Hello everyone my name is Tom Ryan, Very happy to join Pond Boss this looks like the perfect place to learn pond management.
I am hoping for some help with an issue we have been having with our community pond. Our pond is normally very clear, but for the last 2-3 years it turns brown in the fall and stays brown until late spring plus it also has brown scum or algae floating on the surface during this time. This issue has never happened before our pond has always maintained good water clarity all year.
Culprit or Coincidence? On April 4th, 2020 a city water main pipe that runs parallel 20 feet from our south shoreline burst and the treated city water gushed into the pond for about 24 hours before it could be repaired. This actually happened twice when the repair needed to be repaired. lol The gushing water was brown in color possibly due to soil erosion before it entered our pond; however, it did change a portion of the water to brown. It appeared to stay contained to a small area of our pond 3-4 acres where it had flowed in and was only visible for a few days then the clarity became normal and remained clear all summer until fall the entire pond changed to brown with a surface scum in areas and has been repeating this cycle for the last 2-3 years. The old sandpits in our area have not been affected.
I am told the water had been tested by a local lab and all is healthy with the exception of some lake turbidity. Can it be rust or something that was in the city water lines that contaminated the whole pond? It is a large horseshoe-shaped pond not sure how it could travel to the other side of the pond. Could this be a winter-long turnover and if so why just the last few years? Should I get it retested?
If this annual issue is due to the city waterline break, without actual proof and the 2-year time that has lapsed It would probably be impossible for me to hold the city responsible.
The pond is a horseshoe shape sandpit of approximately 11 acres with a max depth of 30’ sandy bottom with rip rap rock lining 90% of the shoreline, 25+ years old. Fishing is average LMB, bluegill, Carp, and a few crappies. We have been trying to add vegetation but with the sandy bottom, the ducks and carp seem to devour or uproot as soon as we get them planted will take another swing this spring.
You almost certainly answered the question of why your water is brown in the last sentence of your post....CARP! Where there are common carp, I'd bet you also have bullhead catfish that are also rooting around on the bottom and suspending sediments into the water. Do a jar test to see if your water clears...Just get a sample of lake water in a clear glass jar, cover it, and let it sit undisturbed for 5 days...if some sediment sinks to the bottom of the jar, mechanical action is the cause of turbidity (wind/wave action or fish)....you can place a second sample jar in a dark closet for 5 days also...if rhe cause is an algae, it will die and either sink or float in the jar........The scum looks to just be a combination of protein slime from natural organis decay with lots of dust and pollen trapped in it...a decent rain will get rid of it
The new issue Jan-Feb 2023 of PBoss magazine editor Lusk mentions use of gill nets and a few other methods in his article EVALUATING YOUR FISHERY pg 38-39. There is also a net called a flag net that is a version of a gill net.. Flag nets are the least expensive of the gill nets, but when used in still water and little or no wind, they are still quite effective in catching fish. Flag nets aka shirt tail nets are constructed out of multifilament or monofilament gill netting with a small rope at the top. There are no floats, leads or bottom rope. The net is fished by tying it between trees, stakes, or jugs. As the fish approaches the net, the water displaced by the fish's movement causes the netting to swirl, catching the fish through gilling or tangling. Flag nets are not recommended in moving water or in windy conditions. Several net companies make and sell gill and flag nets.
If you are going to use the cotton seed meal cakes as bait I would first chum with small portions of cotton seed meal bait in the area where you want to fish daily for a few days prior to using hooks in the bait. Baiting the area get the carp attracted and actively feeding on the bait. Let us know how well the cotton seed meal bait works.
