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pond management

Our project with Bassmaster: Will Lake Y become a bass fishing heaven?

By Lochow Ranch

Turning an average, underperforming lake into bass fishing heaven requires some thought, planning and know-how.

Getting those details right is the goal of our new project with Bassmaster, “The Lake Y Project.”

The resulting project is a complete video series, which just aired its first episode at: https://www.bassmaster.com/lakey

The series examines how we tackle Lake Y, an anonymous 56-acre creek-fed lake in Alabama. Bassmaster says Lake Y “could well represent the majority of small lakes and ponds scattered throughout the country.”

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In Episode 1, James Hall, editor-in-chief of Bassmaster Magazine, introduces the project with our president, John Jones.

John first studied Lake Y in the spring and did a walkabout, identifying problems and opportunities.

Overall, John says “there are a lot of chances to grow a lot of fish,” but Lake Y also has a lot of problems that need to be addressed.

“Left unmanaged, small fisheries, say from 3 to 100 acres, can get out of balance a lot faster than you would imagine,” Bassmaster explains in its series description.

“Bass can become scarce from predation of other critters, or worse, overpopulate a lake and stunt. Non-desirable species (at least to hardcore bass anglers), like catfish, gar and carp, can create such a biomass in limited space that largemouth simply cannot thrive. Cover and structure can deteriorate, vegetation can choke out open water and water quality can become unbearable for fish in a matter of a few years.”

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In the video, John advises that Lake Y owners start an improvement strategy with satellite photos identifying other water body influences and an examination of the lake’s history: when it was built, watershed influences and management approaches. He identified Lake Y as being off color and in a shallow ravine with a small dam.

A lot of people find a great dam site, John explains, but they don’t put money into deepening the lake, which could have cost 10 times as much. But that doesn’t have to be a hindrance, he adds.

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His visual assessment also included evidence of otters, and identified issues surrounding the lake’s number and condition of boats, fish feeders and spillway.

It’s a beautiful lake, John says, but multi-owner lakes (as this one appears to be) have to be handled very differently, and multiple ownership could be a help or a hindrance with different priorities. Among many other observations, he also notes the creek could present some challenges with species diversity, and managers should probably come up with a catfish control program.

John notes, “You don’t have to spend a lot of money to have a great lake, but money speeds things up.” He says he asks customers to give him a budget or a timetable for goals. Now that the visual assessment is complete, the next Lake Y episode will focus on its electrofishing survey.

Electrofishing uses an electric current to briefly stun the fish population. This then allows for an accurate assessment of species, size, relative abundance and growth rates of a lake’s fish.

It’s an excellent tool for correcting an out-of-balance pond. Stunted fish or unwanted species can be easily and quickly removed as part of the service. And the survey acts as the reference point for a long-term pond management plan and provides clues for corrective stocking and harvest recommendations.

“In the end, we hope to inspire you to not settle for unimpressive or average fishing, because you can do something about it,” Bassmaster says.

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter to see the progress in Lake Y in coming weeks.

Interested in getting your own pond assessment? Get in touch to schedule yours today!

Why Choose Lochow Ranch for Pond & Lake Management

Serving Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana, Lochow Ranch Pond & Lake Management proudly puts more than two decades of experience to work for you. Our team includes biologists, technicians and other professionals with deep expertise in pond and lake management services.

Check us out if you are considering building a lake, looking for pond stocking services, to buy fish for a pond, or getting professional pond management and maintenance or fishery management. Our services include lake design, pond construction, pond renovation, pond water testing, electrofishing, pond stocking, control of pond weeds, and pond liming and fertilizing. Let us help you build your dream pond that will delight your family and friends for generations to come.

Click here to get in touch to get started today.

Fish Kills: What to watch out for as summer heats up

By Lochow Ranch

Summer is officially here, and all lakes and ponds are at an increased risk of a fish kill.

While they are not necessarily common or completely preventable, it is good to be advised on what can happen and what to look for because lately we’ve had a sharp increase in fish kill calls.

By far, the overall most common cause of fish kills is lack of oxygen and summer is the deadliest season.

During the summertime as air temperature and length of day increases, most lakes (if not fed by a well) begin their annual drop in water level.

Surface water becomes super-heated during the day and since water density decreases as temperature increases, stratification or separation between water masses at a thermocline occurs.

pond management texas arkansas louisiana oklahoma

That is the cold water you feel at six or so feet deep. Little to no mixing occurs below the thermocline, which results in the water below the thermocline becoming anoxic or depleted of oxygen.

Depending on the surface area to volume ratio of your lake, this stratification is currently occurring to some degree, except in lakes that have appropriately sized subsurface aeration systems.

These conditions put lakes at an increased risk of a fish kill.

Other anoxic conditions can occur when weather changes drastically, for example during big rain events or very windy days lakes can experience a turnover. This normally happens because high amounts of rain can super-cool surface water causing it to sink, which causes the anoxic bottom water to come to the surface.

The combination of sharp changes in temperature and low oxygen levels can cause a fish kill. Small deep lakes with large watersheds have the highest risk of a turnover-related fish kill.

Some other causes of fish kills are:

  • very dense plankton blooms or green water
  • blue-green algae blooms, which produce toxins
  • weed decay, which uses oxygen
  • excessively dense weed growth, which consumes too much oxygen overnight

Lakes that have dense phytoplankton blooms are also at risk of a fish kill. If the phytoplankton biomass exceeds a critical level there can be a simultaneous rapid die off. The resulting bacterial oxygen usage from the decomposition of algal cells can reduce oxygen levels low enough to kill fish.

