Pond cleaning

[G-Man]

Several years ago we had a flood and I had fry wash into my bait pond.. finally after trying to catch the invaders out after all the minnow and crab were gone I decided enough was enough, I decided to drain and remove all. Took a couple of 2 in pumps and a nice day and 6 hours but got it down to nothing. Had a friend come over who helped and we netted it 2x when it was a foot deep and she took the fish and a 5 gallon pail of trapdoor snails for her pond.  Surprisingly there were quite a few crayfish left as well. 7 years after the incident it refilled, restocked and fatheads are reproducing quickly again.  frog was temporarily displaced. Lot of  Snails to be removed.four decent sized bass.., the round looking stones are all trapdoor snailsabout empty.those are all snails..18 bass fingerlings to remove.

[mowin]

Quite the project.  Looks good. 

[squirrelwhisperer]

Are the snails bad for the health of the pond?

I know nothing of pond maintenance. What was the invasive species? Was it the snails? If yes, what would they do to the rest of the fish in the pond?

Edited June 17, 2020 by squirrelwhisperer

[G-Man]

43 minutes ago, squirrelwhisperer said:

Are the snails bad for the health of the pond?

I know nothing of pond maintenance. What was the invasive species? Was it the snails? If yes, what would they do to the rest of the fish in the pond?

Bass were the problem as well as a few crappie but I caught them out.. , it's just a pond I use for bait, fathead minnows, crawfish.  The snail are very good for a pond , eat down algae, weeds, and filter water like clams. They give live birth and minnows eat the young . Friend wanted them for her pond as she has algae problem they normally go for 25 cents apiece at fish pet store and they keep glass clear on aquariums.   

[squirrelwhisperer]

I figured you wanted the bass. Little did I know. I would love to catch bass in my yard lol

[Zag]

3 minutes ago, squirrelwhisperer said:

I figured you wanted the bass. Little did I know. I would love to catch bass in my yard lol

Problem with bass, they get to big and they eat everything else your pond had!

[squirrelwhisperer]

1 minute ago, Zag said:

Problem with bass, they get to big and they eat everything else your pond had!

I had Oscars in a tank that did that. The only thing they did not eat were the silver dollars - they were too fast. They ate my lobster, snails, eel, catfish...they even ate the plekos, spikes and all. 

[G-Man]

10 minutes ago, squirrelwhisperer said:

I figured you wanted the bass. Little did I know. I would love to catch bass in my yard lol

I have bass , walleye, crappie, perch,trout, blue catfish , and koi in my big pond, just need bait to fish the big one , so I have 2 bait ponds this one was wiped out due to bass fry washing in during flood.. so now it's got a fresh start again as fathead and crayfish producing bait... dont want to buy when you can raise it yourself..

[wolc123]

A few years ago a drought dried up my small (aprox 1/4 acre) pond in mid October.   I dug it about 20 years before and it was starting to get shallow from sediment buildup.   As it dried up during that drought, the herons cleaned out all of the fish (bluegills and bullheads that the ducks brought in) as the water level got lower.   While it was empty, I got into it with my loader tractor and removed all the sediment, and went down a few feet deeper into the clay bottom.    The following July, I added a 5 gallon bucket full of lake Ontario bluegills and a couple of 13" Largemouth.  I have not tried fishing it since so I am not sure how they are doing.  It is about 10 feet deep in the center right now.  

[G-Man]

21 minutes ago, wolc123 said:

A few years ago a drought dried up my small (aprox 1/4 acre) pond in mid October.   I dug it about 20 years before and it was starting to get shallow from sediment buildup.   As it dried up during that drought, the herons cleaned out all of the fish (bluegills and bullheads that the ducks brought in) as the water level got lower.   While it was empty, I got into it with my loader tractor and removed all the sediment, and went down a few feet deeper into the clay bottom.    The following July, I added a 5 gallon bucket full of lake Ontario bluegills and a couple of 13" Largemouth.  I have not tried fishing it since so I am not sure how they are doing.  It is about 10 feet deep in the center right now.  

This pond is 10 ft still, and I've drained it 2x before when i used it to raise walleye. Next time it will prolly be dug out again in 5 years or so

.

[Marion]

This pond is 10 ft still, and I've drained it 2x before when i used it to raise walleye. Next time it will prolly be dug out again in 5 years or so
.

Do you just use it for bait?

#LessOverzealousMods #WeWantANewMod

[G-Man]

7 hours ago, Dr. Jerkman said:

Do you just use it for bait?

#LessOverzealousMods #WeWantANewMod
 

I raised fry of walleye in it before and very young koi years ago, but it was always primarily just a bait pond. I've pumped it out a few times since it was built in 97 to net out what I had in there to restock my large pond. 

The main use is throwing a minnow trap in it for an hour and using the minnows and crabs to go fishing with.. nothing beats live bait imo.

[ApexerER]

Nice Gman, you could open your property for ecological tours......Really awesome!

[landtracdeerhunter]

16 hours ago, wolc123 said:

A few years ago a drought dried up my small (aprox 1/4 acre) pond in mid October.   I dug it about 20 years before and it was starting to get shallow from sediment buildup.   As it dried up during that drought, the herons cleaned out all of the fish (bluegills and bullheads that the ducks brought in) as the water level got lower.   While it was empty, I got into it with my loader tractor and removed all the sediment, and went down a few feet deeper into the clay bottom.    The following July, I added a 5 gallon bucket full of lake Ontario bluegills and a couple of 13" Largemouth.  I have not tried fishing it since so I am not sure how they are doing.  It is about 10 feet deep in the center right now.  

Ducks carry in fish to ponds?  How is this possible?

[G-Man]

28 minutes ago, ApexerER said:

Nice Gman, you could open your property for ecological tours......Really awesome!

I try , I like diversity  attracts all kind of critters.. have a small timber sale coming up, forester marking trees next week. . Mostly maple and hickory.. property was so higraded  when I bought it, constant work to get it back like it should be.

[G-Man]

10 minutes ago, landtracdeerhunter said:

Ducks carry in fish to ponds?  How is this possible?

Eggs are sticky and stick. To feathers and feet.  Most northern lakes in canada were not stocked by man. They were created by glaciers and would all be sterile if not for natural processes of moving plants, and animals.  Clams, snails all are moved by birds as well

[Merlot]

1 hour ago, G-Man said:

Eggs are sticky and stick. To feathers and feet.  Most northern lakes in canada were not stocked by man. They were created by glaciers and would all be sterile if not for natural processes of moving plants, and animals.  Clams, snails all are moved by birds as well

Never knew that...among alot of other stuff. Thanks Professor G.