Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Dropping Lake and want to improve Spawning

Our lake will be drawn down in the Fall and I would like to increase the spawning areas.
We will drop it 5 Feet and there is a 3- 6 inch layer of Muck and I’m thinking I need to get rid of, if I want to see any spawning in this area.


Once the muck is moved out to deeper water (via Powerwasher), the bottom is clay and sand (South Carolina).

Is there any good way of keeping this Muck out in the 5 foot water and not washing back up to the shoreline?
I was thinking of Trenches or ditches while the lake was down. That way any Muck could get caught in the trench I Guess?

If I move this Muck, what can I do in the 1-5 foot water to better improve the spawning of the Crappie, Bluegill, and Large Mouth Bass

Would I be wasting my time laying down landscaping fabric and Pea Gravel seeing this is a lake and not really a pond.



Thanks

I think most of the muck deposits come from material that is suspended in the water column and then eventually settles out. Not much you can do about that except to limit sources of organic debris (leaves, pine needles, etc.) from entering the lake.

I think pea gravel would be covered just as readily as any other substrate.

My biggest concern would be the pile of muck you powerwashed back into the lake. As the water level goes back up, the wave action may try to work that material back onto your clean bottom. I think some silt fencing might stop that. That stuff is pretty cheap and you could easily install several hundred feet if you can readily walk on the exposed pond bottom.

However, that stuff will almost certainly get snagged by a treble hook! Maybe tie a few floats to the fence and you pull it up on purpose after it has been on the bottom a few weeks after the pond has re-filled?

Just a thought, your on site, I'm not. Rather than washing muck into pond, rent a very small excavator and reach out 5-6' , drag out in bucket the top 6-12" of top muck , then put down the cloth and place pea gravel on top or strips 10' wide , then larger coarser gravel 10' wide, then repeat , so fishes can select nesting. If any muck over time settles on the new gravel , the daddy fish will fan it away. As I said, "Not there , don't know your pond, you are " Just a thought, my 2 cents.

I've had good luck with gravel filled kiddie pools. Cheap and easy to set up. Water clarity would determine the depth you set it at, and you don't have to mess with the muck.