Thread: Pond Mgmt 101

Piedmont Pond (3 acre)- This summers project is to do some shoreline renovation as well as reduce overall bass population. The pond is completely surrounded by willow and cottonwoods cutting off the wind action on the pond. This reduces the water mixing and oxygen content for the fish. It also reduces the decomposition of the organic matter in the water such as leaves from the treees. This is not a good thing. We are going to remove a number of large trees and trim some limbs to allow several corridors of air movement to enhance the pond.
We have a pond that has an excellant bluegill and redear population, some very large channel cats and some nice sized crappie (yum). The bass population is out of balance and needs to be reduced in order to allow them some growing room. So we are going to trim a few bluegill and target the bass. This should show some growth next year on the bass size.

Next post will be the Hinton Lake Project which is 10 acres in size.

Very interesting. Keep up the reports.

Rigrunner - You find this interesting? I normally do not find many people interested in this because it is technical and has little pizzazz compared to fishing reports. These quiet projects can make ponds great fishing if the instructions are follwed to the letter. If not.....then weeeelllll the results are less than you want. Some of the problems stick out like a sore thumb, some are text book and some are just tricky. Many people do not plan to fail with their pond development they just fail to plan and then follow through with the recommendations. Pond development can be hard work sometimes.

In a couple of days I will discuss the Hinton Lake project. This one is textbook as far as the problem is concerned.

Having a successful fishing lake or pond is alot like raising cattle. You provide water, some nutrients, food, cover for protection and resting. In both cases, sooner or later, you have to harvest some of your crop or it will overpopulate and begin to have some problems. You catch some of the different species of fish each year which makes room for the smaller ones to grow bigger. Some of the cattle get sold off each year to maintain the carrying capacity of the pasture.

Have a relaxed and safe Memorial Day tomorrow and remember a Veteran.

Cricket George, You give out some good solid advice. I was raised on the farm and know what your talking about. I may someday own a small pond. If I can find one and the price is right and the right part of the country.

Thank you, I appreciate your comment. I have several friends that are fisheries biologists with ODWC and 1 that is a private consultant. I have spent 19 yrs assisting city governments with their wastewater issues. I have assisted ODWC with aeration needs in many of the Close to Home Fishing lakes in the OKC area. I travel in several states working and even get a little time to fish.
I assumed that some people on this forum might have some pond issues that I could assist them with so I started this thread. I hope that this will be interesting, informative and eye opening.

Hey George,

I too find this very interesting. I assume by your handle you are also a bream fisherman. Did you make it out to American Horse this spring for spawn? Also, how is the redear population doing out there. I haven't been able to get out there for 3 years now. I know it used to have some dandies (bluegill too!). It was getting an awful lot of pressure from the bass fishermen last time I was out there.

Keep 'em comin George! Sure makes for a better read than some of the things I post. Btw, how did your get-to-gether with the float tube turn out?

Perchjerker - I have not made it to American Horse this year. The Lake is 7 feet low in order that ODWC can get the dam repaired. The flood of a year or so ago allowed the grass carp to leave the lake. The vegetation is growing back and ODWC has planted additional vegetation. This vegetation will allow the spawn to hide and grow. Last year the electrofishing survey produced a state record redear and a LM bass over 10 pounds. The water clarity is like alcohol. BTW, yes my handle denotes I enjoy catching pig bream. I am always on the lookout for a new bream spot. The bass in the lake are over populated and need to be thinned. The Dept is actually electrofishing the bass and stocking other lakes through out the state with them.

Reaper - Saturday I fished with my friends at Hominy and had a relaxing trip. The fishing conditions were poor. We were fishing under post frontal conditions and then in the afternoon a new front blew in shutting the fishing off and ran us off the lake. The wind came up and I could barely kick myself into shore. My partner got caught on the opposite side of the lake and took the brunt of the wind. Luckily he had swim fins on could power himself in. He was exhausted. It was a wee bit scary battling the white caps. I caught 5 bass and my partner caught around 15 but nothing of any size. The caravan of 13 4 wheelers were hitting the ranch ponds and could only produce a bunch of little fish. The biggest bass landed all day was 1 pound 5 ozs. Normally at least 1 bass over 7 pounds,sometimes 2 are caught plus a bunch of 2 - 4 pounders. The fishing was definitely off but the fellowship with old friends more than made up for it. I did hook 1 bass of approx 2.5 - 3 pounds on a plastic worm but he ran into a submerged tree and broke me off. Oh well.
I hope you took the girls to catch some bream. The bream are bedding again and should finish the second spawn by WEdnesday.
Today I am having a fish fry to clean out alot of bass,crappie and catfish so as to allow room for a freshload.

Deerhunterodie - I had the opportunity to visit with Larry and Scott Overson while at the Rendezvous and we chatted about you.:D