Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Anyone else almost ice free in the north?

I'm sorry to hear that Theo. Is this the older pond? Could these be redears?

Ok, I was gonna post this since we are in SW Ohio and had a mini kill myself, Ice free as of late ysterday, 12 Hybrid BG that had been stocked last May are all floaters. I wondered why nothing else died?? also I had caught about a dozen HBG about 7-9 days ago through the ice and wondered if overstressed them in the 7-10 seconds they were out of the water?? ( warm air temps when i caught them high 30's)

Is this a low O2 problem since we had good ice and snow cover for at least 17 days according to my wall calendar? I do not have any extra aeration yet, that is coming this summer. I assume if I run that late in the fal would help boost O2 before the winter freeze?

Contrary to popular belief, all opinions welcome ;^)

Salmonid

Were the hybrid bluegills the largest in the pond? The largest fish are the first ones to succumb to low D.O. levels. Catch and release in cold temps can indeed stress fish especially those in the sunfish family. However stress can be from fish in a weakened winter state fighting the hook or being handled, not temps. Were these fish well fed before going into winter?



Could be depending on the how old your pond is, how much vegetation you have, phytoplankton etc.



Doesn't work that way. Your pond probably had as much oxygen as it would hold before ice up.

A shallow water diffuser is used during ice season to open up a hole that lets in light for photosynthesis to continue and allow bad gases to escape. In extreme cases it can be a refuge area for a pond that has low D.O. elsewhere in the pond.

I've been simply removing snow off the ice in strips the last three years. However this year I had a close call with marginal D.O.'s due to snow I couldn't get off the ice because of thin ice. By next winter a shallow water diffuser will be back in.

I opened a separate thread to talk about it Cecil. See Large Sunfish Selective (?) Fishkill

Yes, this was the older pond. I had zilch morts apparent in the new pond. Basically 53 of the biggest Lepomids in the pond died - no medium sized sunfish, no bass (LMB/HSB), no CC, no GC.

O.K. thanks for the new thread. Once again sorry to hear about the loss of your fish.

Mark, since your pond is new and you have no plants, I'm wondering if the 70 MPH wind did more damage moving the water around than the snow. Could the decomposing trees you sank be using up O2?

I haven't lost any fish yet but I did run my aerator on a few occasions this winter long enough to make a couple of clear ice patches for light to penetrate.

I've still got ice on the pond, but it's the honeycomb type. For about 6 to 10 feet all around the shore it is ice free. The island seems to be holding the ice from pushing to one side or the other in the wind.

The pond level has risen 12" in the last 2 days due to the thaw and the rain. It's still running into the pond, and will be running out if it gets a foot higher.

Considering that it was renovated last year, and there are no plants in it, I'm suprised to see no signs of any fish dying over the winter. The low amount of fish may have helped, and I didn't run the aerator at all.

Not even close here. Four more months and we should be able to launch a boat. Third week of May is usual ice-off. (hopefully)

Lack of plants can be a good thing. If plants die it makes things worse.

My big pond was ice free yesterday. My smaller (deeper) pond still has ice covering about half of it, but it is down to nice, clear ice.

I've got ice reforming on my ponds but it's what I call the thin "plate glass" variety. Forms at night but mostly breaks up during the day. I'm doubtful I will get significant ice for the rest of the winter more than an inch or so. Too close to normal ice out.

I fed my brookies a little yesterday evening. If there is open water I'll probably feed them every three or four days as long as temps don't get above the low 40's. Once temps get into the mid to upper 40's it's back to once a day.

To answe some questions, yes, the Hybrids are the largest of the sunfish family in the pond ( 7-8")bu tthe YP, CC and Bluecats are all bigger and more bottom based?? Shouldnt the lack of DO be a bigger problem for these bottome dwellers??

The Ceder trees I put in were fairly green, about 7 total in a 3/4 acre pond, all Ceders were about 10 ft long, I cant imagine that being the problem

To note, I also, last summer, lost a few hybrid gills all through the summer for no apparent reason, maybe 1 a week so I wonder if they are just more sensitive??
The BG seem to be doing fine and I still havent seen a RES or black crappie from the pond yet???

I might add the GS must be doing very well, I caught a dozen or so of them ice fishing.....up to about 7"

Salmonid

YP and all catfish can tolerate lower D.O.'s than bluegills.



I wouldn't either. I don't think trees decompose fast enough anyway.



Some of them may not have been as hardy as the rest of the fish. Maybe didn't build up enough lipids before winter?

We had a mini thaw last week - enough to put a crust on the snow and somewater over top the ice on the pond, and on to the surroundind land. But no where close to Ice Free.

Pics from today - my son 2-15-09



FH

...the final floe (I hope)

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My first visit in about 6 weeks. I walked and scanned most of the shoreline and found 0 mort's. Maybe the old country buffet already cleaned 'em up...?

Careful observation would have seen at least some scales if there had been a MAJOR successful cleanup effort, IMHO.

I'm at this same place now. Yesterday afternoon, I thought I'd try fishing for the first time this season. As I was getting ready to put new line on my favorite rod and reel, I heard a strange noise. The noise was ice pellets falling from the sky. They quickly turned to snow. By the time I got new line on my rig, my dock was covered with more than a half-inch of snow. I went down to the pond anyway, with a jig and some crawlers. The fish weren't interested -- unless they all died over the winter.

My pond had thin snow covered ice on it all day today. It is 24 degrees as I write this.

P.S. The good and bad news is that I have plenty of structure to add to my pond. This past week we had very severe wind storms. Over a three day period, we had the electric/phone/electric companies helping us keep our utility poles from snapping (the wires did snap). I've now got lots of brush, which will be placed around the pond edges.

I got a quick burst of snow this evening of about 1/2 inch. Low is supposed to be 20. I may crank up the diffusers tomorrow to open the ice a little. We may get some significant accumulation in a couple of days. I'm not worried though as my ponds got new lease on life when they opened up. I'll keep monitoring D.O.