Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Property Projects & Construction What did you do at your pond today?

So fun to watch the fish feed. I was recently watching ours too and shot a video of it. When I got home downloaded the video to the computer and played it on the monitor vs just seeing it on my phone. Something that really helped on the view from the PC was to play the video at .25 speed. Made it much easier to identify which species of fish were feeding. Our BG move in slow motion compared to the YP that are apparently equipped with some sort of inspector gadget rocket boosters.

I think there's an option as well on the iPhone that you can pause the video, zoom in on the area and then use a finger to drag the video second by second to help as well.

Fast fish are definitely harder to catch. Even more so when they are small.

Agreed!!

The feeding situation is such a sim-world kind of thing. 100% unnatural. But so good.....

Had family over yesterday for a birthday party and everyone had fun at the pond swimming fishing and catching tadpoles. Youngest son caught the first RES ever out of pond (it was stocked two years ago) and one of the grandsons caught an 11" SMB new pond record.

the trees look like somewhere in the midwest but the water looks like the tropics! Must be amazing chemistry that keeps even the rocks clear of any coating.

Everyone looks to be super stoked about their time around the pond. Congrats!!

Yesterday, I stocked (25) LMB that were approx. 6-7", (5) HSB that were 8-10", and 20 Yellow Perch that were 6-7" in my neighborhood pond.

All seemed to go in healthy and no morts as of yesterday evening.

Nice Sunil!

That pond is essentially run as a long-term, Sunil ladder stocking project, is it not?

Do you generally know what is caught and removed, or are there times when neighbors and kids fish unbeknownst to you? And you therefore have to guess a little more at your existing population?

Occasionally you post good results from that pond. Whatever you are doing must be working pretty well!

No visible morts thus far. I can't say for 100% certainty that I can see the new fish hitting feed, but I feel like I saw some unique "boils" on the water.

Rod, I guess 'yes,' to your first question. The only deliberate removals of fish was when we took out 85 adult bluegill to stock in my neighbor's pond. Residents of the neighborhood do fish the pond, and I don't always know when that happens, nor is there any requirement to notify me. We've definitely had a few morts of at least bluegill over the years from fishing/gut hooks, but statistically, very low on the count.

While I have no distinct knowledge of specific poaching, I'm sure it's probably happened. I have busted non-residents fishing over the years.

I pretty much go off of visual observation and some fishing results to know what I should stock.

Is your formerly posted avatar with the black rifle a pic of you satisfactorily busting poachers?
Likely very effective!

Good catch 4Corners.

I didn't realize the picture of Sunil "and his little friend" was missing.

"I have no recollection of that, Senator."


I'm not sure what happened to that picture. Dwight had put that on my profile.

My goat avatar disappeared too. Not a game changer, but I'm not happy about it, not at all.

On another note, I'm on my 4th out of my 5th consecutive year dealing with blue/green algae. I'm starting to see a trend, and I'll know more in a day or two. It started a couple of weeks ago and I initially treated it with $1,900 worth of bacteria, which was working, prior to another round or 2 of torrential rains. When done, I hope Bill C takes a look at it.

Are you going to create a post on that algae after getting your final results?

I think that would be a good addition to the archives since we have lots of humans, pets, cattle, etc. in our ponds and don't want to deal with any of the toxic types of blue/green algae in those situations.


P.S. Is the new goat fitting in well with his new family and still treating your wife like royalty?

If I can lock down what causes the blue/green cycle to break down, I will. It may take a few weeks to confirm what I'm watching every day. Multiple cows in a huge watershed pounded by spring rains is what always causes it, but low rain totals don't hurt my pond as bad. 2 of the 4 cycles have been problematic, but little, if any, loss on any of them.

That spoiled little Nubian turd. He went from the outhouse to the penthouse and knows it. Vanilla wafers are his treat of choice.

Pumpkin seeds spawning like crazy now, I've already seen newly hatched little fellas while snorkeling, lots more coming!

Nice!

I bet there are several people down here in the States that would like some of your Pumpkinseeds if we could only figure out a way to easily ship them via Private Messages!


P.S. Snorkeling in Ontario at the start of June sounds a little ... brisk.

It is chilly but I wear a 3/4 wet suit. Surface temps are 20 (69F) anything 1 to 2 feet and below starts to get really cold. Come get them I have tens of thousands of 2 to 3 inchers now, I'll be putting bass in soon though!

If I could sneak them across the border I'd be on the road asap.

FIH, concentrate on observing water temp and N/P ratios. (the latter would need accurate water tests to track the levels).

Only way to stop the cycle is to keep the water from getting to the temp where it loves to grow and/or keep the N/P ratios below where it likes.

If my memory is correct, it loves 20:1-25:1 N/P ratios, and still grows in water that has a 30:1-15:1 N/P ratio. Get the N/P ratio at or below 5:1 and it will have a hard time growing. That's why nutrient mitigation in ponds is so critical. I'd have to dig into my notes to be sure though.

Bacteria works on the N aspect, Aluminum sulfate/PhosLoc works on the P aspect.

Well I didn't do those all in one day but managed to get things done in a hurry. After my dam blow out I decided to do things right. Installed a monk drain with 36 inch culvert and placed it so that if my dam blows again ill only loose about 3 feet of water.

The dam width is about 35 feet on top with a 1 to 3 pitch on the water side and similar on the other side.

Clay type was amazing, got really lucky with maybe 3 different types of clay so the keyway, face and rest of it was done right and shaped with an excavator with tilting bucket.

I still have to finish a spillway but I'm taking my time on it as the 36 inch culvert will handle about 3 times what can ever find its way to it...or more.

The white oak boards have sealed up and are about 40 inches high, water doesn't even trickle out the culvert.

A mixture of vetch, rye, and Kentucky Bluegrass was seeded all around it and ots taken really well.

Lake is 13 feet deep for about 2 acres and 4 acres averages 7 to 8 feet.

Water drops right off around most of it but I did leave a few large areas of gravel for spawning beds.

When the dam blew I thought I lost everything but one small area survived and there were thousands of sunfish that survived and I put 200 brookies in there during the winter before the dam burst...and there were still lots left in a couple of feet of water in one section.

The water is topped up with mainly Springwater and some flow from upper ponds that I can control.

There are no bass in it yet, I put about 60 pounds of dace and fhm on it as well as some sucker minnows and creek chubs... they are about 10 inches long now.

I put 520, 3 to 5 inch brookies in as well as about 350 rainbows from 8 to 16 inches with most being around 14 inches. I watch them jumping every day.

Sunfish are spawning, bass fingerlings going in soon, just a few. The rainbows and brookies are for some fishing tourneys with my buds, when they get decimated I'll focus on bass and some walleye.

DO is over 14ppm right now and ph is 7.8

Awesome work, awesome pond tiny lake!

Awesome looking BOW there TL!

Awesome!!!!

I pulled the aeration diffuser out of my pond over the weekend and replaced it due to excessive back pressure at the pump.
I must have missed getting it into the hydrogen peroxide bath when I was cleaning them back in the early spring.
With a properly-washed diffuser ring it's back to ~8psi running pressure and making quite a large boil at the surface.

How high was your back pressure at the pump before you pulled that diffuser?

How visibly obstructed was the diffuser when you pulled it? Any chance a cursory inspection would NOT have caught the obstructions for the people that don't have a gauge in their system?

(For new members that might read this thread. I am not an aeration expert. However, I believe every single expert in the forum advises to include a pressure gauge in your aeration system!)