Hellow everyone, I'm am also new here but in 45 min I've learned more than I new in 39 yrs,this is the site I was dreaming of last weekend while going through the depression of loosing my first stocking of fish since owning our pond and the second since my first visit to it 5 yrs ago.
Pond description; Built 1958, 2.55 ac. max depth now 16'aprox., (1958 22') designed by IADNR. tile fed from aprox 160 acres of crop fields + runoff 30 acres. Pond is surrounded by Elm, Locust, and oak. Recently cut off all of nearly 100 various sized trees off Dam and had overflow cleaned.
When I first saw the pond it had an abundance of Green Sunfish and LMB in 1999 we had a winter with continous snow cover for 4 mo. the next spring I saw no fish and could not catch any. In 2001 I stocked aprox 2500 Bluegill, and 250 Channel Cat and in June of 2002 I stocked 175 LMB all from the IADNR stocking program. Also 6 grass carp. I saw the bluegill spawn and could see the small ones before I put in the bass. My kids caught several 7" bass in Sept. I had a large plant cover of a submerged variety I can not name right now. Also a large crop of watermeal and duckweed. Since we had a semi drought year I was about 1-1/2' low and very little new water came in through out the year. I had open water on the north shore in late Dec early Jan but then it got cold and froze it tight until March. During the open water times I coulf see many Bullfrog tadpoles gulping for air which I thought nothing of since they always do that. I also could see no fish gulping for air. After april thaw I found thousands of the tadpoles and maybe 100 bluegill a doz bass and three or four catfish, in addition to one bass aprox 2lbs which probably survived the 1999 kill. I am sure it was a result od DO.

I am looking for suggestion on maniging my pond as well as the buffer around it, I don't mind the trees and the wood ducks love them but the leaves I realize create a problem and they are not that nice of trees. Also will concider draining and cleaning if costs are not to high and benifits are worth the costs. I want to stock again as soon as possible If I still can apply in IA for the DNR program. I am also looking towards areation since we build our house with in 75 feet of the pond. Wind is probably not an option since I have all the trees around it. I thought about using chemicals on the surface and submerged weeds but was worried about a fish kill from that. I was told that I could use a roundup solution to kill plants on the surface is this a good idea? and Is coppersulfate a way to get rid of submersed plants perminatly of seasonaly?

Thanks for any suggestion and help seems like a great place for information

FH