Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Made it through the worst summer ever

The sweating is over for me, both in reality and figuratively. I'm glad to report my pond and fish have made it through the worse summer in its history. Our drought may not have been as bad as you guys down south the last couple years but I only got 1.5 inches rain from memorial day through last week. My pond was down lower than it's ever been, 25 inches low compared to previous record of 12 inches low. I also dug the pond larger which turned it into chocolate milk. The pressure is off because my fish have started feeding very vigorously again, my water is clearing, and we got 4.5 inches of rain this past weekend. Life is good again. Thank you God.

Glad to hear it, bz.

Wow...whodathunk? It really drives it home when ya put hard numbers on it. With all the rain blasting thru the upper and midwest, we also feel the pain of the pockets that get continually missed.
Good to hear your survival story, bz.

Were you speaking factually when you said it was the worse summer in history? From everything I've read, the worse years in the last hundred years was in the late 1930's. 1939 is probably the hottest and dryest year on record.

Glad to hear your fish and pond are going to make it.

Eddie

We still have a drought here and and few months to go. My pond is at its lowest point it has been in years and if no rain comes in the next few weeks I guess I will have to get a net and pick up the fish, they won't survive the winter as low as it is now.

Maybe he meant in "his history." Maybe he wasn't born yet in 1939.

I tell you what is spooky. I read an article once where they were able to chronicle droughts in one of the Dakota states by taking core samples of a dried up lake. Alledgedly the core samples show past droughts that lasted for decades even maybe a century! (I don't remember exactly but remember thinking, "Wow! that's long time!) I believe they predated the arrival of the white man but not by much.

Cecil, a hundred years is not even measureable in geologic time.
The last glacial period (ice age) was only last week and we have been "global warming" ever since...

We are still in a very strong drought here as well. I am down 36 inches with only about 0.5 inches all summer. I have been adding public water 2 days a week for the past 10 weeks to just even keep it at that level. I see we might get some rain on Thursday, but I will believe it when I see it. We just need something to start the seasonal creek back up again!!!

What I meant was this is the worst drought in the history of my pond. We had a worse drought here in MN back in about 1988 but I had no pond. And no, I wasn't around in 1939. The next concern I have is the same as NewWater. Even though we've finally got some rain and the whether is cooling if we don't get at least a foot more rain by winter I'll probably lose all my fish under the ice. But let's just deal with one potential disaster at a time. Worse off are the farmers around here. About 1/3 of MN has been so dry that they are losing everything. Some for the second year in a row. I hope all you folks who need it get the rain.

BZ -- what is your water depth now?

Jeez I wish my pond would only drop 25 inches in a year. Out west in El Dorado once spring is over we don't get rain for months. From my high water mark at the end of spring to my low water mark in October my pond will drop 4 to 5 feet and reduce significantly in size. Not sure how much DIEDs pond drops but I know its a heck of a lot also. For 2007 we are way below average annual rainfall - spring never sprung.

Jeff, I know I have it pretty good in the water level department compared to many of you in drier climates, My normal variation from high to low during a year is only 12 inches. But to help put it into perspective you also must consider that my pond is only 6 feet deep with a small area of 8 feet deep. In the winter I have ice 2.5 feet thick. At my present water level I would guess that 75% of my pond will only have 1.5 feet or less of water under the ice this winter if I don't get more rain. We all have different problems I guess.

Whew! I can see why you were nervous, bz.

The good news is that we might get a heavy rain tonight or tomorrow morning. I'll cross my fingers for you!

Bz, wow that does put things into perspective. I never thought about that percentage of a pond freezing. You are right about everyone having different challenges and that's one of the great things about this forum is that we get a chance to see what types of obstacles a pond owner in an entirely different environment faces. Thanks for putting it in perspective for me about the freeze over, that never occurred to me.

So what is a potential solution for you, more winter aeration?

Jeff, I wish it were as simple as more aeration. From my experience and what I've learned on this forum it can also be very dangerous to over aerate in the winter. I only aerate one end of my pond 8 hours day in the winter and while it does keep an area open and keep the ice thinner it also cools the water. My fish always stay as far away from the aerator as they can. Water temp readings show that there is no stratification near the aerator so the water is cold at all depths. The real key to fish survival seems to be keeping snow off the ice so the algae can do it's photosynthesis thing. I plow my pond all winter. I think my aerator mainly just keeps the ice thin enough to keep things from freezing to the bottom. I also really enjoy hearing what challenges all the folks in different parts of the world are going through. Dr. Willis, are you surprised that my fish survive in such a shallow pond? I am. Last winter the majority of my pond only had 2 feet of water under the ice. I can't believe this works.

