On Sat, 24 Mar 2007 21:17:51 CST, Steve Bonine wrote:

Since I may actually see open water in the next few days, I think that
the time has come to broach a somewhat different kind of pond question
than is the norm on this group.

In late 2004, I moved from a high rise condo building on the lakefront
in Chicago to 5.5 acres in rural Minnesota. One of the features on my
property is a pond. It's about 3/4 acre, pear shaped, and 17 feet at
its deepest. This is a "natural" pond; I put "natural" in quotes
because it was actually dug (in the mid 1970s), but it has no lining,
pumps, aerators, or any of the other attributes that often turn up in
discussion here. In other words, I don't think it's your "normal"
rec.ponds pond. [Yes, I know I'm in newsgroup rec.ponds.moderated.]

No problem. Turns out there are a lot of us that have natural
(unlined) ponds to fuss with. I live down in northern Florida, and
now find myself with three of the things to take care of, though none
as deep as yours.

This pond is the fisherman's dream, if the fisherman happens to be about
five years old. Drop a hook in the water, and you've got a fish in less
than a minute. Bait optional. Take the fish off the hook and throw it
back, repeat, and you would swear that you've caught the same fish.
They're sunfish, I'm told, 6-18 inches in length. It's obvious even to
me that the pond is overpopulated with small fish.

I used to have fish too, and turtles. Then an alligator moved in, and
I haven't seen the turtles or the fish since. It probably wouldn't be
a good solution to your fish problem, however.

I've not done anything much to the pond. I've had plenty to keep me
busy on the property since I've lived here. My pond maintenance has
been limited to using chemicals to reduce algae growth.

I have to admit I'm rather anti-chemical, especially when it comes to
groundwater. I've got friends who dive and crawl in that stuff.

I don't know squat about ponds. Flame me if you must; I'll simply
ignore those. I'm not proud of not knowing about how to handle the
pond, but I'm not ashamed of it either. There are many things to learn
when you move from a downtown condo to a rural house; I've learned a lot
of them, but nothing about the pond. If you would like lessons in
keeping bees, growing vegetables, or brewing beer I'd be happy to help.

As for the beer, I'd rather drink it than brew it, I have little use
for vegetables, and the bees sound like way too much work for me.

So, those of you who know something about the kind of ecosystem I have,
what would you suggest? My inclination is that I need to introduce some
more-aggressive fish that will control the population of the small
sunfish. It would be nice if they could live through the Minnesota
winter like the sunfish do. I'm willing to listen to any advice. So
far the pond has taken care of itself; I'm willing to weigh in only if
there's some likelihood that I'll improve things. Otherwise, Mother
Nature has been doing a rather admirable job.

I know nothing about what lives in places where the water gets hard in
the winter, but I do have some peculiar ideas about weed control.

It's likely that I've left out some crucial information that you need to
understand my situation, so please ask and I'll do the best to provide it.

What color car do you drive?
--
Galen Hekhuis
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