Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Renovating a Pond or Lake? Dropping a 100 acre lake

We are in the process of dropping our lake about 6 feet in order to redo the overflow system. This will expose about 1/2 the lake. My question is what will this do to my fish. We are currently dealing with a slight bass over population and a low alkalinity situation.

Timnic,
Hi... My pond is just south of Lumberton so we are practically neighbors!
I know you're expecting better info that this but I have a couple of thoughts
1) the bass will be easier to catch with the water drawn down to help with your LMB overpopulation
2) you may consider getting some aglime delivered and spread around the newly exposed areas to help with the alkalinity situation.

Good luck!

Do you know a lime provider?

Circle-T Fertilizer, Poplarville, (601) 795-2506

$60/ton delivered last time I got it earlier this year.

Here's what will happen: As the lake draws down, your fish will become crowded. Larger fish will eat smaller fish. The consequences of that will be determined by how long the lake is down, how much escape cover there is and how susceptible your lake is to predatory birds.

If the lake is lower, what would be the max depth of the lake then? I'm wondering if during the drawdown it would be a good time to electroshock the lake to remove the stunted LMB. The fish would be concentrated in a smaller area, but with the water temp I don't know if they'd be in the range of the shock boat.

Timnic: While you drop this pond, have you considered doing any other work? I see from another post that you are managing a neighborhood pond. Is there enough structure / cover / spawning beds for bluegill? When you had your fishing rodeo you measured 80 bass and 30 bluegill. Was that all of the bluegill caught or just the ones measured?