Hello, my first post is a sad one for me.

I posted my pond story on another forum and a friend gave me this web site to get some opinions.

So here goes, I think something is wrong with my pond of 15 years. I am not sure what the exact problem is.........maybe you can help figure this mystery out.

Here are the specifics: My pond is 1/2 acre surface, 12 ft deep in the deep end, shaped like a giant bath tub, with a semi-shallow end of about 4ft.

Structure is perfect, Several locust tree tops put into bottom of pond like real growing trees. 7 large tractor tires anchored to the sides on a 3 to 1 slope. 3-55 gallon plastic drums anchored level with the ends cut out and placed at about 6 to 10 feet for cats, and countless oak pallets made into A frames and strategically located all over the pond.

Along with car tires tied together in certain places with cedar trees stuck through them to allow hiding for small fish.

Water quality is and has always been perfect. Never any grass, always full of big healthy fish.

Stocked originally in 92 with 500 hybrid bluegill, 125 channel cats, 2 grass carp and 25 Laremouth bass.

Fast forward to 2005. After 13 or so years of excellent fishing/releasing and harvesting some......and of catching 1,000s of BGs, now as big as dinner plates, and weighing 1 to 2 pounds each. And cats (channel) of 15 pounds or more, my aeriator which had been running for 13 years shut down......leaving pond still.......and seemingly without life.

It stopped running 2 years ago...shortly after that my son caught several BGs and a few largemouth. I have since fished 10 or more times without a bite, each time thinking the oxygen content was low and they would be fine after a new airiator was installed.

The bad signs I have just noticed for the last two springs are thousands of tad poles, this is not good I don't think. I just got a new aeriator installed and running because I thought the fish were just slow and semi dormant because of possibly low oxygen. It's been running for two weeks. Could the remaining fish be gorged (full) on tads ? Too full on tad poles to eat ? I find this hard to think because I've alway been able to at least get a nibble.

It is late spring here and air temps are 75 to 80, pond is perfect and seemingly healthy as usual...........but no bites at all.

I have tried live worms, dough balls, weiners, plastic worms, spinners and almost everything I have ever used for 40 years or more.

In the past, I actually caught BGs on a plain hook or a brass swivel. I feed my pond every day, and have for 15 years, rain or shine, snow or ice.

Maybe they have died and I've not seen them floating. I feed ducks every day all winter and summer, and allways look across my pond surface for floating fish, usually easily seen by the white bellies.

Or maybe someone has been sneaking in and fishing while we were gone.....taking only ten or so at a time ?

The pond seems perfect in water quality, it never has been bad, even when my aeriator broke. The last fish kill I had was about 3 years ago. I lost 7 huge cats in one day, all were at least 20 pounds. I had a time getting them out and it had happened a few times before so I gave it no thought. I figure "old age".........maybe after all these years we some how mis calculated and mis judged the timing of the fish running out ?

Maybe I just did not pay close enough attention to the signs.........though the first real sign was last summers huge tad pole population. Then this years explosion again.......?

But how could blue gills the size of plates, that reproduce at a pretty high rate each year just disappear ? My sons last catch of several "monsters", including largmouth of 4 or 5 pounds should be a clue, but that was one and a half years ago.

It is sad.........of course I can restock..........but can they all be gone ?

Oh, my pond is 30 feet from my house, I can see all the way around it, one side is heavy woods. Any ideas or opinions would be appreciated.

I actually feel like I lost a good friend.



Robbie Roberson.