Extended periods of overcast skies and increased turbidity from rain events can also cause a rapid die off of phytoplankton.

All lakes, including those with subsurface aeration, are at risk of this type of fish kill. Closely monitoring water color and taking visibility readings using a Secchi disk can help with management decisions.  Assessing summer kill causes and weed control are among the most vital management duties.

Certain corrective measures can be taken to reduce phytoplankton density but must be done so proactively.

As always, please let us know if you notice something “off” with your lake, especially during these hot still days.

Why Choose Lochow Ranch for Pond & Lake Management

Serving Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana, Lochow Ranch Pond & Lake Management proudly puts more than two decades of experience to work for you. Our team includes biologists, technicians and other professionals with deep expertise in pond and lake management services.

Check us out if you are considering building a lake, looking for pond stocking services, to buy fish for a pond, or getting professional pond management and maintenance or fishery management. Our services include lake design, pond construction, pond renovation, pond water testing, electrofishing, pond stocking, control of pond weeds, and pond liming and fertilizing. Let us help you build your dream pond that will delight your family and friends for generations to come.

Click here to get in touch to get started today.

Leave it to Beaver? Not when it comes to your lake

By Matt Ward

As lake managers we get any number of calls from clients about somewhat offbeat subjects. One of those call subjects is beavers and what to do about them.

The largest rodent in North America, the American beaver is a common resident of ponds and lakes across the state. Most of the time they tend to go undetected until a favorite tree gets felled or someone steps through a collapsed den access tunnel.

pond beaver problem

In less common circumstances, the client’s call might come after a beaver dam has failed and caused major damage to a lake. We have seen enough of those to say that paying attention to beavers is a worthwhile lake management activity.  Here is a brief discussion of the things you should consider when it comes to beavers.

Basic Beaver Biology

Since the fur trade knocked beaver numbers back in the 80s, beavers have come roaring back and are found on all kinds of lakes and ponds across the state.

Beavers sometimes build showy lodges that you can see from a half mile away. But other times they will simply build dens into available dirt embankments with little sign other than submersed tunnel access.

Beaver dens are hollowed out areas (whether in a lodge or dirt embankment) that are above the water line with an access tunnel that is below the waterline. This design protects beavers from predation allowing them to rest and raise pups in peace.

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Beavers are vegetarian, focusing their forage efforts on the living tissues of trees. Most of their food comes from the living tissue from felled trees though they will occasionally consume roots and other plant material.

A sure sign of an active beaver are freshly chewed branches from which all the living tissue has been removed. The leftover wood is often incorporated into lodges or dams to improve those structures.

Beavers use dams to impound water for safety. Ponds and lakes are easy places for beavers to avoid predators and beavers have a natural propensity to plug flowing waters with earthen dams that are reinforced with felled wood.

Beavers can be active at any time of day, but often seem to be most active at night. They will fell a wide variety of sizes and species of trees. These trees are generally felled near water though we have seen cases of beavers attacking large trees hundreds of yards from the nearest water.

You might notice this post doesn’t include pictures of actual beavers. The one at the top is actually a public pic from a free photo web site, not one of our work sites. That is the norm. Beavers are generally secretive and not easy to spot. So look for their sign and don’t wait to see the critter in person. Detecting problems early is always the best policy.

Now that we have the basics on beaver biology, let’s look at the main management concerns for lake owners.

Fish Worries?

This one is easy. Beavers don’t eat fish so you don’t have worry about losing fish directly to beaver consumption. If you have lost fish recently you are probably dealing with otters. Otters might live in an old beaver lodge but no need to blame the beavers if the squatters are the problem.

Dam Damage

A stopped-up drainpipe or a sudden failure of a beaver dam on a spillway can cause incredible structural damage to a well-designed lake. This kind of damage is very expensive to address and should be avoided through careful and regular inspection of lake overflow structures.

A beaver’s need to dam flowing water is instinctual.  Beavers hear flowing water and naturally want to stop it up.  So they shove sticks and mud into overflow pipes and build dams across spillways. Lake managers need to inspect their overflow structures and make sure that beavers don’t plug them up.

Targeting Trees

Beavers generally chew down small trees but we have certainly seen them go after trees of up to 30” in diameter.

Often times they select our favorite trees and really damage the aesthetics of a well landscaped pond.

Many times the first sign of a beaver will be a freshly chewed tree. Check the trees that grow along the shoreline and note any fresh chew marks.  Beavers typically will spend multiple nights chewing down large trees though we have seen them take down dozens in a single night.

Be sure to protect any prized trees near your pond with a wrapping of hardware cloth.  Encircle the entire tree and adjust the covering from time to time to ensure that you don’t constrict the tree and that the wire doesn’t come loose. Use regular tree inspections as a simple tool to look for any new infestations of beavers.

Lodging and Tunnels

Lodging and tunnels are an excellent way to find a beaver infestation.

These tunnels create a collapse hazard for people that walk over them but also contribute to erosion in steep banks. If you don’t see a defined lodge look for piles of sticks or tunnels into earthen embankments. Note that tunnels are often concealed under overhanging branches or a dock so you might need to pay attention to access channels that appear as cleared channels through weed beds to locate an obscured den.

