Pond Boss Forums INTRO New Forum Member Introduction .66 Acre Pond in MN - Just Getting Started

I have a .66 acre backyard pond in Central MN, it is ~9' ft at the deepest part of the pond. I decided to start maintaining it this year as we were looking at the pond being overtaken by cattails within the next 1-2 years, it has spread each year quite a bit.
Some of the things I have done so far with it.
**Started out with putting the fountain in, I totally get that is more for cosmetic reasons but it will get the water moving a little.
**It is a run off pond, and it is very murky. I put in some PondWorx Pond Bacteria. Will do another application of that shortly.
**Put blue dye in it, once again for cosmetic reasons.
**Built a floating duck house. The ducks were always nesting/hanging out on the lawn down there and I would go out and find duck heads from coyotes/foxes.

Some items I need to correct, what I am doing about them:
**I have a bad problem with leeches. I am going to look more in to stocking the pond with some bass/blue gill. I am also going to look more in to the tin can leech traps and give that a shot.
**The plan is to not get rid of all of the cattails, just thin them out some. Some of the neighbors like them. I bought some CattPlex, and I will be spraying that. I will probably let that sit for a little bit and then take the weed sheers out there with the paddle boat and cut them down some. See below for a pic showing the growth since '18.

Thanks for taking a look, I am looking forward to learning more about maintaining the pond.

Here's your pics posted to the thread for easier viewing...









Great looking pond, but, you are right...it's time to start putting some maintenance time into it IMO. And, I love the floating duck house and the banks full of vegetation compare to them bare.

Are there any fish in it at all?

Thank you for including the pics, I appreciate you doing that.

As far as the pond goes, nobody has ever stocked it with anything. We take the paddle boat out quite often back there and I have never seen any kind of fish at all. What I am struggling with some is the fact that I feel as though it freezes completely each winter and I would hate to stock it with some fish to only have them die at the end of the year.

Love the floating duck house! Can you share plans or idea in how you made the base? Looks like it floats and somehow the gangplank floats but also sits just submerged in the water too. I'd like to borrow this idea and perhaps I can make it dual purpose. In the early spring when mallard are nesting they can use it and right about when they are finished and the water warms up then my turtles can use it, including the handy ramp.

IF you put a bottom diffuser in the shallows and use tips from other forum users here on how to avoid the hole in the shallows from freezing over then you have created a warm water refuge for the fish all winter long and should be able to avoid winter kill.

I would also sound the depth with a weight rope and also sample with a inexpensive minnow net or trap or search here for cloverleaf trap and make one. That will tell you what you have in the pond already.

Besides winter kill, other things that could keep your pond barren of life is the water chemistry. A pond water test kit is pretty cheap and will tell you if there are major barriers to having the food chain required to support fish.

Thank you...the base for the duck house is actually just a pallet with sheet of plywood over the top. I put about 4-5" of styrofoam sheets between the slats of the pallet and just hoped that it would float, which it did! I put larger pieces of lumber around the base of pallet to give it a more finished look. It was going to be a lot more elaborate in an octagon shape with four separate areas for the ducks, but I had to make adjustments based on my carpentry skills!

is that how the ramp floats? Styrofoam under the end of it?

That is correct, I just have three hinges on it where it comes together on the base, then I put some foam underneath that.

Here ya go on these...Everyone has there different likes and dislikes. I know the fish like more cover and plants along the shore. Myself in my situation like the grass going right up to the edge. I'm want to add some lillys this year so not sure how im going to like it. Figure if I don't I will just jump in and remove them. Biggest problem with the cattails is they go crazy at my place if I don't remove them.

For fish selection: Recommend using Yellow Perch for the leech problem. They will hammer on leeches and snails. Since I stocked the perch, no snails, and have never seen a leech.

Good stuff, thank you!

Wish that I’d have known this and never put RES that apparently had BG in my pond!

So which is better? The 2018 vs 2020? I thought you would want some vegetation on the perimeter. Is that too much? Isn't the point to have some sort of vegetation buffer? Also, if trees are growing along the perimeter, how much distance should the trunk be from the water? I have this situation in my pond. The trees are still young, I can probably remove with a loper, but right now they're about 2-3 free from the water.

The more leaves that fall/blow into the pond the faster the eutrophication process happens.