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

[SENKOSAM1]

The pond that was max. at 9' almost, lost 6' due to the severe drought last year. The low level plus other factors such as thick ice contributed to a total fish kill. I saw dead fish suspended in the ice - some bass and panfish - and waited for the thaw and floating fish. I had four grass carp that helped keep the weeds down (pads not affected) that had grown from 12" to 7 lbs. The lack of bottom weeds due to the carp plus too little water, may have contributed to the lethally low oxygen content killing the many fish that had grown and spawned over the years.

Along with many dead fish, the carp floated to the surface. Before I could remove them, one carp body was removed and left on shore 30' from the water's edge. What the?!!!

Partially eaten carp (note coffee cup for idea of size)


 I pulled out the remaining three along with other fish carcasses and left them to dry out before bagging them. The next day 4 large turkey vultures where feeding on one dead carp leaving just large scales and bones. The next day, all the carcasses were gone completely!
Five vultures and other unknown animals got rid of about two dozen or more fish in three days!

Talk about feast or famine!! In April and May we got over 6" of rain; in the last 48 hours - 2". The pond filled fast and is now at max. I've been restocking fish from a few local lakes but haven't decided to restock the grass carp. A fish kill happened some time back but not this bad. Winter aeration is out of the question so this may happen again.

I haven't seen the 8 lb. snapping turtle yet though 3 painted turtles showed up. I figure the snapping turtle feasted on many dead bodies, which they are known to do, so it left fewer fish for me to net and dispose of.
                  Full pond - recent photos                                                pond late summer
   vs  

The pond was down in 2017 and there was a fish kill but not as bad.
Interesting factoid:
When a hawk came down and walked over to the dead carp, five vultures backed off until it left. Amazing that a bird with a fully open wingspan of 4' backs away from a bird with a wingspan of less than 2'. Guess the vultures knew who was boss!
Cool fact about turkey vultures:
1. They can track decaying flesh 8 miles away.
2. Their stomach acid is strong killing any germs. It stinks so bad that if they want to come back to finish eating, they regurgitate on it so no animal will feed on it.

[wiperhunter2]

Sounds familiar, on those drought cycles, we get them here too, but the bad ones don't come more than every 10 or 15 years, so not too bad but what I hate is when they draw down our lakes for some human made drought, of their own making, just to install a pipe, to draw out even more water. Such a waste of our valuable water, when they could just wait until Mother nature does it on her own, because it will happen, sooner or later. Do you think some of the critters that ate those fish might have been racoons? They love fish.

[SENKOSAM1]

 Do you think some of the critters that ate those fish might have been racoons? They love fish.

Come to think of it, last year a racoon raced up a tree in the woods. Most of the dead panfish and bass on the shore were gone the next morning leaving a few spines and gill plates. I still wonder what dragged or flew with a 7 lb carp in its jaws or beak to place it way up on shore. Most likely a racoon.

About 10 years ago one real estate company was given a permit to drain a small lake near me, killing thousands of fish the winter following a 3/4 drawdown. No idea why they were allowed to drain it or for the reason they needed to. The land was never developed. So much for fish limits and protection! Money talks .
 At least the fishery came back and now there are quality crappie, sunfish and perch, though the bass I've caught have been less than 3 lbs.

Question: Is it possible to put too many fish in the pond? I've replaced at least 30 fish and lean toward only adding smaller fish. I'm not sure what they eat and wouldn't want them fighting for food to stay alive. Definitely no large bass. Still not sure whether the grass carp should be added. I don't seriously fish to catch fish in the pond but mostly to try out some of my creations. Soon enough the sunfish will be crowding around the dock to snap up bread balls along with 4 painted turtles.