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second edition • Nebraska Pond Management • 57 foot of water. For example, a 5-acre pond with an average depth of 4 feet has a volume of 20 acre-feet. Liquid rotenone should be applied at a rate of one gallon per acre-foot of water. One way to apply rotenone is to drive around on the pond in a boat with an outboard motor and slowly pour or spray diluted rotenone into the water near the prop wash. Be sure to cover the entire pond and make extra passes over deep water. If a large portion of the pond contains depths of 8 feet or more, a pump or portable sprayer with a weighted hose should be used to get the chemical down to the bottom. A more effective method, particularly in smaller ponds, is mixing the chemical into the water by utilizing the prop wash from a stationary outboard motor. Point the front end of a small boat toward the bank. If there are no solid objects to restrain the boat, the front and sides can be tied to stakes driven into the pond bottom or shore to prevent the boat from running up the bank. Run the outboard motor in forward gear as fast as safely possible and slowly pour or spray diluted rotenone into the prop wash. This will circulate the chemical to all depths of the pond. The location of the boat should be changed several times so the chemical can be mixed into all areas of the pond. A portable sprayer should be used along the shoreline for applying chemical in shallow water areas where both prop wash techniques may not have distributed the chemical effectively. The best renovation results are achieved in August. This is typically when water temperature is at its highest, and water levels are at their lowest so no treated water exits the pond. Wait at least two to four weeks before restocking. This will allow enough time for the chemical to detoxify. To ensure the pond has detoxified, leave a bait bucket containing some minnows in the pond overnight. If they survive, the pond is safe to restock. As discussed earlier, you may not want to kill all the fish in your pond to get rid of undesirable fish. If your pond is spring-fed, rotenone may not be a viable option, due to the likelihood of chemical dilution; or in the case of large ponds, the chemical may be cost-prohibitive. In these situations, you may have to live with what you have. To make the best of the situation, either learn to enjoy harvesting carp, bullheads, and green sunfish, or use management techniques to reduce their numbers as best you can. The best thing to do with all those little bullheads and green sunfish in a pond is to convert them into bigger, more desirable sport fish. Largemouth bass, northern pike, walleye, large catfish, and other predators all eat these unwanted species, and can be experimentally stocked if the pond is of sufficient size and contains appropriate habitat. Depending on availability and cost, the predators should be introduced by stocking 20 to 50 adults, 8 to 12 inches or longer, per acre of water. If protected from harvest, the predators should reduce the numbers of undesirable fish. Eventually your pond may even produce some trophy-size fish that you can enjoy catching. Once bullheads, carp, and green sunfish are controlled, or if bass appear to be getting skinny, stock 4- to 6-inch bluegills at 50 to 100 per acre if they are not already present. Bluegills will eventually provide adequate prey to support an expanded, desirable bass fishery. While stocking predators can be a way to control carp, bullheads, and green sunfish, they have to be able to see these fish in order to eat them. In some cases, the unwanted fish may keep the water so stirred up that sight feeding predators can't detect their prey effectively. Turbid ponds are usually the best candidates for draining, excavating, and restocking. If that's not possible, you can try various techniques to clear muddy water, as discussed on page 59, or possibly stock adult flathead catfish, a very effective predator even in turbid water. See Appendix C for other examples of surface area and volume determinations.