OT Fishing problem

I have this pond that I use my "TRACTOR" to mow around.

In the pond are lots of perch and stocked channel cats. Most of the predator bass died off a couple of years ago. A few turtles come and go....especially with my gaming help.

I have numerous stink baits, cut perch bait and shrimp. The pond is about 5' deep now in the center with the water level low. Surface is clear but below is about 1' of coon tail moss on the bottom. Makes bottom fishing difficult.

I don't fish at night when the species usually feeds.

I have floating food but this year I have been unable to get any to surface feed; just haven't seen any fish. In the past 2 years I have stocked 300 ea. 4" to 8" fingerlings. No signs of poachers other than Herons and turtles.

I try to catch them on rod and reel and just get the undesirables.

I have the filleting table and deep fryer ready for he harvest, but no harvest.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Mark

here is a link for coontail control. it could also be chara, which requires different control. too much of a debris buildup on the bottom will cause an anerobic condition in the pond, causing a die off.
poke here

That seems pretty shallow for predator fish. I would expect O2 level is low.

pond is too shallow, if you don't have an someway to stir up the water to get 02 in there I doubt if you will ever get anything out larger than you put in.

Since we are on the subject of raising fish I would like to mention that otter are expanding their range.
Never heard of otter in North Texas until last 18 months. I don't know how many were in the ponds but they consumed an 20 to 30 lbs of channel cat per night. Many of the lakes and ponds are not within 10 miles of a live stream but the pattern indicates the migration is going upstream on river systems.
Texmark,I think your problem is too many fish in too little water.

I spent all day out there today. Caught one about 12" long. Water is off color with algae around the edges. Clear enough to see down about 4".

The fish was dark green with the normal silver sides green tinted. Upon filleting, flesh was not clear, it had a lot of CC yellow fat. Not what I expected.

Prior to about 3 years ago when I had all the coontail moss and it held up the algae and yes in fact did smother out the oxygen that year, I had 100+ (I counted...the dead ones) predator s including 7 channels that would go 7# roughly. Bass were good sized with largest probably 5+ ) 4 finger mouth opening).

Once upon a time I had one Beaver. He came, stayed awhile, chewed off several trees and left.

I have seen zero corpses. Once I had a CC corpse that looked like what was left after a Heron tried to eat it.

I probably have 500 perch with a lot of them good sized. They do just fine.

I did get to pop 2 very large snapping turtles which made the day.

I get good breezes almost daily (wind blows more here than in Chicago) across the water making ripples over probably 80% of it. I still have the aerators from the kill off but haven't used them this year as we have had nice rains, no run off, but nice rains and it's been cool.

Appreciate your comments.

I have some kin coming over for Fr. Day and I think I'll sick them on it and see what happens.

Thanks,
Mark

I use Aquacide Aquathol Super K which cleaned up the pond the year I had the blockage, really nice. What's on the bottom is apparently residue from that. Just not a clean bottom like a river or at the beach. If you try to bottom fish you just wind up with a bunch of goo.

Thanks,
Mark

you may want to get a pond rake and see if you can pull out as muck of the debris as you can, as the plants rot down, they will release hydrogen sulphide gas, kind of has a rotten egg smell. not healthy for the pond. aerator or fountain will help to get oxygen back in the water.

forget the carp.

If it is 3 acres or so it could support fishing OK as shallow as it is. Most fish like deeper water to spawn/nest. In TX the water temp may also be an issue. Is there shade for some of the day?
Deeper (12Ft minimum) would allow better temp control and fish options. Jim