Small pond management?

[Buck154]

10 hours ago, Bonefreak said:

We all thought there wud b a state record in there, but the crew that did the transplanting of fish to Colliers mills said there were mostly dinks, with a handful of 2-4 lbers n a few 5lbers as lunkers.....when I asked where were the "Monsters", they said the poor tanic water quality is not fertile enough to sustain for monster bass. 

Yeah i remember they said there was 2 that would have broke the record but that's only hear-say. With out seeing them or at least pictures it's hard to believe. 

[1957Buck]

As many of my posts on this lake that I have fished for some 30 years. I have seen it in good years to a point of unfishable come Summer, to spots where you could fish from Shore and boat. It got very little pressure at times to Secret Pressures by regulars. In short, The Township let it go due to funding till a local support has shown an interest and made improvements and some mistakes mostly again due to funding. The Lake reached a point it could not be ignored anymore. so with enough paperwork and back and forth to redo Lake Superior they Drained it did improvements to the Road Bank  ( DAM ) where the Outfall is located. Did the usual fish take out & put back? The weeds died BUT no improvements were made to the depth of the lake  ( Dredging )  So it Remains very shallow with a few Holes

To those familiar with the Lake where the outfall is they are putting a Bridge across it so people don't have to walk out on the road to access the Dam to Fish. Plus a lot of other improvements have been made A outdoor Theater Pedal boats and more. It once was a problem with Bucket sitters but that has been corrected. ( ICE )  

 

 

[Swamp_Yankee]

Lots of good ideas here-thanks all.  I have so many other projects around here I may not do much with the pond this year, but I've got a lot more knowledge than I started with for sure.  I figure I have a few options.  One would be to draw it down in late summer/early fall by removing the vertical portion of the drain pipe which would drop the water level by 3'.  This way I could easily rake out the muck and pull/rake the vegetation.  Then at least I'd be starting fresh once it filled back up and I could go with a fish that will tolerate low DO like a brown bullhead catfish.

[Swamp_Yankee]

Sidenote-does anyone know if you can purchase fish from the state hatchery in Hackettstown?  It seems that not many hatcheries raise brown bullheads but Hackettstown does.  I'll call them tomorrow but I figured I'd ask to see if anyone here knew.

[JerseyJaysTaxidermy]

Not sure but in do know my buddy told me his catfish pond is filthy compared to his bass pond. Catfish stir up the mud. Not sure if you want clear water or not.

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[Swamp_Yankee]

7 hours ago, JerseyJaysTaxidermy said:

Not sure but in do know my buddy told me his catfish pond is filthy compared to his bass pond. Catfish stir up the mud. Not sure if you want clear water or not.

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I'm willing to give it a shot.  The reality is that its never going to be a bass pond because it's just not deep enough.  From what I've read even if I aerate, etc...chances are any other type of fish will die over the winter.  If it turns out to be a mess I can always just drain it again and start over.  

[Swamp_Yankee]

Went to work today cleaning up the banks, raking some of the muck out of the shallows, and pulling out aquatic plants:

I want to try to keep the banks trimmed short going forward-any tips on how to do it without making a mess in the water?  Its tough to see but on the far side I pulled an actual woody/thorny bush that looks like it had started on the bank and then extended its root system into the water.  The grass I'm going to have to pull by hand.  I'm planning on putting an old canoe in and throwing the stuff inside as I pull it.  

I freaked out when my rake caught this on the end of a stick I pulled out of the bottom:

My first thought was that it was eggs and that I had killed an entire generation of fish that I didn't even know that I had!  Fortunately I found on Google images that it was just a bryozoan which is kind of like an aquatic moss.  Apparently their presence indicates good water quality, so that's a plus.  I'm definitely going to go full steam ahead on the plan to stock with minnows, killfish, and brown bullheads since they should be able to thrive in the environment as it is.  

Edited July 16, 2018 by Swamp_Yankee

[Swamp_Yankee]

Didn't really do much pond work in 2019 but lately I've been getting down there and pulling crap out of the water.  I have an old 16' Sears fiberglass canoe that I use as my work boat, paddling around and pulling out branches, etc... 

