Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Hot, hot, hot and no rain

I hope some of ya'll are doing better than we are. The lake is down 16" or so and dropping about an inch a day it seems. 100+ days for the foreseeable future. Unless we get a hurricane in the gulf, the outlook for rain is pretty bleak right now. I started moving some plants to deeper water yesterday. The bass are piled up in the brush piles and under docks pretty much. Crappie are just scattered since the bass took over their favorite spots.

Ross you in the same boat as we are. Pond dropping, trees dying (except sweet gum and other undesirables) . Don’t look like any rain till December…… unless a big hurricane comes in around Corpus…..

We're suffering much of the same here in the middle of Misery. Pond is down ~18".
I can see half a dozen large oaks around the edges of my pastures that are well on their way to becoming stovewood.
I planted some chestnut trees back in the spring. Been having to water them every day just to keep them alive.
150 acres soybeans across the road planted first week of June are ~6" tall and look terrible.
Guys are baling hay that's already burnt to a crisp just to be sure they'll have enough to make it through winter.

Yeah it's been bad here in Missouri but then I see what's going on in Texas and that's truly horrifying.

My pond is down about a foot vertically. My water has turned green which I had never seen before. There could be several "possible reasons for this and I'm not sure if it's something I need to worry about and try to correct. I also don't know if the drop in water level or the extended heat factors in to it.

The heat and dry conditions are worrisome. Lots of plant life burning up but it's funny to see the ring of beautiful bright green grass extending a few yards up the mowed banks around the pond. That ground is still sucking up pond water. I use a semi-trash pump to pump water out of my pond every couple of days to soak the gardens. First year I've done that and they are the best I've ever had here so far despite the heat, lol.

The only major fish kill we had in the 18 years we've lived on this property was during a similar stretch of extended hot, dry weather which dropped the pond level over two feet, maybe three. That was at least ten years ago.

The drought of 2012 combined with using pond water for garden irrigation is what led to the need for renovation of my pond.
The pond was maybe 6' deep when it was full, and I pulled it down a good two feet irrigating. Ten days straight pushing 100° and poof, dead pond.

We had a surprise thunderstorm this morning. The lake caught a couple of inches.

This is a public forum for help with ponds.

Please list all of the things you did yesterday to entice the rain clouds to visit your property. If it was your special rain dance, then please post a video.

You know the rules here!

So dry South of Bowie that the trees are calling dogs.

Originally planned to extend dock five feet, but EZ Dock folks strongly recommended ten. So glad I followed their advice!

Heck, it's so hot that your fish will probably chip in a few bucks for the dock extension just to have the shade!

You'd think so, but I'm still waiting for them to compensate me for all the fish food over the years....

108 here today, temps been in the low 100's for several days, drier than a popcorn fart in a whirlwind.
Pumped one of my forage ponds down a foot to add some nice 55 deg water, flipped well on and nothing.. 7hrs and 1,800 bucks later, water was flowing again.
Reminds me of being a pilot.. hours and hours of shear boredom intermixed with brief moments of shear terror....

At least you were on the ground when your "fire light" came on.

I am down over 3 foot. Not quite my record low but getting close.Visibility still at about 24 inch with a emerald green color like an algae bloom. No dead fish and lots of cnbg fry on the banks. Aeriation doing well. Surface temp the other day read 98 on a pool thermometer. Did get a one inch rain 3 days ago and 1/4 inch yesterday. Fish were drinking it as fast as it was entering the pond!!

Wind also seems to be blowing a portion of the day at least here in Central Oklahoma. This is prime fish kill weather.

So sorry you guys are having heat + drought. We have the drought part, but not the heat. Pond is down "only" 4 inches thanks to a SoilFloc application over the past couple of years. Have had only 0.3" of rain over the past 4 weeks at our house, but to the North and South just by a few miles, they have had significantly more. The NWS claims we are now in moderate drought with no relief in sight as far as widespread rains.

"Only" 102 here today. Ponds about a foot low. Corn fields burning up. About what we normally get once or twice in every ten years here in SE Ks..

I saw a plane spraying sunflowers today!

The leaves were green and the plants appeared to be in full flower. (Do they have to be sprayed right before the seeds mature?)

Do sunflowers have deep tap roots? The field looked gorgeous - and it is NOT irrigated.

If they are that drought/heat tolerant, then I think I want to hand sow some sunflowers next year to attract doves.

Think you meant to say plant them for your own use and oops some fell to the ground…….

Pat, am I missing a joke, or is planting sunflowers to attract doves illegal in Texas (and presumably some other states)?

They spray sunflowers for head moths. The moths lay eggs, eggs produce worms, worms eat the seeds.

FishingRod, doves at least mourning dove fall under the migratory bird act and baiting is not legal. Do your due diligence but crops are not generally considered baiting. Doves are more attracted to wild sunflower which drop seed over a long time. You can also uses sunflower for cattle forage. Its actually very good forage ... they eat seed heads, leaves and small stems. Anyways you might also check this out (a link Snipe earlier shared as a source of scuds) http://www.habitatnow.com/store/shop/shop.php?pn_selected_category=19 . That page has information on hunting ducks on crops specifically sown to attract them (even crops intentionally flooded).

I have to wonder whether a state GW has jurisdiction to enforce federal law. What I can tell you is that in OK ... some GMAs have crops planted on them specifically to attract doves. One I hunted, they didn't harvest but burned just a few days before the season started. All in all, I do think that restricting crops grown for feeding migratory birds would have a negative effect on migratory bird populations. There is a limit to how many dove or ducks any one person or one family can kill and eat. By an large much more wildlife is benefitted from these kind of crops than is harvested by hunting.

Check your game laws , baiting is illegal in lots of places, not 100% sure

The Fed law is strange. Planting sunflowers then even mowing them to attract doves is legal, at least here in Indiana, but don't get caught shooting ducks in the same field.

My pond is down 2-1/2 feet. We got some rain on Thursday but the 3/4" produced no run off.

It is HOT! I mowed the yard yesterday and when I finished I blew the dust off the zero turn and found a part on the air cleaner had melted. When I called the dealer about it they said yes, that part can melt in extreme heat.