In short, keep an eye out for beavers to avoid the expensive headaches they can produce. If you detect them get a professional opinion about the threat they pose to your lake or pond. Beavers can be fun to watch but can also be a drain on the pocketbook. Trapping services are not inexpensive but are certainly more cost effective than repairing structural damage to a dam.

Why Choose Lochow Ranch for Pond & Lake Management

Serving Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana, Lochow Ranch Pond & Lake Management proudly puts more than two decades of experience to work for you. Our team includes biologists, technicians and other professionals with deep expertise in pond and lake management services.

Check us out if you are considering building a lake, looking for pond stocking services, to buy fish for a pond, or getting professional pond management and maintenance or fishery management. Our services include lake design, pond construction, pond renovation, pond water testing, electrofishing, pond stocking, control of pond weeds, and pond liming and fertilizing. Let us help you build your dream pond that will delight your family and friends for generations to come.

Click here to get in touch to get started today.

Matt Ward is a Fishery Biologist for Lochow Ranch Pond & Lake Management. He has a Master of Science in Biochemistry from Texas A&M University and has worked in fisheries management in Texas for 15 years.  He brings a passion for good science and an interdisciplinary approach to the natural sciences to help property managers steward their aquatic resources and achieve management objectives.

Ready for the season? Get those fish stocking orders in soon

By Lochow Ranch

You might already be picturing your trophy bass Instagram snaps. But before that happens, it’s time to get your stocking plans set for the season and address any issues with your pond or lake’s inhabitants.

Springtime is a great time to assess your pond’s fish populations to ensure you’ll have decades of good fishing ahead.

As waters start to warm as we head into summer, we recommend moving forward with spring stocking orders in the next couple of weeks. That’s especially true for supplemental forage or Florida Bass fingerlings.

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Balancing prey to predators for strong growth rates requires expert analysis of your pond management and fish stocking needs.

Our team of pond stocking technicians, biologists and other professionals at Lochow Ranch Pond and Lake Management can help you plan the perfect mix for your particular conditions and goals for your lake.

Fish stocking has been practiced for hundreds of years, and a lot of thought should be put into selecting types of fish, as well as whether to introduce non-native species.

What fish will work best in your pond or lake involves many variables, including its size, your goals, and other factors. Very small ponds under one acre have special considerations, and so do very large lakes of many acres. They must be stocked and managed in different ways and present distinct challenges.

A fish population analysis through electrofishing or gill netting will determine which species need to be stocked to bring your lake to its true trophy-growing potential.

trophy bass pond stocking fish for sale

Our experts create a recommended fish stocking plan that takes into account your lake size, location, health and condition as well as your desires. Lochow offers all of the region’s most popular species of fish, such as basstroutsunfishcatfishforage fish and many other species.

If you are noticing nuisance vegetation growing, this is also the right time to schedule treatments, and we offer a complete range of traditional options and natural biological alternatives based on your needs, desires and our years of expertise in dealing with similar bodies of water around Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Texas.

Whether you want a lake completely free of weeds, or perhaps a 25 percent vegetation coverage to promote fish growth, our comprehensive vegetation control programs offer affordable and effective solutions to vegetation control and management issues that threaten the health of your pond, its fish and the desirable plant life in it.

For landowners who want to create their own fishery experience, we provide a complete, unmatched expert menu, from construction with an initial fish stocking plan to long-term pond management.

And after all the technical aspects of your fishing hole are well taken care of, please share those great Instagram snaps with us!

Why Choose Lochow Ranch for Pond & Lake Management

Serving Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana, Lochow Ranch Pond & Lake Management proudly puts more than two decades of experience to work for you. Our team includes biologists, technicians and other professionals with deep expertise in pond and lake management services.

Check us out if you are considering building a lake, looking for pond stocking services, to buy fish for a pond, or getting professional pond management and maintenance or fishery management. Our services include lake design, pond construction, pond renovation, pond water testing, electrofishing, pond stocking, control of pond weeds, and pond liming and fertilizing. Let us help you build your dream pond that will delight your family and friends for generations to come.

Click here to get in touch to get started today.

Maximize your fishery’s health by working with water

By Matt Ward

Water health needs to be managed just like fish and plant life health. In the first of these posts about water quality, I discussed the issues of water turbidity and nutrient control, both critical issues for a healthy fishery.

This week we’ll take a look at water alkalinity and hardness, two more pond water testing factors to be aware of as you look to maximize the health of your lake or pond.

Alkalinity

All lakes and ponds experience daily fluctuations in pH and this fluctuation can put stress on fisheries which in certain cases can lead to lower productivity or even minor kills.

Alkalinity is a measure of your waterbody’s ability to buffer (read “stabilize) natural daily pH swings and will certainly contribute to primary productivity (which ultimately results in gamefish biomass). Alkalinity is generally raised by adding agricultural lime to a pond or lake.

pond water testing

In general, alkalinity should be maintained above 25 mg/mL but would best be maintained in the ideal range of 50-200 mg/mL.

That being said, some lake’s watersheds are so large or lake subsoils so acidic that it is impractical to adjust alkalinity. In these cases costs and benefits will need to be weighed and other sources of productivity (like pelleted fish food) will need to be considered to promote good productivity in a fishery.

Also, lower water quality in the form of lower alkalinity can be better tolerated by certain fish species.  Know your water’s alkalinity, adjust it if you can, and then work as best as you can with what you have.

