Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Spring on the Horizon

New lift kit, radial tires and aluminum wheels installed and ready for spring.



Really ready for spring!

Where is Furhead Wheel Chock. Probably ready for a ride !

All of them are lying on the blacktop driveway catching some rays.

I saw a Monarch Butterfly today.

Dave Davidson1 - Monarchs swarm (thousands of them) our acreage for a day or two most every year, usually late summer and early fall.

When you see them in Texas, is it a sign of spring?

Yeah, it is a good indicator. They come here, heading your way from Central America. A better sign is that some of the native post oaks are budding. The live oaks keep their green leaves all winter but shed and renew in the Spring. They are starting to look sickly. The blackjack oaks leaves die but stay on the tree until they start budding. They still have a full collection of dead leaves. Lots of other signs. However, Mama Nature can still pull a fast one.

Spring is on the horizon.......... Snowmelt filling up the ponds


Vernal pond, built in '05, running through its pipe for the first time.

All our snow's gone here, but darn near all the ponds have a major load of ice remaining. The only exceptions I've seen are two small, shallow ponds in a valley with a huge amount of runoff; they've been ice free for about a week.

But Spring is sure coming; air temp's above 50 yesterday and today with more to come!

i saw a guy ice fishing out on a pond and only a few miles down the road a guy out in a row boat fishing. the ponds are on I-80 and are from when they dug out for the overpasses. our friends own one its about 1.5 acres and around 60 feet deep. there are some monster bass in there. my pond project is coming along well other then getting the tractor stuck. it will begin filling june 1st had to push it back from may 1st after i got the tractor stuck.

Spring is in full flush here. The wild jasmine, blackberries, and honeysuckle blossoms smell wonderful.

The old timers around here say the surest sign of spring is the pecan trees. They say that when they bud out, spring is here to stay. I've never seen it fail yet.

Bob I have heard the same thing for years. When the pecans bud no more freezing temps till next winter. Our pecans have not budded yet but are close.

My new spring gang.

I went to the country today and caught 3 small bass. I saw a turkey gobbler by himself and 3 hens together. Usually the hens are in pretty good sized flocks. They're separating.

Also, the hog plum trees are blooming. That is particularly nasty tasting wild plum. Other wild plum trees are in full bloom.

Dave....Went to the bowie flea market on Saturday. Wild plum blooming along 287 is a sure sign of spring. If we don't get another frost it will be a great year for peaches.

Bob, I have always heard that Pecans are the last to get leaves in spring and the last to lose leaves in fall.

My pecan is budding! : )

Spring is now imminent rather than on the horizon.

We have a pair of Loons hanging out here. This is a very cool and extremely rare. I don�t recall ever seeing a Loon here in the past.

A lot of local roads are being closed because of flooding caused by rapid snow-ice melt.

The honking-poop-sacs are making a lot of noise the last few days. I will be harassing them loud and often.

Dwight, we had complete ice out yesterday, back on 2/18/07 I was ice fishing on 11" of ice. Yesterdays high temp got into the 70's and today is shaping up to be even a little warmer. On a more discouraging note we did have a single comorant here this last weekend as the ice was coming off, I'm glad he didn't stay long. On a brighter side, we have had 6 dozen ducks here every day since the open water started, mostly ring necks and buffelheads so far.

The rapid snow has brought our pond up 10-12", a conservative estimate is that we have gained almost 2.5 million gallons of water in the last two weeks.

Loons are neat. Nothing says "you're up North" like hearing a Loon cut loose with that crazy call for the first time.

The spring peeper frogs have singing for about a week now. There are a lot of sinkholes with shallow water all around the woods by my place and the peepers (Hyla crucifer) love them. They remind me it is time to net some Gambushia and put them in the holes for mosquito control.

On Wednesday, our area had temps in the 70's. The outlet from the big pond had open flow with some black ducks enjoying themselves. Today temps are in the high 20s with 12-16" of snow predicted. We're having a temporary recall on spring.

Russ - When we have a major snow event, it is invariably accompanied by winds of 30-45 mph.

Do you have the big winds too?

Fear not, spring will not be denied!

Dwight,

This storm did have some winds associated with it but not 30-45 mph. Not sure of the official snowfall amount but I would guess 16-18". I hope spring time temps return soon to expedite snow melt because the pond ice is too thin to attempt manual snow removal.

it was around 40 today moved a lot of logs and hatched an insaine plan to double the size of the pond now i just gotta convince my dad. :rolleyes: its suppose to be 60-70 this week with 1-3" of rain thursday or friday.

I'm just glad my feeder is running

The recent flooding has caused the ground water table to rise approximately 30 inches. The ice pack is now free floating as it rises with the water table.