Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Renovating a Pond or Lake? COUPLE POND RENOVATION QUESTIONS

My pond was dug in early spring and has a pretty sandy base with little or no muck yet, about 1/2 to 3/4 acre in size. In april I had some LMB, HBG & 25 lBS. of FHM stocked. The pond is averaging about 7' deep on the deep end & 3' on the shallow end. I have decided I want more depth so I have hired the guy that dug the pond to get the deep end to 20' and the shallow end to 8'. I really want to try to keep rainbows year round if possible. My question is weather or not I will loose my fish to the renovation? I have about 35 LMB and 200 HBG (that have both done awsome so far). The fact that the bottom is mostly sand should help.......I think (no or little silt to stir up). Since the contractor is not going to do the work until December I was thinking about adding 20 trout or so for fall and winter fishing, but I do not want wo spend any more money on fish if I will lose them to the renovation. Any input would help.

Thanks!!!!!!

Are you going to drain and dig? It would be hard to keep the water in while digging.

Can you build a larger, taller dam behind the existing one? Seems that would be the best solution and you'll end up with a very nice submerged island.

Bigbrando

Like Rainman said it could be better to go to get more water than go down, talk to the dirt guy.

Doing much work in the water is tuff.

Otto

Just a quick update. The contractor drained the pond down about 4' to expose the shallow end. I was at the pond as they were finishing up the digging about two weeks ago and did not see any dead fish. As far as I can tell I have only lost 1 HGB on the intake side of the pump. He was able to dig the shallow end out about another 5'-6' and was in clay all the way (very comforting) considering my pond was dug in a sand box of sorts. From what I can tell the pond has went from 240' x 105' to about 260' x 130' and much deeper. I am heading back up north on Friday to reinstall the aerator and verify if my fish made it. From everything I could see it looked pretty positive. I talked to the contractor last week and he said the measuring stick I put on the shore two weeks ago is allready about 18" under water. I will give you guys an update next week. Please say a prayer for my fish!!!!!!!!!!

PRAYING FOR THE FISH!!!!

A little confused to say the least. I made it up north this weekend to do a little hunting and check on the pond. I still have no sign of losing any fish, not a single floater!! I tried throwing in some food and no action at all. Is it possible the fish made it but will not come to the feed due to the cold weather? It has been mid 30's in the day and low 30's at night. I would think if I lost most of my fish I would see at least 1 dead one. The contractor & myself has not seen one dead fish. I am going back up next week and I am going to try fishing and see if I can get some action. Any thoughts or similar experiences?

I've had similar results on my pond that was just stocked this fall. I've had just a couple floaters but not a lot of visible fish. My pond is just steps from the house and I've noticed activity from a distance after I've hand spread some pellets, but nothing while I am out there. I'm sure (or at least I've convinced myself) that this is more a product of the cold weather we've had the past couple weeks than anything else.

It's definitely been too cold up here to expect to see feeding behavior, even if you aren't frozen over.

It has been awhile since an update. Renovation is done and looks great! After receiving about 30" of snow and then warm rains pond is once again full to the brim, I am a little scared to see what I am going to be dealing with in the spring. I tried ice fishing a couple weeks ago with no action, I even left a tip up in for about 24 hours with no avail. I am scared my fish did not fair well. I am still a bit optimistic because I am yet to see a dead fish!! My gut feeling is they did not make it but you never know. Any thougts are welcomed.

My amature guess is that it is too early (and probably too cold) to make any judgement calls. Fish can live through some amazing stuff. Perhaps one of the pond experts like, say Theo for instance, can provide their thoughts here.

Dennis, your mother, Alice Mitchell, is calling you.

P.S. I was playing mumblety peg with a junior engineer, using MIRV warheads. I hope this is really that important.

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Brando, I don't know enough about ice fishing to comment on the lack of activity.

Dead fish don't have to float, but a good % of my morts seem to. Hang in there, I doubt everything died from the renovation. Spring is just around the corner with a much better possibility of determining status on your fish. And of restocking anything, if needed.

I have no idea what the heck you mean here, and probably don't really want to know. Just answer me this, is South Dakota still there or not?

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Brando,

Sorry about all the interuptions. Some of us, not mentioning any names here, but some of us have a short attention span.

In summer of 2007 I had a significant fish kill. I didn't see a fish in my pond for months in the fall and winter. Then in 2008 I saw and caught all kinds of fish.

Don't give up all hope just yet.

Next time you visit Dave, have him tell you about the night in Tijuana when Theo taught him how to play.
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Well I now have a glimmer of hope. Thanks!!

I go through 2 fish kills a year in my forage pond. Some always survive and replenish it.

Well I had a chance to check things out over the weekend and I am in a state of mourning. I noticed several dead fish frozen in the top of the ice which leads me to believe the fish died due to the renovation (i think). I was happy to see the catfish I planted in April around 3"-4" were about 10"! I found about 5 dead HBG and 4 catfish. I did not see any Bass so I am hoping something made it. I guess I will have to wait another month or so to confirm.

Brando, what part of MI are you in? I'm in Van Buren County in the southwest. With the cold temps we had this January (20+ below), we had a significant ice over on my landscape ponds which resulted in a total fish kill (koi). Maybe your fish died from the same?

Go Spartans!!!

I live in Oakland county but my pond is in Iosco county. I allready talked to my fish supplier and put a list for him togeather. Try it again I guess.