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Tuesday, May 18, 2004
The Second Year: June 2001 - May 2002
Photos 17-34
During the second year we thinned some of the plants, moved others, and introduced a water Iris and some different colored Lilies. It was also characterized by an explosion of the Catfish population. The vegetation was filling in well by late Fall and creating places for the fish to hide, and moving all over the pond were clusters or balls consisting of hundreds of perfectly formed inch long Catfish. Although the gang of Bass were by then deadly efficient predators, they didn't seem to inflict a lot of damage. From the beginning Bill established a feeding pattern and by the end of the summer there were hundreds of 5 to 7 inch Catfish at the feeding ring every morning. The quality of these photos isn't very good, but you can still make out the fish in them. Except for burning off the Cat Tails sometime during the Winter, we basically just watched and let the pond evolve on its own that year. A few fish died for unknown reasons, we added two frogs (that still might be there), and the amazing assortment of local wildlife continued to walk through their back yard.
The van that appears in most photos of the South side of the pond is the final relic from Bill's junk car collection that once took up the pond space. He now uses it to store fish food and equipment.
And finally, although when we started the project there was some discussion about the Catfish dinners we would have in the future, we quickly found that none of us wanted to eat them. We still don't.
During the second year we thinned some of the plants, moved others, and introduced a water Iris and some different colored Lilies. It was also characterized by an explosion of the Catfish population. The vegetation was filling in well by late Fall and creating places for the fish to hide, and moving all over the pond were clusters or balls consisting of hundreds of perfectly formed inch long Catfish. Although the gang of Bass were by then deadly efficient predators, they didn't seem to inflict a lot of damage. From the beginning Bill established a feeding pattern and by the end of the summer there were hundreds of 5 to 7 inch Catfish at the feeding ring every morning. The quality of these photos isn't very good, but you can still make out the fish in them. Except for burning off the Cat Tails sometime during the Winter, we basically just watched and let the pond evolve on its own that year. A few fish died for unknown reasons, we added two frogs (that still might be there), and the amazing assortment of local wildlife continued to walk through their back yard.
The van that appears in most photos of the South side of the pond is the final relic from Bill's junk car collection that once took up the pond space. He now uses it to store fish food and equipment.
And finally, although when we started the project there was some discussion about the Catfish dinners we would have in the future, we quickly found that none of us wanted to eat them. We still don't.
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