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#255803 04/22/11 10:45 AM
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I have a couple of questions concerning blue dye in ponds? We have four 7 acre ponds all connected by underground pipe in our subdivision. Its stocked with LMB, BG, Blue/Channel Catfish, and shad. I fish this place on a daily basis and the bass fishing has been really good up until a week ago. The new company that manages the lake put in a blue dye last week. Before the lake was dyed the water was green with about a 2-2 1/2 foot visibility and the fishing was excellent. Now the fishing is horrible and the visibility is about 6 inches. Are the LMB just not able to see the lures due to the visibility or does the sudden change from green to blue have some kind of negative feeding effect? My other question is it safe to eat fish that come out of a dyed pond? I heavily practice catch and release however there are times when the bass or catfish get gut hooked or the gills get damaged. When this happens I will keep the fish rather then letting them go to waste. Is there any effect a blue dye has to the meat of a fish?

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Hey Justin welcome aboard. I am no expert on blue dye. I can tell you this. I have used it and did not seem to have any ill effects. Everything you read says it won't hurt your fish but you can take that how ever you like.... I did not notice a backoff in fishing but I did not fish my pond after I put dye in it for about 2 weeks so not sure on that either. I can tell you this, if you went from 2 foot visibility and now your at 6 inches that will effect your fishing. You may have to change up for a few day until the dye starts to dull out a little. Maybe throw some rattle traps or spinner baits something that the bass can find a little easier. I know other guys here use dye too so maybe they can help you out a little more.


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Justin - How did you measure the water clarity?. Blue dye by itself will not reduce water carity. It is dissolved, acts like a stain and does not significantly reduce complete sunlight penetration. Put water in a 5 gal bucket or swimming pool and add a small amount of blue due to match the color of the stained pond water. You can still see the bottom of the bucket. Dye normally only filters out certain or a few of the colors (primarily red & orange) in sunlight. The other colors still penetrate to the original depth. I strongly suspect that something else contributed to additional suspended solids in the water to reduce sunlight penetration to 6" - 12".

Last edited by Bill Cody; 04/22/11 01:55 PM.

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I have a long wooden dog ramp that goes off the top of the bulkhead down to the bottom. This hits the bottom where its weighted down at around 3 1/2 feet. This ramp is right next to my dock where I can look straight down at it. You can only see 3 pieces of board under the water now. The boards on the ramp are 4" tall by 2 feet wide going down into the water at an angle. I also measure the clarity just by dropping down a lure off the dock. We have not had any rain to contribute to the bad clarity. We have had high winds but its been really windy here for over a month.


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The visibility is really bad right now. Maybe they just over dyed the lake Bill? I would suspect that if you added too much dye to that five gallon bucket you would not be able to see the bottom?

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Justin - please PM me when possible. I'd like to discuss, and maybe inspect the lakes in question.
Kelly

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Over applying dye is a possibility depending a lot on who applied the dye private vs certified applicator. Wind action re-suspending shoreline and bottom sediments is another strong possibility. Dye tends to mask the presence of silt, mud, clay particles in the water which is why a lot of people use it - as make-up for turbid water.

Last edited by Bill Cody; 04/22/11 01:57 PM.

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PM sent Kelly.

Bill
I know there is a local lake management company that services the lake. Our neighborhood switched to a new company about 1-2 years ago but I don't recall the name.

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A call to them should result in how much dye was added per acre. It should be documented and associated with their invoice.

Last edited by Bill Cody; 04/22/11 02:29 PM.

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The lake(s) in question have been dyed for years - and are generally very static (no outflow). I suspect the dye-apps are widely spaced, allowing previous colorant-levels to dissipate substantially between treatments. Then, when subsequent apps occur, the dramatic change is very noticable - to humans and fish.
Possibly the best approach is to shorten the app-intervals and apply less during each treatment - to narrow the range between peak and valley colorant-levels.


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We use blue dye in many of our customers koi ponds for aesthetics and also as an algae control and sunscreen. We have noticed that on occasions if the water has too many suspended particulates or algae they will absorb the dye and have the adverse effects that you described. In most our ponds we have filter systems that eventually filter out the dyed particulates leaving a nice blue water with good visibility, however on some of the larger ponds it sometime takes months for the water to achieve the desired results. I assume the particulates eventually settle out or are wind blown to one side or the other but usually it does correct itself.

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Does anyone know if the circular surface patterns are fountains or bottom aerators - probably fountains? If they are bottom diffusers IMO there aren't enough of them. What is the depth of those ponds? It looks like a management challenge.

Last edited by Bill Cody; 04/24/11 03:41 PM.

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Bill - the patterned sprays are from fountains. Avg depths for this lake-system is probably 5-6 feet at typical levels. This community is about 4 miles from my house. I'm fairly familiar with it from my previous lake mgmt co affiliation.
I had a lengthy visit with Justin last Friday afternoon. I'll suggest altering the frequency/dose of dye in the future to minimize abrupt changes to coloration. But, I suspect the dye's affect on fishing is modest and only temporary. Based on Justin's comments, I think the predator/prey relationship might be out of balance. Adult 'gills are not nearly as abundant as in the past. Also, there are few if any suitable sites for 'gills to spawn, and no forage has been stocked for several years.
Urban lakes of this type are difficult to manage for both aesthetics and fishing. They're primarily designed for storm-water "detention" - secondarily "aesthetics" and possibly an irrigation-supply, while "fishing" is usually an after-thought.
Due to their detention-function, the lakes aren't maintained at full-level capacity. Well-water is usually required (automated) to keep the lakes' levels within acceptible perameters. But, during heavy rain-events, they're designed to catch and slowly discharge run-off from within the community.
Suffice to say that many differences exist between managing urban and rural lakes - not to mention the users' expectations.


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