Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations When to re-stock

After having a major fish kill this winter, when is a good time to restock? I have only seen very few BG & a couple of LMB but the CC are alive & well. I have caught 20 or so the last couple of weeks. I've started hand feeding to see if fish would feed yet, & CC have, & only a handful of BG. Don't know if I should wait till spawning time to make sure I don't have a bunch of BG yet. This whole thing sucks cause I had a bunch of 10" BG die but dang cats survived. Wished it was other way around!

Also, my water is a chocolate brown. I assume from decaying fish and leaves. Never have had water look like this. Frogs survived winter without any problems.

You are at a crossroads in my mind with a few options. First thing I would consider following a fish kill is: Do I want to start over with something new, or continue in the same direction? Are you happy with your BG/LMB/CC fishery? If not, when fish populations are low is the best time to nuke the remaining fishery and begin anew. So - what are you thinking?

Had my football game cancelled today so I'm around the house if you want to call.

Very important to determine the cause of the fish kill as they tend to repeat absent change.

Jay determined his direct irrigation efforts this Winter consisted of anoxic water and at such a high flow rate [hundreds of GPM through agriculture well] it caused a DO sag and led to a partial fish kill event. I agree it sounds feasible after we eliminated other causes like snow/ice cover, etc. He fears he lost his LMB and most of his BG over 4-6" [and he had some dandy 8-10" BG]. He now is breaking up the irrigation well water to oxygenate it.