Interestingly, I have noticed that alkalinity seems to be less and less of an issue as more and more ag lime has been applied to pastures especially across the eastern half of the state.  This agriculture effort has certainly improved water quality in a large number of private fisheries.

Hardness

Hardness can be simplified to approximate the calcium content of a given water body. Fishery management is best served by adjusting hardness to promote good fish growth. Calcium is important for the development of bone and shell in living organisms and minimum levels are needed to promote their formation. Ideal hardness would be in the 50-200 mg/mL but again, the practicality of adjusting hardness should be weighed against the cost to do so.

To raise hardness you can add gypsum or agricultural lime to a given lake. In lakes with adequate or even high alkalinity, but low net hardness, hardness can be raised without affecting alkalinity by adding gypsum. If hardness and alkalinity are both low, just add ag lime. In lakes where water quality amendments are impractical, consider that fish can obtain calcium from their food.

A Note on Vegetation and Algae

Interestingly, hardness and alkalinity also affect vegetation and algae growth in significant ways.

Though most fishery managers think of water quality management as a tool to boost fish production, water quality parameters sometimes need to be manipulated to promote shifts in aquatic plant and algae communities to better support existing fisheries.

Minding water quality

Water quality involves a variety of factors that must be considered in fishery management and lake and pond management.  We haven’t covered all the different things that you might need to consider but hopefully this discussion has given you some food for thought.  When fisheries don’t perform the way we expect them to, consider pond water testing and get some professional advice.  Your fish will thank you.

Why Choose Lochow Ranch for Pond & Lake Management

Serving Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana, Lochow Ranch Pond & Lake Management proudly puts more than two decades of experience to work for you. Our team includes biologists, technicians and other professionals with deep expertise in pond and lake management services.

Check us out if you are considering building a lake, looking for pond stocking services, to buy fish for a pond, or getting professional pond management and maintenance or fishery management. Our services include lake design, pond construction, pond renovation, pond water testing, electrofishing, pond stocking, control of pond weeds, and pond liming and fertilizing. Let us help you build your dream pond that will delight your family and friends for generations to come.

Click here to get in touch to get started today.

Matt Ward is a Fishery Biologist for Lochow Ranch Pond & Lake Management. He has a Master of Science in Biochemistry from Texas A&M University and has worked in fisheries management in Texas for 15 years.  He brings a passion for good science and an interdisciplinary approach to the natural sciences to help property managers steward their aquatic resources and achieve management objectives.

Liquid assets: managing water quality for healthier fish

By Matt Ward

In the interest of full disclosure it should be noted that my academic background is in biochemistry so I get pretty excited about water quality issues.  That being said, this stuff really is important even if the details can’t quite inspire excitement like trophy largemouth.

Water quality issues across the nation go largely ignored as lake managers continue to reactively treat the symptoms of poor water quality.

Time after time, pond weeds and algae growth run rampant while water quality issues that drive this growth are not addressed. Fish kills occur and aeration systems are installed all while water quality issues that should be addressed go ignored.

Sometimes a little water quality work is all it takes to transform a water body and generate a healthy fishery with lower net annual input requirements. In other cases, fundamental water quality issues need to be addressed for fishery management techniques to even stand a chance.  Let’s take a look at the four most important pond water testing parameters and how they can be adjusted to create a healthy fishery.

Turbidity

Turbidity represents the ability of a water body to absorb light that penetrates the surface. Turbidity is measured by peering into a pond or lake and determining the depth at which a highly contrasting object (professionally we use a secchi disk) disappears from view.

This depth is reported as the lake or pond’s visibility or turbidity. Turbidity is generally caused by one of two factors (though turbidity can certainly be altered with commercially available dyes): plankton or suspended solids (especially clays).

Turbidity from plankton represents primary productivity in an aquatic system and is generally desirable in most cases.

A highly productive pond or lake should have 18-24 inches of visibility. This level of turbidity will support high levels of fish production while avoiding increased risk of a plankton bloom crash which could easily lead to a fish kill. If a given lake has substantially less than 18 inches of visibility steps should be taken to reduce plankton production to protect the fishery.

Turbidity caused by suspended solids like clay particles are another story. Muddy water shades out the bottom sediments and supports low levels of primary productivity. A pond with turbidity from suspended solids will not support as great of a fish population as a similar pond with lower turbidity.  This pond should generally be cleared.

To settle out turbid water, a clearing test should be run to determine how your water can be cleared.  Most muddy water can be cleared with a flocculent like aluminum sulfate, but some waters are simply muddy from getting stirred up by cattle or even an overabundance of bottom fish like catfish or carp.  In some cases a pond will need to be killed out in order to reset the fish populations and enable better water clarity to prevail, other times agricultural practices may need to be modified a bit to decrease turbidity.

Nutrients

The next water quality factor we’ll consider are nutrients. Ponds and lakes are nutrient sinks. All the basic nutrients in the landscape run down hill with the rainwater and end up in the pond.

In some cases, nutrient levels are low and a fishery’s productivity will need to be improved through fertilization. But in many other cases too much inflow means that pond managers must deal with endless cycles of growth of vegetation, algae, or phytoplankton.

In extreme cases, excess nutrients can lead to regular fish kills as excessive growth can easily absorb too much oxygen during the night or during cloudy weather. Excess growth can be temporarily reduced by targeted treatments, but ultimately growth should be curtailed by nutrient management.

