Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Pond Shape

BE careful not to mix aquaculture and natural production; two different concepts of fish production. It's like comparing the raising of cattle or grazers on pasture land vs in a feed lot.

You catch 90% of the fish in 10% of the water because in the 10% is where the majority of the secondary production and higher occurrance of medium and larger forage items occur. Thus the predators "hang" or frequent places where their primary forage occurs. Fish are often quite adaptable to many situations.

The simple bowl shape might hold the same number of fish as the acreage of complex shoreline BUT I'm pretty sure that the simple bowl shape will not produce over the long term the same number of bigger fish as the same acreage of littoral zone if both have the same fertility. Most of the open water is considered lower in larger forage organisms to feed the larger catchable fish. Much of the phytoplankton and zooplankton production in open water is not used & lost to the pond/lake deepwater basin via death & sedimentation.

Exceptions Always Occcur. Nature does have fish that are primarily adapted to feed in open water situations; fish like shad and wipers. However the majority of "pondfish" thrive in littoral zones.

As I said earlier shallow water zones in a pond are problematic due to their propensity for weed growth which although they are highly productive for fish production, fishermen hate large amounts of weeds/algae because it interfers with their ability to catch fish. I say the weeds & heavy algae growth are good especially in small waters with heavy fishing pressure because it prevents most fishermen from harassing the fish. It gives fish a seasonal respite.