DNR articles

I would like to share with you some information I read in some Articles from the DNR's website. The first story is about a man fishing on Clear Lake. The lake was still half covered in ice and this guy wanted to try his luck with the musky. The amazing part of this story is that on his very first cast he felt something pulling on his lure! Little did he know it would be a 47-inch 30 pound musky! Luckily the park ranger witnessed the whole thing so he can't be telling any fishy stories. The next story relates to me in a very direct way. Some pond owners have been calling the DNR about fish kills in their ponds. Let me explain how a fish kill works. During a hard winter, such as the one we had this year, a heavy blanket of snow may cover the ice. If this happens sunlight cannot penetrate the ice depleating algae growth and oxygen in the pond. Without oxygen in the pond many fish can die. This has happened to us with our pond a few years ago. It was a terrible experience. There were numerous dead fish lining the shore of our pond. I had no idea what was going on. My dad didn't like it much, and he searched around to find the answer to why all these fish had died. There is a way to fix this problem, and many people have done this to their ponds. You can put an aerator in the pond allowing it to stay open all year long. That way the fish have plenty of oxygen and you don't have to worry about them dying. This is what we did, and it works like a charm.