I also cut away a big mess of woody vegetation on the northeast corner of the pond:

I plan to mow down the banks from that point, going clockwise around to the southwest corner.  Eventually I'll put down geotextile fabric and boulders/small rock to keep the weeds at bay permanently.  The rest of the pond where there is heavy vegetation that hangs over the water I'll leave as it should make a good cover/forage area.  I've been talking to @Bucksnbows as well as the guys at Musky Trout Hatchery which is not even 10 minutes away and both have been a big help.  The guys at Musky have plenty of customers in the area with ponds like mine and are confident that it can sustain decent fish without aeration as it is spring fed and shaded from the south.  Tomorrow I'm picking up 2,000 fathead minnows to start the food chain.  The fatheads should forage in the muck, eat up the leeches and mosquitoes, etc...and give me a base to build on with bass, bluegill and more.  My daughters have really been getting into working on the pond and are very excited about stocking.  My oldest is keeping stats, measuring surface and water temperature one a week to see how it fluctuates through the summer and into the fall:

[MRMCR]

Aeration........fish will eat mosquito larvae........moving water slows down /stops plant growth.......make deeper........

[Swamp_Yankee]

14 hours ago, MRMCR said:

Aeration........fish will eat mosquito larvae........moving water slows down /stops plant growth.......make deeper........

Going to see how much I can do without aeration for now.  Don't really want to run 100+ yards of electric or airline.  As far as moving water I'm thinking about diverting two of the small springs that drain into the pond into one pipe so that they trickle into the pond and aerate it a bit.  Stocked 2,000 Fathead Minnows today courtesy of Musky Trout Hatchery in Asbury right on the banks of the mighty Musconetcong.  The minnows will forage the muck, leeches and insects, reproduce and establish themselves at the base of the food chain.  My little freshwater fisheries biologists will continue to monitor water conditions through the summer so that we can best determine what species to stock in late summer early fall. Since our pond is blessed with shade from the southern sun and an ample supply of groundwater we may be able to sustain trout if our bottom water temperatures don't exceed 70°F through the end of August according to the guys at Musky:

Cut down all of the vegetation on the south and east banks today-the long term plan is to put down geotextile fabric and cover it with the same type of rock I used for my firepit project:

Still more to do here-I quit weedwhacking when a thunderstorm came rolling through-I took these photos after it passed.  The storm was good timing though as it flushed a lot of the crap that fell into the water down the overflow pipe before it could sink and become muck:

One thing I'm seriously thinking about is trying to build up the bank on the south side, which is the lowest.  I think that the pond has enough groundwater flow that if the bank were raised a foot along with the overflow pipe that I could raise the water level a foot which could help with temperature.  

[Kype]

trout like cold moving water not ponds. even if your pond doesnt reach 70 degrees it still may not hold trout. but its looking good. may want to just stock cats and bass.

[Swamp_Yankee]

7 hours ago, Kype said:

trout like cold moving water not ponds. even if your pond doesnt reach 70 degrees it still may not hold trout. but its looking good. may want to just stock cats and bass.

We'll see-I'm not wedded to the idea of trout, but I appreciated the fact that the hatchery took the time to explain all of the different options.  I'll be perfectly happy if my kids can catch bass and catfish all day long.  

[Bonefreak]

Draining ponds and lakes is a fish biologist favorite strategies to kill invasive aquatic vegetation and "reset" the pond to be "young" and productive again ......every 7 to 10 yrs would be good for a small pond depending on how shallow and swampy it gets. 

Do u have means to drain the pond?  

[MRMCR]

On 7/12/2018 at 8:46 AM, Swamp_Yankee said:

I'm willing to give it a shot.  The reality is that its never going to be a bass pond because it's just not deep enough.  From what I've read even if I aerate, etc...chances are any other type of fish will die over the winter.  If it turns out to be a mess I can always just drain it again and start over.  

My relative has a small pond in Califon not very deep  and they had plenty of bass that were untouched / uncared for for 40 years........they used to just used the property as a weekend picnic/ party site 28 acres.........I havent fished it in about 3-4 years.....but it was spring fed .......its up on Little Brook Rd if you know Califon........

[Bonefreak]

On 7/12/2018 at 8:46 AM, Swamp_Yankee said:

I'm willing to give it a shot.  The reality is that its never going to be a bass pond because it's just not deep enough.  From what I've read even if I aerate, etc...chances are any other type of fish will die over the winter.  If it turns out to be a mess I can always just drain it again and start over.  

Drain it every 7-10 yrs to reset the ecosystem