Pond Pointers on Small Business Saturday

After 32-years in pond management, we’ve learned helping customers achieve their goals is an art balanced with science.  For instance, “good water quality” requires “efficient aeration equipment”.  Through field tests during many successful projects, we filled the shelves of our on-line store with quality products at www.texomahatchery.com .  We’re not as big as Bass Pro Shops, but if they had a pond management department, here are some items you would see.  Any would make a great Christmas gift or stocking stuffer.  Place your order now for a 10 percent discount through December 15.  We heard someone printed this offer and set it in a prominent spot at their home for anyone needing a gift suggestion.

Before a product is offered for sale, it must benefit at least one of these essential principles in pond management:

• Habitat
• Food chain
• Genetics
• Harvest

HABITAT

If you’re building a new pond, site selection and habitat are the building blocks.  Pond Boss Bob Lusk has written a series of books providing a complete resource guide to make important decisions.  “Perfect Pond…Want One” helps you choose the right site and construction. “Basic Pond Management” covers important planning to accomplish goals for pond use.  Is your goal big bass, then “Raising Trophy Bass” outlines step-by-step methods.  Bob is editor of Pond Boss Journal, a bi-monthly magazine dedicated to managing private waters.  It can be your management manual year-round.

Ponds “must” have clean water to thrive. A big challenge is balancing nutrient levels, especially for algae.  Our bacteria brands help.  If you’re not a candidate for fertilization, dyes also block sunlight from stimulating vegetation growth.  We install custom-designed aeration systems to minimize risks of fish kills and greatly improve water quality.  We stock decorative fountains, plus instruments to monitor ph, alkalinity, phosphorus, dissolved oxygen, and other chemistry.  Purchase a secchi disk to measure water clarity.  Checkout fish attractors offering years of vital baitfish cover and snag-free angling.

FOOD CHAIN

If you’re serious about growing big fish, fast, we can ship an automatic feeder in 24-hours.  Feeder models include several for wildlife applications.  Want to supplement high protein pellets with natural insects?  Ask about the Bojo Fish Light.

GENETICS

Every five years, lake owners should stock some new fish to revitalize gene pools.  Identify those fish and other catches with our tagging equipment.  Regularly weigh and measure recaptured samples.  Record growth data from each to insure your program is on track.

HARVEST

Harvest is critical to prevent over population of predators, like bass, who can deplete forage and prevent sportfish from attaining full potential.  We have a great measurement board to qualify harvest lengths.  We have dock cages to hold catches until the fish fry. Need a portable hauling tank with aeration to move fish around the property?  How about a cast net, bait net, minnow trap, or fish scale?

We don’t stock a Neiman-Marcus type item for pondmeisters who have everything, but we have something close—a Deep Glow light.  Submerge this emerald green bulb below a dock or on the shoreline in front of your cabin.  The aquarium-like experience lets you marvel at nighttime fish behavior not visible during daylight.  If you need a staff gauge to monitor fluctuating water levels, we’ve got one.  Are turtles robbing bluegill of fish food?  We’ve got traps.

Contact us for more information on these and other valuable items that will maximize lake productivity.

We wish each of you and your family a very Merry Christmas!  Thanks for your business!