We caught on line and trapped 8 bullheads out of our old pond. Have went about a week without getting any bullheads in the fish trap. So either we have caught most of them or more likely we have caught all the dumb ones or ones large enough to stay in the trap. I was glad to get those eight out of there though, as most if not all would have been large enough to spawn later this summer. So a fish trap is one way to catch the bullheads without sitting at the end of a fishing line. A cut up BC would be good bait for the fish trap.
Esshup probably has the best long term solution, but it makes catching any decent size fish a long ways off by the time renovation is done, fish stocked, and they grow up. If you go this route, I would also suggest you look at your options of how much land you have and any area that could support another pond. It it likely you will spend as much if not more on cleaning out your current pond as building a completely new one. If you have the land and location, leaving the old pond as is and building another brand new one might be a better option. What about just building a brand new pond where you are thinking of building your sediment pond? Let the overflow pipe fill the old pond. Just giving you things to think about. I have renovated three ponds so far with my own equipment and have built one 3 acre new pond as well as a micro forage pond and just finishing a quarter acre sediment pond. I can tell you from experience, building new is a lot more fun from an equipment and time standpoint than cleaning the muck out of an old pond. But if your pond is strategically located, like in front of your house, cleaning it out or otherwise renovating it might be your only option.
As far as the trees, that is a judgment thing and kind of depends on what your future plans are. For example, if you were going to try and work with your current pond without completely draining and cleaning it out but with the thought of doing so in the future sometime........I would cut the trees, deaden the stumps and hope for the best. The roots as they die might or might not create a leak, but if they do it will probably take at least five years for it to happen, and by then you may be ready for drain and excavate anyway. Or if water use is not a concern, leave the nicest treas for the time being and hope they don't die or the roots cause another problem. If they do, it might be five years down the road and you are ready to drain and clean out anyway. See what I am getting at? If you kind of figure out your future plans, you might get some good use out of your current pond by doing some remedial work only. Then clean it out when the problems present themselves as to no longer workable.
My best suggestion, if you have the area available, is to do some minor work on the current pond using aeration and some elbow grease while building a new pond instead of sinking the cost of draining and excavating the current one. You have decent depth and a foot or 18" of muck is really not that bad.
You can try dredging out the muck with a trash pump, but my guess is you will tire quickly of the amount of work it will be. If you try it, by all means let us know how it worked out. The aeration should eventually help with the muck reduction if you have enough water turnover, but it will not be instant gratification. Probably will take a few years.
Just my non-expert opinion.
Last edited by snrub; 05/28/14 02:35 PM.
