Does a thick muck bottom (1'+ deep) literally covering the entire bottom of a pond) interfere with spawning of sport fish (bass and brim) to the extent that it will decrease the productivity of a pond significantly? Numerous sources report these fish prefer a firm bottom and some sources state this in such a way as to almost suggest they require a firm bottom.

They spawn in shallow water and fan out a nest area with their tail. I doubt that there will be a problem.

no not at all



Most of my shoreline is muck - very little wash out sand at a creek mouth, and a few small areas of clay at run off locations. Bluegills will spawn any where but they choose clay over muck. That said, I easily have over 100 beds in muck per spawning season. The larger males battle for the prime areas.

My bass don't seem to care at all but they will bed near wood more than 80% of the time. My black crappie, always in the thick wood or curly leaf pondweed beds

The question should really be "Does a Muck Bottom Interfere with the successful hatching of spawning fish?"

Want to take a stab at answering your (accurate) rephrasing of my question?

The more suspended solids that precipitate out of the water column and land on the eggs, the less O2 transfers into the egg. Will the male fish be able to keep the eggs clean enough to ensure hatching? Or will there be less eggs hatching because of the substrate isn't optimal?