After reading through this thread and using my personal experiences of this past winter, it is readily apparent that clearing the snow off of the ice is extremely important to the survival of fish populations in smaller ponds.
My pond is 2/3 the size of a hockey rink and has a max depth of 25'. I cleared the snow off for pond hockey every winter and noted that one or two bass has died off, in seven years. This past winter was crummy with heavy snowfall followed by freezing rain and slushy conditions that made the chore of clearing the pond less than appealing. Couple that with the risk of taking the new heavier snow-thrower on thin ice and a general laziness on my part... well, it just didn't happen, OKAY! Sorry.
You can guess the rest of the story, I am sure. We were horrified to find a complete annihilation of our beloved smallmouth bass. Not one survived. My son and I counted 42 fish floating or visible on the incline around the sides. How many were on the bottom out of view?
My name is AZ, and I am a fish killer. I am here to get help.
