been an issue because the pond would freeze over for a few days and then thaw. However it has now been frozen solid for over two months and it will be another 2 weeks till it opens up.
I'll let you all know what I discover when that time comes.
