I am managing a 2 acre pond that my in laws purchased around November of last year. The pond was rebuilt/drained around 2008 and restocked. Confirmed fish (personally caught) are bluegill(in abundance), bass, and crappie. I know from others that there are catfish but I have not caught or attempted to catch.
I believe the prior owner used dye as weed control, but I want to take a fertilization approach. I sent a water sample to A&M. Everything looked good. pH was 7.5. I spoke to the fisheries contact at A&M - really nice guy. His recommendations were as follows:
1) Chloride is a little low (40 ppm with the ideal being 100). He said down to 20 would be OK. He said if we wanted to add 100-200 lbs of "stock salt" per acre it is about $5 per 50 lb bag at a feed supply. Would need to be repeated every couple of years depending on the water flush from rain. Ultimately concluded it wouldn't be absolutely necessary, but given the very low cost I'm planning to pursue.
2) Treat algae with Cutrine Plus; simultaneously:
3) Spot treat American Pond Weed with Diquat. Treat no more that 1/3 of the pond at a time. Wait 10-14 days between treatments and fertilizer following the last treatment. I am not opposed to pond weed; the pond is deep so the weedline is fairly limited (water was also dyed). The biologist at A&M thought it would be good to thin the pond weed before fertilizing.
4) Fertilize 8 lbs per acre when water reaches 70 degrees. Add 4 lbs per acre 2-3 times during summer depending on visibility. Stop fertilization at 70 degrees in the fall. Plan to use Trophy Maker. I have not purchased it yet but I believe it advises 65 degrees as the magic mark.
In addition to understanding if I am on track with the above, I have a few questions:
The pond is part of a chain of ponds along a creek. there is some sharing of water with an adjacent property via 2 culvert pipes (see map). I would estimate that less than 5% of the pond's surface area is on the other side of the fence/road. (It may look like more on a surface area basis - probably is - but most of what you see in the photo is 1 foot deep on the adjacent property; it dries out quickly.) Thus far all crappie have come from the other side of the fence. I do not want crappie in the main pond. I am thinking of screening the culvert pipes. Curious what others have experienced with that approach. This won't be a perfect fix as a very large downpour can bring water (and everything else) over the road.
The adjacent property is a horse boarding/jumping facility. I believe the runoff from the property is high in nutrients and may wreak havoc with what I'm trying to do with fertilization (ie a big rain right after I've just fertilized the pond. The pond has a fountain and aerator system. I haven't turned on the aerator yet to see how it works, but presumably could provide some relief if we dropped below 12" vis.
I have some other questions about the fisheries management piece, but will keep this post to the fertilization/water quality topic.
As it may be relevant to the above, goals are bluegill fishing for the grandkids (will likely add a feeder) and management for quality (not trophy) bass. There are some healthy bass in the 3-4# range and some that need to be harvested. Plan to remove all catfish and crappie, in time.
I have some prior exposure the lake management concepts but I wanted to float this plan to this group to avoid any obvious missteps right out of the gate. Thank you!
typical weedline in Sept/October. Also shows culvert pipe:
