Pond Boss Forums INTRO Common Pond Q&A (archives) Habitat=Structure + Cover + Spawning area

Yesterday, MARKALLEN asked about structure placement. Here are some hints.

At the conference in March, one of my talks is about habitat. This short narrative is a primer. Habitat is what a plant, amphibian, fish or other living thing needs to be able to reproduce, feed, live, loaf and thrive.

"Cover" is a place where fish congregate. "Cover" isn't necessarily permanent. It can be aquatic plants, or a rock pile. "Structure" is a place where fish congregate, is permanent, as a creek channel or fallen log, or an underwater island.

Remember your goals and pay attention to the species you plan to manage. Want bass? You need bass cover, not only for adult bass, but also for little ones and intermediate size fish. If you have bass, you will want bluegill. Bluegill cover is totally different than bass cover.

Place structure in ponds in water less than 8 feet deep. Place most of it peripherally. Put none in the middle and avoid the spillway.

Provide the type of structure each species prefers. Largemouth bass like a variety of cover, depending on the size of the fish. Fry congregate in schools of thousands of fish. They swim as a unit for several days, then head for dense cover, as thich vegetation or something like a Christmas tree. Larger bass prefer "fluffy" cover, where they can hide as well as ambush their prey. Big bass love to hang out in fairly shallow water, near a point with some kind of definable structure as big rocks, a tree trunk or creek channel, with quick access to deep water.

Bluegill, on the other hand, would much rather have dense cover, such as weed beds, rock piles or thick brush, like a beaver lodge.

Smallmouth bass love deeper water with rip-rap style rocks, about as big as a basketball, or larger. Their preferred food lives in rocks, and smallmouth relate to rocks.

Learn how each species of fish spawns and provide that habitat. Largemouth bass need a firm substrate in water four to six feet deep. Bluegill makes crater-like nests in water less than two feet deep, normally. They nest in colonies.

Here's where most people don't know what to do. Even when you figure out what types of cover to use, most people don't know where to put it. I was looking at a drained lake a month or so ago. Cover placement was random. Fish aren't random.

Place cover/structure/habitat where it creates a community and travel paths. Build condos, grocery stores, highways and intersections. When fish travel, they don't prefer moving across wide open spaces. Give them sparse structure between condos. A "condo" typically is at least six feet square and four feet tall, in the water column down to eight feet deep.

That's a start...gotta go.

See also this archives link for specific types of cover and structure, including links to pics , how to make them and where to put them.

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=92463#Post92463