The first step in managing nutrients is to understand where the bulk of a pond or lake’s excess nutrients are coming from. The most likely sources are applied fertilizers (both inorganic and organic), high nutrient well water, and direct animal waste.

Mitigation is both direct and indirect. Direct management might include applying fertilizers farther back from the pond, leaving a band of unfertilized shoreline around the pond or lake. It might call for reducing the fertilizer application rate or reducing the amount of well water inputs you use or even drilling another well to tap into a different aquifer. Other direct management techniques could involve herd control such as reducing herds or fencing them off of the pond or lake.

Indirect management, on the other hand, seeks to absorb the nutrients that are coming into the water body. This type of management might include establishing a buffer of marginal vegetation or other beneficial aquatic plants to soak up available nutrients. Another technique is to stocking forage that takes better advantage of phytoplankton helping to convert plankton bloom into fish biomass.

Another indirect technique is to apply inorganic minerals that deactivate nutrients like phosphorous, or using activated charcoal to directly absorb dissolved nutrients.

Some pond managers prefer to use aeration and micronutrients to create a better environment for beneficial bacteria that can also be used to process excess nutrients.

Nutrient management isn’t rocket science but best management practices will normally require a little professional direction.  It’s important to prioritize the right management tools in your specific situation to best impact nutrient loading.

We’ll continue exploring water quality and pond water testing as part of comprehensive lake and pond management in next week’s posting, focusing on alkalinity and water hardness.

Why Choose Lochow Ranch for Pond & Lake Management

Serving Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana, Lochow Ranch Pond & Lake Management proudly puts more than two decades of experience to work for you. Our team includes biologists, technicians and other professionals with deep expertise in pond and lake management services.

Check us out if you are considering building a lake, looking for pond stocking services, to buy fish for a pond, or getting professional pond management and maintenance or fishery management. Our services include lake design, pond construction, pond renovation, pond water testing, electrofishing, pond stocking, control of pond weeds, and pond liming and fertilizing. Let us help you build your dream pond that will delight your family and friends for generations to come.

Click here to get in touch to get started today.

Matt Ward is a Fishery Biologist for Lochow Ranch Pond & Lake Management. He has a Master of Science in Biochemistry from Texas A&M University and has worked in fisheries management in Texas for 15 years.  He brings a passion for good science and an interdisciplinary approach to the natural sciences to help property managers steward their aquatic resources and achieve management objectives.

Fishery tips: Prepping your fishing lake for a great season

By Lochow Ranch

Fishery management experts know that year-round pond and lake maintenance is key to keeping your favorite fishing pond healthy and productive.

The leading reasons the equilibrium in your lake could be off include over- and under-harvesting of predator fish, introduction of undesirable fish species, and summer kills, as well as excessive weeds, poor water quality and lack of fertilization.

Qualified experts like those at Lochow Ranch Pond & Lake Management can help turn around a failing fishery or enhance a stable one by addressing these various issues in an annual plan that tracks progress and addresses needs.

Otherwise, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service warns that Texas farm ponds aren’t managed at their highest potential for fish production.

Lochow Ranch can assess fishery populations using nets or shocking equipment and use state-of-the-art equipment to collect data and determine the precise program for getting your body of water back on track.

Surveying Your Pond’s Population

Electrofishing Arkansas Louisiana Texas Oklahoma

An excellent way to begin is with an electrofishing survey, which is a primary tool for correcting an out-of-balance pond.

These surveys accurately assess current forage and sport fish populations and quantify wintertime Cormorant or otter damage. Fish populations also are sampled to determine species, size, relative abundance and growth rates. Click here to learn more.

Planning Pond Stocking

pond stocking services

Pond stocking is another important consideration when you want to maximize the potential for your fishery.

What kinds of fish will work best in your pond involves many variables, including your own goals for your pond or lake. For example, you need to carefully assess the impact of introducing non-native species into your pond. It’s important to be aware of the fish types that can live together in harmony so your pond can sustain a healthy ecosystem. Learn more by clicking here.

Getting a grip on pond weeds

Aquatic vegetation is the cause of 80 percent of low dissolved oxygen fish kills in Texas. And the issues are complex enough that expert advice is recommended.

As we detailed in a series of recent postings about pond vegetation control, there are a range of vegetation control techniques. Mechanical controls include pruning and cutting back pond weeds. Biological controls include introducing grass carp and tilapia, two types of vegetation-eating fish. Chemical means of vegetation control include herbicides and algaecides.

Click here to learn more about how the experts at Lochow Ranch can plan appropriate vegetation control for your lake or pond.

Fertilizing your fishery

Just as you would fertilize fields to increase crop yields, you should fertilize a pond or lake to provide phytoplankton with adequate nutrients for fish growth.

Proper fertilization increases food availability throughout the food chain and indirectly increases the total amount of fish a pond can support. Ponds should be limed before fertilizer is applied, which is important because it increases pH and alkalinity.

Even without fertilization, this may improve available nutrients which can support a phytoplankton bloom. Click here to learn more.

Adding aeration

In order to avoid problems, pond and lake owners also should be inspecting aeration and fountain maintenance or considering their implementation.

Repairs could address obvious signs of wear or just the cleaning of filters and   screens. Lochow offers a range of aeration systems and fountain systems for   ensuring your pond’s oxygen levels are optimal.

