Pond worry in a drought

[SENKOSAM1]

I dug my pond  8' deep over a decade ago. Introduced fish and pads. Some summers have had lower than expected rainfall and this year is no different. I would use water from my well if I could be sure my well wouldn't run dry, but that's not a risk worth taking. The fish, frogs and the turtles are doing fine even with the water lower by 3-4'. The pads prevent more water loss and help lower the water temperature beneath the leaves, but evaporation is ongoing.
Full pond


recent photo


Side note: about 20 sunfish and up to 4 painted turtles stop by for bits of bread thrown to them. A few bass come near to see what's in it for them but then swim away. The sunfish will swim sideways into less than an inch of water to take bread bits way from the turtles and at times steal bread from turtle mouths before they can swallow it.

The surface commotion of fish butting heads once the bread hits the water is noisy considering how quiet fish stay to prevent being eaten by predators such as heron which I have to scare away ever so often. Amazing how close the fish and turtles are to me when I'm on the dock. I can see the wakes of fish coming towards me coming from different directions around the pond once I throw the first bits of bread. The lateral line does it. 

I will not fish for what I consider my aquarium fish knowing how easy it would be to catch any of the sunfish, perch, bass or crappie I stocked. Spawns have taken place for sunfish and bass over the years but survival of the fittest keeps overpopulation down.

[wiperhunter2]

i remember you talking about your pond before, sorry to hear it is not doing well, does it normally fill during the Winter?

[Cowboypirate]

You mentioned turtles. Do you have snapping turtles? I know they cause havoc in a few of our friends ponds in Alabama