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Now maybe I am like a sailor that has been out too sea without seeing a woman in far too long or maybe it's just the lighting that's making her look so good, but that looks like some mighty fine looking water to me!!! It couldn't have shown up soon enough for me!! Just crossing my fingers there's some fish!

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]

Last edited by wbuffetjr; 05/11/20 02:50 PM.

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Yes, beautiful green tinge there, lets think positive, with open holes most of the winter you have to have some hardy splake and scuds survive right? When is your buddy able to get us pictures? Would love to see if the crayfish made it too...

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Thanks Canyon! I am more positive this year than the last couple years. Hard to pin him down to an exact day but hopefully real soon. Still going to be hike in for him at this point. This pic was taken this weekend by a neighbor and is over a half mile from the cabin. The last stretch of the drive to our place is the absolute last to lose all the snow every year. It doesn't look that deep where they stopped in the pic, but that area gets some sun. On up from there it's lots of shade, significantly more snow and STEEP the rest of the way.

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]

Last edited by wbuffetjr; 05/11/20 03:27 PM.

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Buddy went up to the place to check on things. He turned on the small pump so now we are running two pumps at the same time. I think this will make a significant impact. I am going to throw as much air as possible at it until ice forms.

He said the wind was brutal and made it difficult to verify any fish survival. A neighbor went up with him and thought he saw a couple boils, but my buddy isn't ready to say it was fish.

All ice is off and things should start greening up soon.
[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]

DO looks great, but that is probably to be expected this time of year. He only took one reading 4' to 5' deep. Way too windy to try to go out in the canoe and the boat motor is in storage.
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Well I got some PHENOMENAL news today!!! My buddies went up and the fish survived the winter again!!! They tried to fish for a little bit but there was too much wind again. Before the wind got too crazy they saw 8-10 hit the surface. Enough they were both confident to 100% confirm fish!! Don't know how many, but they are there. Feeling more confident about stocking fish this year.

Both pumps have been running simultaneous for 8 days now. DO levels are OFF the charts (for our place)! 5' deep temp was 54 degrees and 9.2 PPM!! Again, way too windy to get out on the lake in the canoe to get readings any deeper - 25-30 mph winds on the anemometer!

That is fish survival 3 years in a row!!


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That's awesome! Might be some lunkers lurking 🤔


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TREMENDOUS news!! So happy and can't wait to see the pictures of the fish and critters in the shallows!

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Thanks fellas! Can't wait to get out there and do some fishing. I should have trout bigger than any trout I've ever caught before. Can't wait!


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Couple buddies went up to our place to go fishing. They had a heck of a time. Caught a bunch of fish. Even had one Ultra Light rod snapped in half - No joke! He said the fish took off, folded the rod over and then boom! You know how fish stories go - they caught one even bigger than this but didn't have the camera. Now if I can just get them to quit holding them by the gills! This is a two year old Splake.

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Quite the fish there, wbuffetjr! 2 years old? They do have lots of natural foods, don't they! Those scuds, although small, are packed with nutrients, it seems.
I agree, get your buddies to hold the fish with two hands and sideways to the camera so we can see their beauty. Splake and tigers are the next best thing to brookies, aren't they?

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Thanks 4CP! Yes that fish is two years old. I stocked the Splake on 10.20.2018 at 5-8". I do agree with you, splake and tigers are next best thing. I really am determined to grow Brookies. I am still hoping some have survived and they just didn't catch any this trip. We will see. Here a pic of the splake when we stocked them. I got them straightened out on handling the fish!!!

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]


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Nothing like 5"-6" of snow in mid June to keep it real!!

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Snow on the peaks all around here this am. La Platas had a dusting; Engineer and The Needles had some real Freshies.
The Weather Liars predicted 29 degrees here last night (6500 feet), 22 in Mancos (7000 feet), more frost down McElmo Canyon in the region's gardening belt. Temps dropped to 37. Weather Liars lived up to their reputations.
As long as ice isn't forming on your lake, you're progressing, right?

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4CP - Oh I am definitely progressing. I have no fear of ice or anything like that. Up there it's like Mother Nature is bipolar or maybe quadpolar! I'm just documenting the fun! A guy below us at ~8,900' said he got 5" of extremely wet snow at his place. We usually get some amount more than him. Sometimes a lot more, sometimes only a little more.

I have a weather station up there now that I can log into. It got down to 25F night before last and 29F last night. For what I am trying to do the colder temps are excellent. The last trip up there my buddy recorded water temp of 58.8F already! This year I am going to try to keep the surface water temp below 65F. So we backed the aeration off two hours and now it turns off at 2:00pm. When I get up there I am going to face my solar array slightly more to the East to try to capture more sun earlier in the morning. Then I think I can start the pumps around 6:00am and turn off at 12:00pm. We will see what happens.

Last edited by wbuffetjr; 06/10/20 07:36 AM.

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Just make sure you run the aeration system long enough to keep more than 6 mg/l at the deepest part of the pond.

Trout will survive in water temps above 70°F if the O2 readings are in the 9mg/l or higher. (that's at 780' elevation).


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Originally Posted by esshup
Just make sure you run the aeration system long enough to keep more than 6 mg/l at the deepest part of the pond.

Trout will survive in water temps above 70°F if the O2 readings are in the 9mg/l or higher. (that's at 780' elevation).