I’ll tell you how I got rid of my carp, you can buy cottonseed cakes at about any bait store, take a gallon milk jug or any jug, put about 5 ft of trot line, or about 180 lb line on the handle and tie a weight on the end of the line. About 2ft above the weight, tie on a trot line hook so it stays off the bottom, just the weight should hit the bottom of the pond, leaving the hook suspended in about 3 ft off the bottom of the pond. Hook the cottonseed cake to the hook, they come with a hole in the center of the cake, just push the hook thru the hole, make a loop and put the hook thru the loop. Now just throw the jug line in the middle of the pond and let it float. When the jug drifts towards the shore, the weight will hit the bottom, it will leave the bait about 2 ft off the bottom, that leaves a better chance of them getting hooked, works like a charm. You can throw out as many jug lines as you need, only thing is you need a boat to chase the jugs when the carp are hooked. You will know when they are hooked, cause the jug will be bobbing like a bobber. The reason for the cottonseed cake as bait is that about the only fish I have that will eat them is carp, my grandpa showed me this way to catch carp, he kinda liked eating them, not me so much, Good luck, if you try this, let us know how it works for ya Gregg
You could try a gill net. Size the mesh according to the size of the fish you want to remove.
That's a good idea that I don't remember seeing on Pond Boss before!
I think it might work for any big fish to be culled from a pond where the desirable fish are out of that size range.
You could build a floating fish cage with the four side panels made of gill nets. Chum the interior of the cage with the preferred food of your target species. Make it a floating cage so when a big fish fights to get free, part of the energy will go to moving the cage, rather than tearing up the net. Tether the cage to the dock or shore for easy management.
Wanted to thank everyone for the quick reply, and also to add an update on our muddy water problems.
Contacted the City Department Manager's on-site meeting and after 2 hours of denial they do not think this brown water could be due to the 2 separate water main ruptures, the list of their investigations was endless 1. Grass clipping or fertilizer from the lawn mower company that services the lawn around the lake. (Same company for years they push mow and bag the grass adjacent to the shoreline). 2. Excess Stormwater runoff ( even though we have been in a drought for almost 2 years now) 3. My personal little 2 hp water fountain by my dock ( I run for a few hours on a weekend mainly for aesthetics) 4. The concrete around one of the street gutters had been stained with iron from the water well irrigation very common for all the neighborhoods in the area ( Although the lake water only turns brown in the winter months when our sprinkler system is shut down). late spring and throughout summer months the clarity is back to normal very clear 6-10 foot visibility. 5. The city slickers wanted to visit other sandpits in the area to compare ( we have 4 or 5 within a square mile) ALL of the sandpit ponds were normal like the water clarity we used to have all year long. So after they finished scratching their heads and trying to align the stars to avoid responsibility they decide to send out a groundwater specialist. Scheduled for Friday (yesterday) No word back on that yet.
Yesterday we took a water sample to a local swimming pool store after looking at the sample in a mason jar which actually looks pretty darn clear with the exception of rust-colored looking blobs that have no substance when you try to pick it up, but it was not very cloudy like one would think. The manager really believes it may be red or brown algae and should be visible through a microscope that hydrogen peroxide may be a good test, and he also saw that the water is high in PH and copper, he recommended not to swim in the lake until it is fixed. Adding the test results below.
My personal tests using glass mason jars, again to these old man eyes the water almost looks pretty clear so the water samples have has the brown substance as I described (above) while the others do not.
Adding alum sulfate stance mix stir the jar and the brown substance settles to the top
Adding hydrogen peroxide same result as alum sulfate
Adding Gypsum the water looks like black coffee, maybe using the wrong type of gypsum (pelletized from a local store)
Adding nothing the substance also settles to the top just takes more time.
I am not sure if this helps any of you to help pinpoint or direct us in the right direction. One thing I do know for sure is the fish will be calling me in soon and I would rather be in a boat answering their calls than in front of this computer. Thank you guys and gals ahead of time,
Alum is only a very temporary a solution for your lake since it is "normally" clear. Also, a natural turnover is not going to cause turbidity, nor will 20 ducks muddy 11 total acres. Until you find the mechanical cause for the turbidity, the water will not clear except when under ice. Do you have areas of heavy bank erosion? Does the lake have considerable wind/wave action. Has anyone added Koi? Are there any common capr or bullhead catfish?
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