Hi Y'all,
I'm new to this Forum & trying to learn a little about pond management. I have several questions for Y'all, if you don't mind.
We bought this little place in SW Indiana, in '03
as a retirement place, 13 acres w/ a 1 acre pond.
The house is late '70's and required some fixing-up. The grounds & pond had been way over planted
w/ shrubs, trees & flowers. But, it was empty for
about 3 yrs.

The pond is well stocked, it has Largemouth Bass, Large Blue- gills, & a few catfish.
We added 20 grass-carp, for the moss, & 1000
chub minnows for food. My sons came up for a weekend last year & caught Blue-gills big as a dinner plate.

We have trees all around the pond, above it, below it and on the dam. The pond does not appear
to be leaking as yet. Unless it gets really dry, there is always a little trickle of water over the spillway/overflow. During last Summer we went a couple months with very little rain and our pond as well a most of the neighbors' went down a bit, 4 or 5 ft.
Do I need to remove "all the trees" from the dam?
Upper side, next to the water, as well as lower
side, away from the water? We do get a big leaf-drop, in the pond every Fall. Is that a problem?

We haven't had any problem w/ algae but we did have a large growth of underwater moss, last summer. It appeared to die off as soon as the first hard frost/freeze. The pond has frozen over
all the way a few times this Winter, but it has been mild, and thawed pretty quickly.
We have about 3 small beds of cattails at different points around the pond. Should they be removed?

Is there anything you'd think I need to give attention to, besides getting the trees out of the dam?
Thanks for any help & suggestions.
'Til Later....
Old John

Life is a Hoot, Have a good-un,
Old John