 

Plan for a great year

Our team of fishery management experts are standing by to help you make the most of your fishing pond. Whether you are looking for pond water testing, pond stocking, fishery management, pond renovation or new pond construction, we can help. A great lake can be a legacy that will be enjoyed by friends and family for generations to come. Fill out the form to get started today!

Why Choose Lochow Ranch for Pond & Lake Management

Serving Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana, Lochow Ranch Pond & Lake Management proudly puts more than two decades of experience to work for you. Our team includes biologists, technicians and other professionals with deep expertise in pond and lake management services.

Check us out if you are considering building a lake, looking for pond stocking services, to buy fish for a pond, or getting professional pond management and maintenance or fishery management. Our services include lake design, pond construction, pond renovation, pond water testing, electrofishing, pond stocking, control of pond weeds, and pond liming and fertilizing. Let us help you build your dream pond that will delight your family and friends for generations to come.

Click here to get in touch to get started today.

On the way to Trophy-Catching Glory: Eight lucky Texas electrofishing survey winners

By Lochow Ranch

Response to our electrofishing sweepstakes was through the roof!

In fact, we have decided to up the awards to EIGHT free surveys instead of the original five.

If you missed it, we announced back in February that we would give away five free electrofishing surveys to lucky Texas pond or lake owners.

electrofishing services for pond management

Electrofishing is the state-of-the-art way to start maximizing the potential for your fishery.  It’s the safe and effective way that biologists measure fish populations and is key to effective fishery management.

We bring out our custom electrofishing boat and run a mild electrical current that briefly stuns the fish in your lake or pond. Our experts then examine each fish to log its species, size, health and other characteristics.

In the end you have a clear picture of what lurks beneath the surface of your lake. Electrofishing allows our biologists to make scientific recommendations for improvements based on the current condition of your pond or lake.

Electrofishing surveys are the most important tool in making informed management decisions for your water body. Whether it be pond stocking, control of pond weeds, fish feeding, habitat enhancement, or anything else, a survey allows us to make a tailored management plan fit for your lake.

Well, the response was so good to our contest for free electrofishing surveys that we hated to disappoint too many people, so we increased the giveaway to eight surveys.

The winners of the free surveys are:

  • Nick R. of Huntsville
  • Clayton C. of Brenham
  • Angela K. of Rockwall
  • Michael H. of Tira
  • Jim G. of Columbus
  • Stephen S. of Chandler
  • Kurt B.  of Wilcox
  • David C. of Cameron

We will be in touch with all of you to arrange your surveys.

If you did not win, do not despair. You can still take advantage of this great technology to create your dream fishing pond.

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Just drop us a note with the form below to learn more about scheduling your electrofishing survey.

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Why Choose Lochow Ranch for Pond & Lake Management

Serving Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana, Lochow Ranch Pond & Lake Management proudly puts more than two decades of experience to work for you. Our team includes biologists, technicians and other professionals with deep expertise in pond and lake management services.

Check us out if you are considering building a lake, looking for pond stocking services, to buy fish for a pond, or getting professional pond management and maintenance or fishery management. Our services include lake design, pond construction, pond renovation, pond water testing, electrofishing, pond stocking, control of pond weeds, and pond liming and fertilizing. Let us help you build your dream pond that will delight your family and friends for generations to come.

Click here to get in touch to get started today.

Time to treat: consider your treatment options for control of pond weeds

By Matt Ward

At some point in the life of any body of water, pond weeds or algae growth is going to have to be controlled. In last week’s blog posting, we mentioned that most of the time this is going to involve herbicides and algaecides.

Think of these chemistries like scientifically tried and true pharmaceuticals for addressing pond weeds or algae growth. Treatments can be short term or provide extended control. Treatments can target all of one species of plant or target a broad spectrum of growth. Treatments can be in a particular area of a pond or occur across an entire water body.

All herbicides and algaecides serve particular purposes in particular situations. Just like any designed chemistry, these products are designed to be safe to use in the manner directed on the label.

Determine your target growth, select the appropriate chemistry, and learn the appropriate application method for that chemistry. In short use these products only as appropriate and only as stated on the product label.

Always remember that proactive control of pond weeds is essential to a healthy fishery. You should plan your vegetation treatment as part of the big picture as you consider your pond stocking plan and other pond management.

We obviously can’t go into detail on how to treat every kind of pond weed or algae you might encounter, but let’s go over a few basic uses of aquatic herbicides or algaecides ….

Marginal Growth

Sometimes pond weeds grow around the edge of a pond and create a significant barrier to access.

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These pond weeds may need to be treated in their entirety or lanes cut into the growth to allow point access to a water body. This kind of growth can be treated with some full lake in water treatments but will generally best be addressed with foliar treatments with either systemic or contact herbicides.

Contact foliar herbicides usually only take a few days to work and rapidly turn growth brown beginning decomposition of plant material immediately.

Contact herbicides work quickly but often leave basal or root material viable. This live tissue often regenerates, rapidly regrowing a treated plant.

This means that contact herbicides are best used when plants are dormant or when rapid results are required.

In most cases, foliar systemic treatments will be used in lieu of contact herbicides. These chemistries tend to be slow acting taking many days to several weeks to kill the target pond weeds. These chemicals enter the plants through the leaves and then move through the plant to the roots killing the plant all the way down.

Systemic herbicides usually provide the best control but must be applied to actively growing plants.

In some situations a combination of contact and systemic herbicide is used to provide quick knockdown and extended control. Do note that seeds will generally escape various treatments eventually resprouting in the cleared area. Depending on the plant this can occur in a few weeks or up to several years after treatment.