With Bob Lusk recently discussing LMB actually seeking out favorable water temps over better DO I have tried to pay more attention to temp this year. I would GUESS trout are even more sensitive to temps. Last year I got surface temps up to 71. This year highest surface temp I read was 65 so doing MUCH better. I had 7.5PPM DO at 1' and 7.0PPM at 12'. I am currently running the 1/2HP Thomas 2660 for 1 hour at midnight, 1 hour at 3:00am and turns on again at 5:30am to 1:30PM. Currently air temperatures are in the 50's at 5:30am so I think the night time running is helping keep water temps lower. The big 1HP pump comes on at 7:30am to 1:30pm and runs simultaneously with the 1/2HP pump. I will increase duration of both pumps next month as air temps come down.

Fish are HUGE and fight like crazy! Made 5 casts and caught 4 fish while standing in the same spot!

The water continues to do new and different things. Last year the grass blade bloom (GBB) started in early to mid August. This year the GBB showed up in late June. I have never seen the water so clear in July. If it was not for the GBB I would guess visibility would be 7-8'. Had a similar GBB/visibility situation for the first time ever last September. This year it happened in July - another first. Will be interesting to see what happens after a year at the increased level of aeration I am running nowadays.

Got one "plume pipe" installed in the plume of a dual diffuser. I had pipes at the cabin I wanted to use. those pipes turned out to be WAY too heavy duty. First pipe ended up laying horizontal on the bottom of the lake and is now considered structure. I am going to source some lighter pipe and install a second plume pipe in September. The purpose of the plume pipe is to stop the ice domes from forming over the aeration plumes during winter. 98% sure the ice domes are what have been preventing me from keeping a hole open in the ice through the last two winters. Also reoriented two other diffusers closer to natural structure protruding from the water as a test to see if the natural structures could also disrupt the domes. My remote camera will take one daily pic everyday and I will be able to monitor progress. Should be interesting.

Cool pic from the trip. Not sure why we get so many rainbows and not gonna complain about it.
[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]

Last edited by wbuffetjr; 07/22/20 12:41 PM.

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WBjr, what do you see in the shallows? Did the crayfish survive? Scuds? Leeches? shrimp?
Send pictures of the creatures and the fish you catch.

If you have time, how does the pipe prevent an ice dome? Does the pipe stay above the water level all winter long so the cap can't form around the end of the pipe?

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Canyon - yes there are still a ton of minnows, scuds, crayfish and leeches. Unfortunately I am back in GA now. I will be back out there in Sept and I'll get some good pics.

The theory on the plume pipe is it will give the air a release point and the ice will not be able to lift off of the water. If we can keep the ice sitting on the water, the plume WILL melt a hole. The pipe sticks up out of the water 2.5' to 3'. The sun should heat the pipe up enough that it melts the ice away from the pipe. I just need enough of a gap for air to escape.

Last edited by wbuffetjr; 07/23/20 12:54 PM.

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Great update!

...But where are the FISH PHOTOS!!!

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Unfortunately, I only took one fish pic the whole time I was there. Biggest fish I've ever caught in the lake, but the pic doesn't give any perspective. I was in too big of a hurry to get them back in the water.

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Just a gorgeous fish! I know it's a trout, but what species? Splake?


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Originally Posted by DrLuke
Just a gorgeous fish! I know it's a trout, but what species? Splake?

Thanks DR Luke! I THINK it is a Splake, but not positive. Technically the only way to distinguish between Splake and Brook Trout is to cut them open and count the "worm like appendages on their intestines".

Last edited by wbuffetjr; 08/17/20 10:52 AM.

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Just curious could any of your trout reproduce in your bow? Have you been stocking more fish even after you got them to survive the winter the last couple seasons?

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Originally Posted by Downrigger56304
Just curious could any of your trout reproduce in your bow? Have you been stocking more fish even after you got them to survive the winter the last couple seasons?

Downrigger - yes I stocked a few more Brook trout last summer and this summer. Brook Trout will reproduce in lakes/ponds. However, I do not have concrete proof that they have survived. When those Brook Trout were initially stocked, they looked quite a bit different than the Splake. So far no one has caught a fish that was clearly one of the stocked Brookies. I have a THEORY that the Splake are surviving the winters better than the brook trout due to hybrid vigor. Hoping we figure it out for sure one way or another in September.

Last edited by wbuffetjr; 07/26/20 11:14 AM.

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Got 12" of snow and the first ice of the season. Looks like Winter is coming. We are a week or so later than ice on for Winter 2019/2020 and temps are supposed to warm back up so we might get a couple or few extra weeks of open water versus last year. I got one steel pipe installed next to one diffuser to hopefully break up any ice dome that tries to form. We moved the other diffusers close to natural obstructions like a tree standing in the water, fallen trees in the water, a large boulder, etc to try to see if those would also disrupt the ice domes. Camera will be watching so it will be a cool experiment to see which diffusers stay open and which don't.

Another change this year. I will be running the 1HP pump simultaneously with the 1/2HP pump all winter. Both pumps will be running for the same amount of time we have run only a single pump in the past. This gives the air output quite a boost. An extra ~4 CFM or so. PSI is reduced by 2PSI versus last winter. Both of these improvements will help increase plume intensity.

So here we go. It's round 7 in the fight between me and winter. DING DING!!!

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]


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