I'm new, so please bear with me -
Lst March, I built a house on an existing 5 acre wetland. I've been using a minnow trap and find there to be a population of fathead minnows. I can drop the 2 foot long trap baited with 5 or 10 pieces of dry dogfood and will have 20 to 30 minnows in the trap in a few hours - the trap is in about 3 feet of water.
Last spring I fished a neighboring lake, caught some sunnies, largemouth and pike and planted them in the wetland in the following numbers respectively, 100, 13 and 3.
The wetland is spring fed, has a large hole in the middle that reaches 25 feet in depth and is ringed with lilly pads and cattails. There is a small number of rushes in addition to some type of grass weed. There is an active beaver house - not sure how many beaver it supports. In the spring we have Loon, Canada geese and assorted ducks use it for nesting.
I'd like to try to manage this resource responsibly and am open to ideas on how to do that. I don't plan to purchase and fish - I' like to continue to catch from area lakes and transplat those. This wetland has an entry point that is used by some folks in the winter who trap the fatheads - other than that, it is just us and the wildlife who care to visit.
I'm hoping to reach a point where I can expect my kids and grandkids to catch something when they throw out a baited hook or can learn how to use artifical bait presentations from me and/or my brother.
Any ideas/comments are welcome. This wetland is located in the central part of Minnesota in the Brainerd lakes area, freezes over in late November or early December and opens by early April at the latest.
Thanks in advance -
Jim