Submersed Growth

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Most of the growth that lake managers struggle with is submersed pond weeds.

Whether algal or vegetative, submersed growth fills a lake’s water column, clogging up a waterway and causing the oxygen and habitat issues we have previously discussed.

Depending on your goals, treatments should be conducted whenever vegetation growth hits about 20% coverage. Treating proactively when growth is at lower levels reduces risk to the fishery and preserves good habitat.

With experience, a good fishery manager will know what the most problematic vegetation is and which treatments to prioritize.

Often certain pond weeds can be left alone because they have less aggressive growth habits or because they are easier for fishermen to fish.

Other pond weeds are prone to top out in deep water or grow very quickly.

These latter are always prioritized for treatment.

A plethora of chemistries is available for treating submersed plants and care should be taken when selecting the preferred product or application method.

Matted growth in deep water often responds well to the use of droppers to place the product directly on the growth. In other cases, granular products can be used to great effect. When you are dealing with topped out vegetation, sprays are usually employed for best effect. That being said, care should be taken to get the applied product down into the mat and not just misted out over the surface.

Perhaps the most important thing to keep in mind about submersed vegetation is the extreme amount of vegetation you will have per surface acre of water.

Many types of pond weeds can produce many tons of vegetative material per acre. This means that when you treat vegetation there is a lot of material that needs to break down.

The breakdown happens by decomposition, which is an oxygen-intensive process.  It is easy to kill too much vegetation at a time and this can cause an oxygen depletion event which can easily lead to a partial or catastrophic fish kill. This risk is multiplied in the heat of summer when water’s oxygen carrying capacity is already strained.

Floating Vegetation

The last category of pond weeds is floating vegetation.  This can range from duckweed to water hyacinth or the infamous giant Salvinia.

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Some of these plants are native and many are exotic invasives.

Know that floating vegetation makes a barrier between your water and the air and as such can prevent oxygen exchange.  A solid covering of floating vegetation can cause an oxygen depletion event which leads to a fish kill.  Treatments are certainly species specific, but include systemic whole waterbody in-water treatments, contact foliar herbicides, contact herbicides, and foliar systemic treatments.

It’s important to target all of the growth as most of these pond weeds reproduce quite quickly.  Look for brushy banks where floating plants can hide out.  Selecting the right product to use is integral but correct application methodology is equally important to ensure you get the growth as thoroughly as you can.

When treating floating vegetation always take a look up the watershed from your pond or lake. Is there another water body that flows into yours? If so, try to find out if the floating vegetation comes from there.

Oftentimes a well-designed treatment is undone after a heavy rain brings a fresh batch of floating plants down from another water body. This is the time to get to know your neighbors and try to design a watershed wide management plan when possible. If you can’t address water bodies upstream it is occasionally appropriate to erect a floating barrier to prevent plants from washing into the main body.

Manage Pond Weeds for a Thriving Fishery

Know your plants, learn the correct product to address the growth, and learn the correct application technique or hire someone who does.

Correctly controlling pond weeds is key to fishery management, the first part of our fishery threesome (Habitat, Fish, and People). Correctly managed vegetation helps your fishery thrive, improves fish fecundity, improves water quality, provides aesthetic benefit, and allows access for fishing and other water activities.

Take a look at your lake and take care of the growth now, so as to avoid considering heavy treatments in the heat of summer.

Why Choose Lochow Ranch for Pond & Lake Management

Serving Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana, Lochow Ranch Pond & Lake Management proudly puts more than two decades of experience to work for you. Our team includes biologists, technicians and other professionals with deep expertise in pond and lake management services.

Check us out if you are considering building a lake, looking for pond stocking services, to buy fish for a pond, or getting professional pond management and maintenance or fishery management. Our services include lake design, pond construction, pond renovation, pond water testing, electrofishing, pond stocking, control of pond weeds, and pond liming and fertilizing. Let us help you build your dream pond that will delight your family and friends for generations to come.

Click here to get in touch to get started today.

Matt Ward is a Fishery Biologist for Lochow Ranch Pond & Lake Management. He has a Master of Science in Biochemistry from Texas A&M University and has worked in fisheries management in Texas for 15 years.  He brings a passion for good science and an interdisciplinary approach to the natural sciences to help property managers steward their aquatic resources and achieve management objectives.

Pruning around the pond: vegetation control is important for lake maintenance

By Matt Ward

There are many aspects to aquatic vegetation and we’ll explore several of them over time with this blog, but here we want to focus on management and control of pond weeds.

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With everyone receiving their spring pond stocking, it is important to not neglect the vegetation, which may prevent pond managers from getting the most out of their stockings in the year to come. 

Certainly, not all vegetation is a detriment to a healthy fishery and moderate amounts of growth are to be encouraged in some situations. Desirable growth will not detract from your lake’s aesthetics, and will also absorb excess nutrients, reduce erosion, and allow you to effectively fish the lake.

Vegetation in the right amounts can also give small fish a place to grow up and avoid over-predation, and even provide bass with quality ambush points for efficient feeding.

The rest of the time, some form of vegetation management will be in order to maintain the fishery and the overall function of the lake. It’s a good idea to make vegetation management part of your overall pond management and maintenance activities.

Why Manage Vegetation Growth?

