"Ka30P" wrote in message
...

First let me chastise you for writing the
word 'winter' when summer has yet to start
here! ;-)

I think your plan to leave 1" around the whole pond will be okay. But
watch
that inch!
You might also, if possible, put a bubbler under the surface of the water
at
the edge just for extra protection.


Yeah, Winter?

I was thinking about this recently too though. Our neighbour's tree
partially overhangs the pond and drops all kinds of crap in the pond. Right
now it's dropping some kind of little green balls about the size of pin
heads, which clog up the filter nicely. In the fall it drops these small
leaves, which would pass through most of the pond nets I've seen. So I need
something to cover up the pond to keep the fishies clean. The bottom of the
pond was a hell of a mess this spring.

We brought the fish inside last year after a Heron feeding and they're still
here. We didn't want to lose our prize GF to the Heron, as it's about 6"
now. We've threatened to panfry him, but he keeps gobbling.