Turning Your Pond or Lake Into A Fishery
Turning Your Pond Or Lake Into A Fishery
Part 1
Most properties that were settled for farm or ranch purposes have a pond or two on the place. These were originally built for the purpose of providing water for farm or ranch livestock. The majority of them were not designed with fishing in mind, but as the semi rural suburban spread begins to replace a lot of older farmsteads and ranches, livestock watering is less of an issue, and recreational fishing takes on a new importance.
Most of these ponds are under an acre, which makes them unlikely candidates for good bass fishing, but if you like fresh fried catfish, they can be made to produce about as many as you have peanut oil for!
Turbidity
How you proceed with this project, will depend on what you are starting with, and with what your goals are. In either case many of the same procedures apply. If you are starting with a newly built pond It may be necessary to get some vegetation growing along the banks. This will be needed to lower the turbidity of the water. Turbidity is simply the soil particles that are held in suspension in the water. If you have a lot of clay, and a lot of rain, the water will probably be muddy. Covering the banks with vegetation, will lower the number of soil particles that end up mixed with water, by helping to prevent erosion.
Turbidity problems are sometimes found in older ponds as well. This usually results from runoff of soil containing water from disturbed ground. Plowed fields, and construction sites are sometimes responsible. Increased vegetation around the pond should help with this as well.
Eutrophycation
A common problem in older ponds is eutrophycation. Eutrophycation is excessive fertility. This often occurs when nutrient rich runoff from over fertilized lawns and pastures ends up in your pond. Here, again, vegetation should provide the solution. A thick vegetative barrier can be planted at the mouth of the pond.
These things will need to be done before proceeding to the next part of the project.
Next: Pond pH Part 2
Tags: eutrophycation, fishery, fishing, turbidity