Of course there are always functional and aesthetic reasons to control vegetation growth on ponds and lakes. Many good resources are online to help you identify vegetation and learn how to control it, such as Texas A&M’s AgriLife Extension AquaPlant site.

But in a broader sense, control of pond weeds boils down to extending the life of a pond or lake by slowing the aging process (the technical term is eutrophication).

In short, lakes fill up over time with plants and sediment, so controlling vegetation means slowing the fill-in process. This is a long-term benefit of vegetation control but there are many more immediate benefits to good vegetation management.

Dense vegetation growth will actually allow your baitfish to escape predation and make your bass go hungry. A fresh pond stocking of bluegill could very well hide in dense vegetation, preventing your bass from benefiting from the effort.

Healthy bass fisheries usually only have 10% to 15% vegetation coverage. Vegetation should be controlled when coverage hits or exceeds 20% coverage. The right amount of vegetation is especially helpful to fishermen as it will help them easily identify the “fishy” areas of the lake since vegetation provides a simple visual cue for fishermen to target.

Too much vegetation can put too much demand on your dissolved oxygen levels, especially during warm weather or in the presence of a healthy fish population.

Certainly, plants produce oxygen during sunny weather and during the day, but at night and in cloudy weather, plants use oxygen just like all other living organisms. If dissolved oxygen levels fall too far, a fish kill could result.

This kind of kill is especially likely when dealing with floating plants like hyacinth or duckweed, which can literally smother a pond. Interestingly, studies done on dense stands of vegetation have found oxygen levels to be near zero in the heart of the vegetative stand – meaning there can actually be too dense of growth to allow fish to live inside that stand even when the lake in general is perfectly habitable to fish.

Apart from biological reasons to control pond weeds, excess growth can block recreational access, preventing fishermen from having clear casting lanes from the shore or from accessing various portions of a waterbody by boat.

Vegetation can also prevent effective fishing when fishermen spend more time cleaning pond weeds from their lures than actually fishing. This is, of course, particularly frustrating to young anglers.

Begin with the Outcome in Mind

Most discussions on vegetation devolve into management methodology, but never forget that determining the desired outcome is certainly the first step in determining the best strategy to manage your vegetation.

In fishery management we are always encouraged to pursue integrated pest management strategies for best results. Once growth of pond weeds has reached the management threshold (growth exceeds desired level), we want to generally consider three options for management: mechanical, biological, chemical.

Mechanical

If the amount of vegetation that is growing is light or you need to quickly remove growth from a particular area, mechanical control may be the best management option.

Most of the time this would involve raking up vegetation around a dock, removing a few plants that grow up in the wrong location around a lake, or perhaps clearing pond weeds from around a water intake.

In some situations, mechanical harvesters could be employed to remove larger stands of vegetation to open up water and remove some biomass. In general, mechanical removal is labor intensive and results are short lived.

Biological

Next, biological control should be considered.

Triploid grass carp have particular vegetation preferences that should be considered, but in general, these sterile vegetation-eating fish can provide general and non-specific control of vegetation growth.

When stocked at the right level, some vegetation can persist while the bulk of the vegetation stand is reduced. In general, grass carp will take a couple of years to reach their management potential and then may persist in a given water body for up to around 15 years.

It should be known that in certain situations, grass carp will exceed their management objective and need to be removed after introduction in some waters. Excess grass carp prevent all forms of vegetation growth and may muddy the water.

Note that triploid grass carp stocking requires permitting in the state of Texas and must be planned for in advance.

Tilapia offer a second form of biological control. Tilapia are omnivores and do eat plants, but tilapia really shine in their ability to control algae growth.

Each water body is different, but at high densities, algae control has been consistently achieved in a variety of water bodies. Be sure to follow state rules on stocking tilapia, but at the moment no stocking permit is required in Texas.

Do note that tilapia will compete with sunfish to a degree and ultimately reduce your lake’s sunfish carrying capacity.

Tilapia provide a decent alternative forage for bass, but check with your biologist to consider the impact tilapia will have to your water body before stocking. Do note that tilapia are tropical fish that can survive some mild Texas winters (especially in southern Texas), though they generally require annual stockings for their populations to be maintained.

Chemical

In most cases, chemical control will be required to achieve the desired level of vegetation control.

There are a lot of factors to consider in how to approach managing vegetation and algae with chemistry and we will go into this in more detail next week.

Until then, go check on your lakes and ponds and see if you can begin to identify vegetation issues before they start to get out of hand. This is the time of year we can actually get a jump on pond weeds before they get out of control.

Why Choose Lochow Ranch for Pond & Lake Management

Serving Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana, Lochow Ranch Pond & Lake Management proudly puts more than two decades of experience to work for you. Our team includes biologists, technicians and other professionals with deep expertise in pond and lake management services.

Check us out if you are considering building a lake, looking for pond stocking services, to buy fish for a pond, or getting professional pond management and maintenance or fishery management. Our services include lake design, pond construction, pond renovation, pond water testing, electrofishing, pond stocking, control of pond weeds, and pond liming and fertilizing. Let us help you build your dream pond that will delight your family and friends for generations to come.

Click here to get in touch to get started today.

Matt Ward is a Fishery Biologist for Lochow Ranch Pond & Lake Management. He has a Master of Science in Biochemistry from Texas A&M University and has worked in fisheries management in Texas for 15 years.  He brings a passion for good science and an interdisciplinary approach to the natural sciences to help property managers steward their aquatic resources and achieve management objectives.

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