Is there a problem!!!

The house i bought this spring has a old gravel pit on it. TO my surprise it already had fish in it . This summer we caught plenty of fish, nice ones at that to. Im having a hard time catching any this winter though. The big pond on the right has a 20 foot max depth hole. On saturday we drilled alot of holes varying from 2 ft to the 20 ft and the only fish we got on camera were a handful of crappies. Very small to. So we decided to go to the small pond. First hole we drilled had fish within a foot of the ice even in the 11 foot max hole. The next 5 or so holes was the same way. Most of these fish were small crappies and gills. As in small i mean 1 to 4 inches. The occasional nice one would show up once in a while but would not bite. So what is going on?? I know there is plenty of big fish in both of these ponds but cant seem to catch let alone see any with the camera even. Should i be worrying about a winter kill with all the fish that close to the surface?? The ponds are supposedly spring fed and there has been fish in there for 30 or so years according to my neighbor. Any insights will be appreciated. Thanks.

How much snow is on the lakes? Usually a lot of snow is what causes winter kills.

a friend of mine had a beautiful pond with good size fish in it otters came through and wiped it out

How many fish did you keep this summer?

Ummmm, yes there is a problem.

Someone likes to eat the fish…

I’m hearing in SW MN the shallow lakes are already getting low in oxygen. So, you could have no oxygen considering these are small puddles. Can also be fish over harvest, or other natural causes. Stock some more while nobody is looking

If you’ve got some catfish in there, they might have gotten hungry

There is not much snow cover on the ice. Less than 6 inches for sure. Most spots only a few. As for keeping fish, i only kept 4 northern this summer causr i believe there is way to many in there. Should i be keeping more fish? I have been told by the neighbor that there is northern , walleye, perch, gills, crappie, and bass. I have confirmed all of that except the bass.

How large are the Northern? They could be putting a hurting on the panfish.

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How large are the Northern? They could be putting a hurting on the panfish.

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The majority i have caught are 18 to 26. The biggest 33.

What depth was your camera at? If on the bottom you may be missing a lot of fish. Often times panfish will suspend or cruise very close to the top of the ice. You maybe missing a lot of fish if you are searching the bottom of the lake. Just a thought

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What depth was your camera at? If on the bottom you may be missing a lot of fish. Often times panfish will suspend or cruise very close to the top of the ice. You maybe missing a lot of fish if you are searching the bottom of the lake. Just a thought

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I checked the bottom and a foot below the ice in multiple spots. Even with the flasher im not finding the fish like we did this summer. Tomorrow ill take the camera out there again and record some of the fish that are right at the surface.

They could very easily be sensitive to the noise from above the ice. Had this happen several times on small ponds. Drill lots of holes to start and then give it time. Possibly hours, for the fish to find their way back to where they scattered from. If your not seeing any dead fish right under the ice I wouldn’t get to concerned about winter kill yet.

Just cause you don’t see any big fish doesn’t mean they’re not there, it is possible that they weren’t where you were looking. You would need to do something like electoshocking or place a fyke net to get a better idea of the size distribution. However, if your visual survey is an accurate representation of the true population-then it sounds like you have a panfish population that is stunted or overly skewed towards the small side. This could be caused by not enough predators, too much spawning, not enough food.

I can’t comment too much on the winterkill other than I wouldn’t suspect it just based on high flying fish. If you saw dead fish and/or fish swimming slowly and crookedly then I would think so. The only way to know for certain is to check the water for dissolved oxygen. Even if it’s occuring, there’s not much you could do about it till ice out.

BTW-nice work on getting a house with some private ponds. Little jealous here.

Ill try and post a video tomorrow if i get out there. As for dead fish i do see small crappies on the bottom. None next to the ice though. Small as in 2 to 3 inchers.

Could he instal an aerator?

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However, if your visual survey is an accurate representation of the true population-then it sounds like you have a panfish population that is stunted or overly skewed towards the small side.

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That’s the thing, all summer when I’ve been over (friends w/JC) you won’t catch many little guys, like 1+lb gills and 13″ crappies being abundant, but the biggest on camera when I was over was maybe 7″ and a couple nice crappie. The water clarity has gotta be over 15 feet, maybe the camera in such clear water is why the biggens aren’t showing themselves on camera?

The only problem I see is that I don’t have a pond on my property just like yours.