Small pond management?

[fishheadbob]

My two cents. Yes, the snapping turtle will eat any fish in your very cool looking pond. He is also keeping the frog numbers down, but I don't think turtles eat mosquito larvae, frogs will. The tea color is likely caused by tannins created by decomposing vegetation like leaves and twigs drifting down and rotting over 25 years. Same thing for the muck. I've had two knowledgeable guys tell me that a pond fed by runoff will silt up over the years, or more muck.
You probably have 2 options, one being to enjoy it as it is. The other is more expensive and involves a large excavator and experienced operator. If you go the excavator route you could dig it deeper, use the muck to build up the sides, maybe widen it, and probably wind up with twice as much water to hold some fish. Should be good for another 25 years. ???
FWIW I don't have fire hydrants near me, my insurance company said they would knock off about $100 per year in premiums if I went with a 3/4 acre pond - about one million gallons if I recall correctly. My local volunteer fire department has an unofficial motto "No small fires." as no water means most everything burns to the ground.
You ought to talk to someone at the Soil Conservation Service in your area. Some of them are true pond experts and know a lot more than us well meaning people on TBN

 

[Beltzington]

Attached pictures are before grass carp (2007) and after grass carp (2017) I am sure there were other contributing factors to the huge algae bloom we had but after adding the grass carp we have never even come close to the mess we had prior.

 

[oosik]

Hmm - - grass carp. There is a typically shaped lake about 25 miles south of me - Rock Lake. Its about half to three quarter mile wide and seven miles long - and extremely deep - many hundreds of feet. Grass carp were introduced by Fish & Wildlife and those carp have COMPLETELY stripped every water weed out of the entire lake. They spawn in the spring and I saw a few of them a couple years ago - tearing up the shore line like a pair of spawning Red salmon. They were pretty big fish and, I guess, the ones in this lake are not sterile.

This lake is seasonally open for fishing ( spiny rayed types) but the carp are definitely catch and release.

 

[KennyG]

I have a pond about your size. Longer but narrower. I bit the bullet and had it dredged to 8 to 10 feet deep. If you have good access for a trackhoe, an excavator can do it very quickly.

Grass carp will clean out a pond but are not necessarily recommended for a healthy pond. Generally "hybrid" or "sterile" fish are not 100% sterile and will eventually overpopulate. Aeration is better. Don't worry about the distance. Just bury PEX from the power/pump location. I run my small aerator 50% of the time on a timer and have no algae.

Don't get too worried about snappers. I always have one or two big snapping turtles and I have bluegill, bass and catfish as well as plenty of frogs, a muskrat family and regular visits from herons. The ducklings don't seem to fare so well though.

 

[keegs]

I have a small 3/4 acre pond on our property. It's fed by surface and groundwater runoff (via a small brook) and several natural springs. To one side there's an earthen dam. At the time (11 years ago) that we purchased the property it was apparent that the pond was filling in with silt from surface runoff. There are surface water drainage designs you can look into to capture some of the silt before it enters your pond but this can be expensive to implement and will require regular maintenance.

Three years ago I had someone drain the pond and dig it out (it's about 15' deep now) and it's apparent that silt is beginning to fill in the area where the brook enters the pond. When the weather is dry and the water level drops, grasses propagate into this area and have now become established there. The grasses provide protection for water foul and food for moose and birds. They also act as a filter. The previous owner kept trout in the pond but a stream runs by the property about 1000' to the north and river otter visit regularly eating anything they can find. When the pond was drained I had several large pine and cedar trees trunks placed at the bottom so that fish would have a place to hide.

My general advise is that unless you have a lot of money to throw at your pond to let nature do what it's going to do and participate. It will likely attract a variety of wildlife that you wouldn't otherwise attract. You might also enjoy ice skating on it in winter and sleigh riding down it's banks.

 

[oosik]

My pond is full of painted turtles. They never bother anything. I do have a pair of otter visit in the fall or early winter almost every year. They will stay about a week - eat bass - have a grand old time. If its winter and the lake is frozen over - they will slide down the slopes in the snow and out onto the ice on the lake. In the evening - after sunset - hear them out on the ice - eating bass. Sounds just like a kid eating a dry ice cream cone.

I have often wondered where they come from and where they go when they leave. The next lake immediately south is a two and a half mile hutch overland.

 

[rekees4300]

My general advise is that unless you have a lot of money to throw at your pond to let nature do what it's going to do and participate.

All ponds are temporary, unnatural structures. Nature is constantly working to undo those structures. Just a matter of time.

 

[John Fitzgerald]

My pond is full of painted turtles. They never bother anything. I do have a pair of otter visit in the fall or early winter almost every year. They will stay about a week - eat bass - have a grand old time. If its winter and the lake is frozen over - they will slide down the slopes in the snow and out onto the ice on the lake. In the evening - after sunset - hear them out on the ice - eating bass. Sounds just like a kid eating a dry ice cream cone.

I have often wondered where they come from and where they go when they leave. The next lake immediately south is a two and a half mile hutch overland.

Otters can range over twenty miles per day. They ate almost all my catfish last winter during their nocturnal visits.

 

[oosik]

rekees4300 - you are correct regarding the longevity of lakes/ponds. 19,000 years ago the final out washing of ancient Lake Missoula cleaned all the sediments out of my little lake and it started its life being 90 feet deep. Today 19,000 year later it is 80 feet deep. My little lake has been an ongoing research project for a hydrogeological company here in the area for the last seven years.

I've learned things about my little lake that I never even though about previously.

 

[MossRoad]

rekees4300 - you are correct regarding the longevity of lakes/ponds. 19,000 years ago the final out washing of ancient Lake Missoula cleaned all the sediments out of my little lake and it started its life being 90 feet deep. Today 19,000 year later it is 80 feet deep. My little lake has been an ongoing research project for a hydrogeological company here in the area for the last seven years.

I've learned things about my little lake that I never even though about previously.

I've got an area fishing map from the 30's that lists all the lakes within 25 miles of here. There's probably 100+ lakes on that map. It shows what kinds of fish are in those lakes. Today, about 1/3 of those lakes have no visible water. They are just wetlands with cattails and willow trees. Heck, some of the small lakes I used to fish on in the 70's are no longer navigable. It's an interesting process to watch.