Pond Boss Forums INTRO New Forum Member Introduction New guy in NE MN with natural pond

Hello all, I became a member earlier this year and I am finally taking the time to post. I have spent many hours browsing the forum and website, gaining a lot of valuable information. The fiance has been getting on me about actually posting since I have spent so much time on the site.

The property is located near Tamarack, MN which is about a 1 hour drive west of Duluth. It is owned by a very good friend (GG) who purchased it over 12 years ago. We (my brother, best friend and I) met them a few years after they purchased the land and have helped with developing the land and maintenance. The owners have become some of our best friends even though there is a 30 year age difference.

A majority of the property development has been completed. This included remodeling the farm house, a new garage with living quarters, a new barn, and the relocation of a small cabin. Overall the property is used as a hobby farm, family hunting area, and they have annual Oktoberfest and Midsummer parties.

Now the pond needs help. Currently the pond does little more than sit there and look nice (which it does a very good job of). The pond is about 10 acres with a max depth of 12 feet. The intended uses of the pond are fishing, swimming and just generally enjoying it.

• Swimming: During the summers a raft is kept out in the deep area which people usually get to with a paddle boat. There is a large amount of vegetation around the pond edges. The bottom is also very mucky. I believe this is mainly from decaying vegetation and not runoff as it is fairly flat in the area. We would probably want to clear the vegetation from an area around the dock for swimming. Clearing the vegetation would probably help with the mucky bottom as well?
• Fishing: The pond was stocked with largemouth bass, hybrid bluegill, and black crappie in the fall of 2009. They were given suggestions for numbers from the fish hatchery that is located in central Minnesota. Based on what I researched black crappie may not do as well in a smaller pond (stunting?). And I also feel that regular bluegill would have been better than HBG, but that cannot be changed now. There seems to be a good forage base with a large amount of minnows that have survived the winterkills and have hiding places in the vegetation. Also a small NP was caught earlier this year, which I know may be bad for the pond. Not a lot of fishing has been done to see how the fish stocked two years ago are doing. I think that they will be a bit slower growing in this area. We are also a bit concerned about spawning areas. There is no need to grow trophy fish. GG is more interested in having a decent population of average sized fish that nieces, nephews, grandkids, and other farm visitors can catch.
• Aeration: Winterkill is probably the largest concern when it comes to the fish. There is currently a windmill for aeration. Based on my research I doubt the windmill does much for helping with a pond of this size. Suggestions for keeping the pond healthy through winters with frequent below 0 temps would be great! Possibly in the summers as well? We have looked into a oxygen sensor and GG has plans to purchase one soon.
  

Please, let me know what other information would be helpful for giving advice. GG has been looking for information he has about a pond management plan. Something had been put together by the previous owner but they were not able to follow through. I will post some pictures later and some more detailed posts in the related forums.

I do have my own aspirations for a pond located on the family farm in the same area of Minnesota, but that is still a few years into the future. So I hope to learn a lot from all of the pond managers here!

Tjohnson - welcome to Pond Boss.

When I saw your location, I got a lump in my stomach. About 30 years ago, I got the worst case of food poisoning ever, after a stop for gas just west metropolitan Tamarack, near McGregor. I think it was at a Holiday station where I picked up a container of locally made pickled herring and some smoked sausage sticks. I think I ate all of it by the time I got to Cloquet. By the time I got to Superior, I was hoping I could die.

Anyway, your pond sounds fantastic. At 12-foot deep, I don't think I'd worry too much about winterkill. There are a lot of lakes around your area in MN and WI with depths not much greater than that. Winters with lots of snow will be the biggest challenge. You need to be able to get sunshine below the for ice most of the winter to generate oxygen for the fish. Think about snow blowing or plowing some areas.

I wouldn't worry too much about the hybrid bluegill. Hopefully, very few have reproduced. Depending on the size of your bass and northerns, you can just add northern strain bluegill. I wouldn't normally suggest transferring bluegill from public waters, but you may need some large bluegill to prevent predation by the bass and pike before the bluegill can start to seriously reproduce to provide forage. If you can't buy bluegill at least six inches long, I'd try to find some locally.

If you can keep healthy bass and a few pike, they may keep the crappie under control. Your pond is also big enough that they may not even be a problem. The best thing to do is to never-ever throw a crappie back into the pond.

For swimming in the pond, swimming can be one of the best things to clear the area of muck. If that doesn't work, think about using a trash pump to take the muck down to the sand. If you can get it down to the sand, the small amount that will collect autumn will be destroyed by swimming the following summer.

We've got some serious experts here on the forum for ponds like yours. One is south of you in MN. The other is our favorite PhD from South Dakota State University. Together, they can provide some real high quality advice.


Ken

Thank you for the advice Ken! Overdosing on pickled herring is never fun. I usually have that happen to me at least once a year when I have gone a few months without any.

There are a lot of small natural lakes in this area that we would usually fish by canoe. The only ones that seemed to sustain decent fish populations naturally had depths of at least 20 feet. When shallower ones had fish they usually had creeks flowing through them.

I will make some posts in specific forums. Also, I will post some pictures here shortly once I figure it out.

Here is an aerial pic from Google Earth.



A couple more pics of the pond taken from by the barn towards northeast.