A Pond Boss Group Project:
I'm in southcentral Nebraska, and presently own a 18-20 acre lake. In our area the lakes tend to have terrible water turbidity issues due to ag run off and negatively charged clay particles that have a tendency to stay in suspension. To make matters worse my pond has been overtaken by common carp. It appears to me as though this pond was the victim of bucket stocked carp decades ago. Currently my water clarity averages roughly 4 inches, although it does clear up some when the water gets cold and carp tend to go more dormant, or at least slow their activity. I will try to include aerial photos in subsequent posts to show my clarity issues. What I'm planning to do is attack the water quality issues without the help of rotenone (initially) and hope to get anyone involved in the pond boss community who may have ideas/suggestions on how to help me attain my goals and objectives.
Objectives/Goals:
1) Trophy Catfishery - My first objective is to create a trophy catfishery. The pond already has plenty of channel catfish due to light natural reproduction and with TJ's assistance has recently been stocked with 150 blue catfish. As of a year ago I installed one feeder and have gone thru roughly 600lbs of food since. I hope to add another feeder next year and feed a larger quantity.
2) Improve water quality - As this project evolves I'd like to move away from a catfish heavy fishery to a pond that can support fish such as white crappie and bluegill, and have them thrive. Also at this time there is absolutely zero rooted vegetation due to the overabundance of carp. I hope to change that situation.
3) Evolve into a panfish flyfishery - Over the next 10-20 years I'd like to shift from a trophy catfishery (and no carp) to an environment in which bluegill, crappie and possibly bass can thrive. The thought of float tube fishing for crappie and bluegill once I retire is intriguing to me.
4) Create a learning environment for my sons - I presently have 3 and 4 year old boys. I'm going into this well aware that my fastest and most likely solution is to rotenone the pond and start over. Due to my uncle owning part of the pond and him not wanting that done, I am taking the holistic route at this time. If in 10-12 years if I haven't made any headway, I'd love for my boys to make it a school or FFA project. Possibly get their chemical applicators license, apply rotenone, and begin to manage the pond in the way they'd like to manage it. I hope this thread serves as an archive of the history of this pond.
Methods:
1) Stock top down apex predator - As mentioned above, 150 blue catfish have already been stocked. The stocking of them was with the assumption they would consume carp from larger sizes on down within the next few years. Consideration was given to pike and/or muskie, but due to my water clarity issues I assume flathead catfish and blue catfish were the only viable option. Availability and cost of Flathead catfish seem to make blue catfish my best option at this time. 150 are stocked now. Next spring I hope to acquire 500-1000 more.
2) Carp management via fyke net - Next spring I plan to purchase a fyke net very similar to esshup's to assist in removal of carp and probably remove all channel catfish below 20". This biomass will be transferred via filet knife into the blue catfish and larger channel catfish that remain. Bruce and I also own a 100' seine that may be used some. But due to the labor intensive nature of seining my pond, a fyke net will be the main resource used to remove larger carp. Scott's net is linked below.
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=385343&page=1 One of the deciding factors in using a fyke net rather than other methods is the results from this study....
http://www.carpbusters.com/documents/Gilligan%20et%20al%202005%20carp%20removal%20in%20Australia.pdfThat link is no longer available so I wanted to add the summary of it here.....
http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/research/areas...er_-_tesing_6033) A carp nest/fry predator - This is still an area under evaluation by myself. Having discussion with TJ and others, I have ideas of stocking more crappie, bluegill, hybrid bluegill, redears and/or golden shiners. I've had one pond boss member tell me that they stocked redears to assist in carp control as redears prefer to consume carp eggs. So far I have not found literature on such but will continue to research. Of consideration as well is building a grow out pond and growing crappie and/or bluegill for a season and then stocking. Knowing most of them will likely succumb to my Blue Cat population, I'm holding off on this for the time being. Stocking Golden Shiners is also an option I've considered in hopes of them consuming large amounts of carp eggs, but without vegetation of any sort I think they may not survive. I'm certainly open to suggestion on this subject.
4) Rotenone - Ultimately, if I don't make headway and I take possession of the entire pond (likely at some point) I may have to resort to Rotenone. As stated above, when my boys hit the age in which they can take ownership of this project, and if they desire to Rotenone and start over this may and likely will be what needs to be done. But in the meantime I would like to learn something thru this project. Worst case scenario, I end up with a trophy catfishery and I use carp to enhance that catfishery.
What I hope to learn/study:
1) Catfish Gape- I would like to contribute to Bill Cody's catfish gape study. Obviously with the regular use of a fyke net I will have the ability to take measurements on hundreds of blue and channel catfish of many sizes. Hopefully this can assist and enhance Bill's records.
2) Water Quality - Right now my secchi disc readings are roughly 4". When removing carp I plan to count and weigh the fish. The total numbers and mass will be recorded and compared to any changes in secchi disc readings. I hope within 3-5 years the blue catfish start to control carp numbers, or at least assist me in my effort.
3) Relative Wts of panfish as compared to water clarity - Currently this pond has a small population of white crappie. Their body condition is terrible. Presently I don't know what their relative weight is, but I will get a handle on that when netting them next spring. I'm hoping to see an increase in both numbers and relative wts of the crappie and other panfish as I remove carp biomass and get an improvement in my secchi disc readings.
So to review, at this time I don't plan to Rotenone due to my neighbor and partial pond owner not wanting to do such. I plan to experiment with a holistic approach to carp removal. Any and all input is welcome from Pond Bossers. I plan on this being a decade or longer project and hope to archive some good information in this thread. I am absolutely open to suggestion as to what others would like to see me try at this time. My only true objective is to have fun and learn a few things while playing in my pond
