Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Rain Rain - where the heck are you?

Does anyone recall being this far behind on rain in mid-June?

I am renovating the edges of my lake while it is drained down, but without any rain, I may reevaluate my plan and clean out the entire lake after it dries up!

We are about 4.5" behind in rain this year. I have a feeling that when it comes it might be more than we want. In the meantime get that work done.

Wish I could ship you some of the rain in southern Indiana. In May we got 4.7" in 8 hours and two days ago, 2". My 2 acre pond sits in a ravine with a 65 acre watershed. The first big rain probably delivered enough water to fill the whole pond and turned the water brown and muddy. The water rushing over the spillway blew grapefruit-sized rock about 150 feet downstream. No telling how many of my fish ended up in someone elses' creek!

Dave,

Here in northern Indiana we have seen some rain but not a lot. I've noticed storms streaming up this way via radar but when they get anywhere near us they disipate. Trying to get some grass going under burlap around two new ponds and it looks like the soaker hose etc. will have to be used.

Alligator and Texas715 be careful what you ask for. It is huricane season right?

I've had property in East Texas now for about 25 years...this is the driest it has ever been at this time of year for that entire time period.

I have seen it in August and September in worse condition, but if this current trend continues, this will be the worst by far.

I was going to drain a small pond with HSB growers and transfer them to a larger pond, but now can't do that because I need the pond water for livestock. Hay crops are going to be slim if we don't get rain very soon.

Cecil,

Indeed it is and with all the new dirt work on my place - the one thing I dont want is big rains washing out everything. I spread grass seeds weeks ago...not much is coming up...just bare dirt at this point.

Ok, now I am complaining. I want "just the right amount of rain".

Gator,

On the serious side, you really do want some moisture in your clay when under construction. It will pack much better and your chances of leaks are reduced significantly. When building my 3.5 acre pond four years ago, we hit a very dry stretch in August and simply stopped construction activities until late September when it rained. It was so dry, the clay would not compact so we just stopped until we got some moisture.

Thanks Meadow.

All of the heavy dirt work is complete. The lake is just sitting there baking in the sun and waiting for rain. I have a lot of over-growth in the middle of my (now half dry) lake that grew in after the draw down. Lots of small willows and head-high brush. I was musing at the propsects of taking a whack at it too. When I first started the project - I assumed it would be begining to fill by now, but it looks like I may have some extra time on my hands. Any votes on whack vs.no whack?

Gator,

If it will be underwater when the lake fills, then I'd vote for no whack..make great structure as is...as long as it can't get to the surface where it could continue to grow.

Yes, I tend to agree. So far I have been whacking the big trees that were previously there, died after the lake filled and are now dry again due to the draw down. It's a really weird situation. Its like having a shoreline that will be re-submerged and inside the real shoreline. Should provide awesome structure once it is all under water again.

I got 3.5 inches of rain last week. However, it fell slow over a couple of days. It helped the soil but did almost nothing for the water holes.

I would clobber the brush, especially the willows. Spray them with Remedy. Those things can be a nightmare when they are growing in the water. They spread like welfare recipients.

We had the 3rd driest May on record here in Middle Tennessee. We've had a couple of inches recently, but the ground just sucked it up. It's been a month and a half since we had a good runoff rain. Now it looks like no rain for the next week as well. I hope it is not a sign of things to come.

Experiencing the same thing on my East Texas pond. It was full at the beginning of the dry spell now us down about foot in overal depth and has exposed as much as 2-4 of new shoreline in some of the gradual sloping areas. I agree, its a good time to get some shoreline work done and continue to do the ole rain dance. Good time to pull out those cattails you don't want.

What are you guys thoughts on the lack of rain this year and the last couple of years in relation to shifting weather patterns / global warming?

I fear that we are simply seeing some weather pattern shifts that may worsen rather than improve.