I have a 4.6 acre pond with approximately 2600 ft of shoreline. The deepest depth I have measured thus far ( still doing soundings) is 14' 7" with an average depth of around 8' ft. The pond is mandade and was built in approximately 1963. It is surrounded by white and red oaks and has a huge floating bolus, almost an island to itself, of dead leaves. Almost all well water around here is treated for hardness; and, some like mine, are treated for hydrogen sulfide in our inhome water treatment systems.

There is no record or recollection of the pond ever being limed, fertilized or aerated. One of my adjoining neighbors has been here since 1994 and doesn't recall any sort of management effort with the pond.

When we moved here in August, the pond was 60-70% covered in what Biologist Extraordinare, Travis, identified as dollar Lilly aka watershield. Our neighbors says he didn't recall ever seeing the watershield until 6-7 years ago.

The fishery is predominantly bluegills, tons of them with some largemouth bass. I haven't fished it that much because of the watershield but Travis caught several small bluegill in the 4-6" range and I have caught tons of the same size since with a couple of 16-20" bass mixed in. Ironically, and to me somewhat strangely, since August, I have seen very little topwater action

The watershield is finally dying off, giving me far greater access so I can begin the process of improvements.

Before I go too much further, I probably need to do some water and soil testing and I would appreciate any input on how to go about this. I have several questions.
1. Is now an OK time to do the testing or should I wait until the spring?
2. Are there private labs that specialize in fishery water testing or can most commercial labs perform the test?
3. For the water tests, what should I specifically ask for? Any special considerations for collecting the sample?
4. For the soil, what is the best way to collect the samp,es and at what depths?
5. Should I use my state extension service or do I need to consider a private lab for the soil? What do I ask for.

Thanks to all for you input.

Regards,
Paul