Hey all!

The past two years a local pond I fish that has quite large fish, had extremely low water levels compared to the size of the pond.  Two years ago the entire thing was about 5 feet shallower than normal, max depth is only about 10-15 feet.  Then last year it was about 2-3 feet lower than normal where as this year it returned to normal.  The past two years I noticed I barely saw any baitfish, no perch or sunfish anywhere to be seen.  At the same time me and friends stopped catching fish in the 1-2 pound range, which at first we thought was awesome, until two years went by and the fish started getting extremely skinny.  Caught a 22 inch bass there last year that only weighed 4lbs even.  They also became very aggressive, which again we loved until we started to realize just how skinny these fish were.  I started to get very worried about the pond until this year when the water levels returned to normal.  I constantly am seeing sunfish and small bass in the shallows and all the bass we have been catching are quite healthy.  Caught a 19 inch 4lber there the other day, and all fish this year have been filled out.  Is it normal for extremely low waters to have this affect on a body of water?  Any info would be appreciated and any ones past experience would be awesome to hear.  Thanks!

Are you located somewhere that the lakes freeze in the winter? 

 

I’m certainly no expert, but I know lower water levels could make a lake more susceptible to a winter-kill. Prolonged ice and snow cover combined with shallow depths and decaying vegetation can deplete the oxygen levels enough to cause fish die-offs. If your water freezes over in the winter, I assume it’s possible that a winterkill threw off your ponds ecosystem and left the bass with not enough prey. Normal water levels would make the winterkills less likely.