BZ - not really surprised. The key is that you are in a sand/gravel pit that is down in the water table. Movement of that shallow ground water seems to be the key. Ice is always thinner on such ponds, and even though ground water is not supposed to have dissolved oxygen, I can't help but think that there must be some in the near-surface water??

I always say that we need about 8 feet around here to be safe with a gravel pit, but 15-20 for a hill pond (dam and watershed). I'm actually encouraged that you have done so well with what is perhaps a "marginal" depth for your pond. Pretty darn cool. I may have to modify my depths, and maybe say 6-8 instead? My wife and I were just talking about this last weekend, wondering if we could find a pit to buy somewhere near town. Do I sound like the rest of the pondmeisters here??

Dave, that's the best explanation I've heard yet as to why my situation is working. When I dug my pond I had no plans to stock fish so I really didn't think of the depth required. I'm lucky it has worked out. Now that I have fish this is the most fun hobby I've ever had. The things that can be done with the pond are endless. Yes you do sound like a pondmeister, a professional one at that.

bz -- it's raining pretty darn hard here! How much have you caught so far??

Bz, dumb question for you. How do you plow your pond? I've never heard that mentioned here before and I am curious as to how that is accomplished.

jhap, I think you need a lot of ice to make it practical.

Dave, we only got 1/2 inch from the rains Friday night and Saturday. I had hoped for more. How much did you get when it was all done?
Jeff, I plow my pond with a small 1800 pound tractor when the ice gets 12 inches or more. When it gets to 1.5 feet I sometimes even use the skid loader which weights about 8000 pounds. I took a guy from Texas out ice fishing once and he about freaked when he found out we'd been driving the pickup on a lake for about 5 miles before he even know we were on water.

Couple of inches so far, but it started up again this morning.

Hello all! I am new to this site, and also very new to pond ownership. I want to say that this forum is an amazing source of information and greatly appreciated!

We recently moved to a property with a pond that is approx. 3/4 acre in size and about 10 feet dep at the deepest. I live in Ontario, Canada and can relate to those Minnesota winters!
The pond is irregular in shape and contained 1 LMB about 2 1/2 pounds, 1 SMB about 3 1/2 pounds, some rainbow Trout, Yellow Perch, Blue Gill, Rock Bass, Suckers, and 3 large Koi. The panfish were breeding succesfully and I added 200 LMB fingerlings about 1" long in June. I was almost certain that the Herron and Kingfishers had eaten them all, but alas, I have spotted some of the fingerlings that are now almost 3" long!

We are also in a serious drought this summer and I have been pumping well water into the pond, sometimes for 7 days straight to raise the level 4 to 5 inches. We are on an artesian well, and so far have an endless supply of cold water. It was scaring me to see the level drop so fast (couple of days to drop 4 inches)and I started to panic and turned on the pump.
The artesian well flows all year round and one part of the pond stays open where the 46 degree water flows in from an overflow. this overflow is not enough to keep up with the water loss this summer.It has to be pumped in at high volume to keep up. some rain would sure be nice.

This has been my dream to own a pond with fish and although I was a Bass fishing addict up until this year, i have not dared to throw a line into my own pond. Fish are friends, not food! LOL

Amazing how you can change almost overnight, but from what I have read on here, it happens to the best of us!

Sorry for the long winded post, I'll go back to reading now! LOL

Welcome Rattletrap2. Good to have you here. Your situation sounds interesting and we'd like updates as they occur.

Bruce

Gentlemen,

We've been getting rain up the wahzoo here in northern Indiana for the past several days. Measured 7 1/2 inches in my wheel burrow (although the neighbor says her rain guage showed only 4 1/2 inches) after an all night rain and some gully washers a few days ago. Since then at least one, up to two lines of thunderstorms coming through mainly at night every day. Had two cordless phones fried by lightning several days ago. Lightning was so close and bright I thought my florescent lights n the shop had blown up. Saw something I've never seen before that first day of heavy rain. Down the road is a 1 acre pond in front of the local high school. It was overflowing it's banks. No emergency overflow on that pond.

At least I'm near the top of a hill on my property and the worst I have to show for it is a small mudslide on the steep side of on the back of my trout pond, which I should be able to repair. Parts of Ohio east of me is a disaster. I hear part of Minnesota got over 15 inches of rain! What really ticked me was the national news at the same time was focused on the hurricane in Mexico! Lots of suffering and damage here in the U.S.!