Sat May 22, 2021 7:51 pm
You know, the whole "no fish = better for waterfowl" rule is by and large true, with exceptions. Out in the Dakotas it is. If you drew a line across the state of MN from the NW angle down to the North suburbs.....basically Carlos Avery cut East to WI.....I'd say the rule is a good one to follow on the SW portion of that approximate line.
The NE, East Central, & North Central areas of MN I don't think fish/minnows being in wetlands make that big of a difference, especially in a pond 6'-8' deep.
The biggest reason why fish are usually bad is because they compete with ducks for the same food, which are going to be of the small invertebrate/crustacean/zooplankton variety, stuff like freshwater shrimp.
In the area of the state where the wetlands are usually more boggy & brackish, I don't think fish being present make much of a difference for waterfront, if any. There's not any freshwater shrimp and a lot of what ducks eat for protein matter are larvae and bug hatches. There's never any shortage of mosquitoes hatching and hitting the surface from the shallows in stuff that has fish and doesn't have fish, in my opinion. As far as migration fowl they're food sources are wild rice, wild celery tubers, and all sorts of other plant matter....oh, and acorns....if you can find a spot where it sounds like kids throwing small rocks? Money. Acorns dropping into water is basically a guaranteed wood duck limit every hunt while they're still around. I even know a guy who has two thumbs and has baited....very successfully baited.....baited to unbelievable success.....using acorns......and he's this guy [pointing my thumbs back at me].
The nice thing about acorns is that you'll never get busted for baiting with them and they're the best bait there is. I've baited the same spot with acorns and corn in different years and acorns beat the ever living shit out of corn.....it's honestly not even fukcing close.
If you're ever over at a buddy's place and have a buddy who starts bitching about what a pain in the ass it is to sweep acorns off his deck, patio, or driveway? Make him an even better buddy. Bring the guy some 5 gallon buckets, or big trash can, along with his preferred case of beer or bottle of spirits....and tell him that you want all his acorns, badly. If the you don't want to tell him you're wanting them for poaching than make some shit up.....you're planting trees for the arbor day foundation.....but once you get someone to see how excited you are at the prospect of getting acorns? It'll become fun for them too. They'll go from, "Gosh Darn Freaking Acorns!" while hating sweeping them up to, "Man, my buddy [insert your name here] is really going to be excited....look at how many acorns I've got for him!" and really enjoy gathering them.....so really, you're doing a favor that benefits the both of you.
Dump those acorns in a shallow backwoods duck spot that is one you've never seen another guy at a week before opener, and then show up opening morning with a fukc ton of shells.....and more acorns to replenish it preferably.
The whole point of this diatribe is fish....again....don't eat this particular duck food. Fish don't really eat any duck food for migrating waterfowl in this NE third of the state. Besides some mild, insignificant competition with breeding ducks/ducklings for the same never ending supply of insect hatches.....there's little overlap between duck food and fish food like there is in the rest of the state and the Dakotas/Prairie wetlands.
If it's got moving water going through it, even just a small amount, it'll probably support fish without winterkill if it reaches 8' deep....as long as it's got the right type of water. If it's a heavy dark stain of brackish bog water then fish probably won't do very well, regardless of if it winter kills. At that depth in a deep snow years it might very well winter kill. But even if you just dump perch in it....or minnows, panfish, etc., all you need is 2 out of 3 winters to not winter kill and you're going to often, every other year roughly, five years in a decade, going to have some decent to phenomenal fishing. Usually the small bodies of water that fairly frequently winter kill are going to be your prime ones for growing fish fast in.....just ask the DNR.
Could you go on Google earth and take a screen shot of the pond and post it? Edit out any distinguishable landmarks of features....like nearby roads, buildings, anything that you think might give it away. I can guarantee you that you're never going to see me there....no desire to try to find it and more than enough spots of my own to hit in a regular season.
An aerial shot would give me/us a lot better idea of what you're working with and make possible recommendations off of.
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