Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Whirpool effect in my pond???

Not sure where to post this question. The other night I was fishing with absolutely no wind and I noticed all the cotton on the surface of the pond circulating on the north 1/3 of the pond. It was very slow moving but the cotton looked like it was spinning in a big whirlpool.

What could cause this? Being a virgin pond owner, only thing I can think of is a hole in the bottom of the pond. It's probably 5.5' deep in the center of the circulation. And like I said it was moving VERY VERY slowly. The picture I attached you can kind of see the cotton in a circular shape.

Let me know any thoughts. THANKS!

Were you by chance paddling in a boat at any time recently? When one of our ponds filled I was paddling around and was amazed at seeing whirlpools at various places in the pond 10-40 yards away from me. I thought the same thing - is the pond draining? I then noted that when I paddled I was leaving whirlpools behind me, and upon watching a few, it took a surprisingly long time for them to stop spinning - it seemed that several went on for minutes after I was long past them.

We haven't had a boat in there in a few weeks. That picture was taken on Monday and I noticed last night it was doing it again, same location. I would say the diameter of the moving cotton was close to 60 feet across. I'm stumped.

Heat changes in water and wind can do strange things. We often have water moving in different directions at the same time.

Natural heat exchange can do this, just like a low-pressure or high-pressure system in the atmosphere.

Maybe a bunch of the fish were swimming around the pond edge in one direction, or the surrounding landscape was moving the little bit of wind present such that it caused the swirl? Very interesting...

Yeah, it was strange to see. Sounds like it's nothing to worry about. Thanks guys!

I have a very small pond with a leak in the bottom which renders it unusable. I see the same vortex when it catches water.

Springs coming up from the bottom will do the same thing.

air swirling around the pond surface!

It is spring fed, just not sure where the spring is. However, the spring doesn't keep it full. It doesn't seem to be losing any more water than just daily evaporation though, so I'm going to chalk it up to mother nature.