fish all gone

rhbuilds

rhbuilds

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Jun 9, 2010
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i have a private pond that i have been fishing the last 2 years. its about 4 acres big. on any given day i can catch 6 bass in 1 hour in the 3-5lb range, a real honey hole. for some reason i fished this pond 7 times this year and caught nothing! i tried fly rod, pull out my bait caster with plastics,spinnerbaits,crank baints, nothing? have the fish all died? here are they. the only thing i havent tried was live bait.
ps. im the only person whom fishes this pond. im half temped to get the water looked at for pesticides or anything strange. or maybe the fish know the bottom of my canoe now and swim away!
 
If it's a very shallow pond it may have frozen to a depth unsustainable for fish life.

I would try some live bait.
 
Ponds can be very fragile, without proper water circulation a very cold rain can turn all the deeper water over (cold water is denser then warm, most dense at 39 degree f) and basically bring all the low oxygen water up to the surface and the fish can basically drown in the water. This is often referred to as summer kill but can happen anytime of the year.

This is just one idea but I have seen it happen before.
 
I'm not asking where it is but if that pond is in Lancaster County, I might have an answer why.
 
the pond is in perkasie. the deepest point is 7'.
 
rhbuilds wrote:
the pond is in perkasie. the deepest point is 7'.

Wow that is shallow for a 4 acre lake! That may rule out a summer kill situation, not much chance of that much of a temp gradient if it is that shallow, no big pockets of low oxygen water I would think.

We had a very cold winter but still don't think there would be 7 feet of ice, again could be wrong, but 7 feet is Minnesota type of ice.

You may be back to looking for pesticide/herbicide?

Good luck
 
Some guy just fished it out with powerbait?? Time to re-stock it!! Catch a bucket or two of panfish and repopulate that pond!
 
rhbuilds,
I've given this some thought and am at a loss for an explanation....other than the possible winter kill scenario. Are you sure nobody else is fishing this? Small ponds and creeks can really get cleaned out if they're discovered by catch and keep types, esp if they don't respect bag limits. The fish you describe are very old fish and take a long time to re-grow their population. Another possibilty might be seasonal changes. In the past, were you fishing it mainly in springtime? If so - and you're now getting skunked in summer - I'd bet that's the answer. Fish that are easy to find and catch in springtime are out in deep water in summer.
 
i fished that water last year from april-september with great results. i know for a fact that im the only one fishing there. in the past i seen fish jumping all the time, now nothing. its a ghost town.
 
Sounds like winter kill to me. You don't need that much ice thickness to oxygen starve a pond, even a 4 acre pond. All you'd need would be a thick enough snow pack that lasted long enough to deny much if any light getting through to the surface of the water for the majority of the winter season This stops photosynthesis and dissolved oxygen levels go right through the floor (unless you have a really strong spring inlet). Especially in a relatively shallow pond like yours.

So, winter kill would be my guess.
 
Restock it and put in a couple bubblers in the lake in several different spots.

http://www.pondandgardenwholesalers.com/servlet/the-Aerators-for-Ponds/Categories

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=pond+bubbler&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:eek:fficial&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=1165554079751914150&sa=X&ei=rromTsuYIIzqgQeZpdVc&ved=0CGEQ8wIwAQ
 
There must be gas drilling in the area.
 
Definitely! Either that or the migrating methane decided to really migrate!! LOL!
 
I'd throw an M- 80 in the water and see if anything floats
 
the old school approach. bang!
 
M-80s are not big enough. Need at least a 1/4 stick.
 
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