I have been addressing a few problems lately and thought I should make a thread when for when I have questions.

The issues are:
-muddy water
-build up of decaying matter on bottom
-and filling in near creek inlet

So heres a question...There is an area on the edge of the pond that has filled up with decaying matter. It stays wet like a swamp but the muck is above the surface. Will this take oxygen out of the pond?

I would just shovel it out, but its 3 feet deep at least. Also I like the spot to cast from so if it can stay I would want to just add some dirt to firm up the area.

facing the inlet

A pond's goal is to fill itself back in with dirt. Our goal is to prevent that. There are countless options and ways to accomplish your goals.

First determine what is causing your muddy water by putting some in a jar and letting it set for a while. This will determine if the turbidity is from suspended solids or if something is mixing up the water. Givin your tree cover to prevent wind/wave action, I suspect Bullhead Catfish, Common Carp, or both.

Second, clearing out a lot of the trees will allow more sunlight to reach the water for more effective bacteria development to speed the decay of the detritus, as would aeration. This will also lessen the volume of dead leaves.

Frankly, if the budget allows, a total makeover of your pond would probably be the least expensive route to take. It will allow you to complete everything at once and allow you to re-stock to match your goals.

I dont think there are carp or catfish in the pond, hungry and muddy BG and bass. The pond always used to be really clear. I think there is some dirt coming in upstream on someone else's land that may be part of the problem.

I read you could put a bale of hay in the stream to filter some of the silt. Its been a few days so I'm not sure if its helping any. I also have a bottle of cloudy water that looks unchanged, but its only been a couple days as well.

I have cleared some spots to cast from and taken out a couple of the trees along the ponds edge, but will probably keep them. I would like to get rid of a couple big pines though. The pond gets a lot of sun other than the outer edges.

Oh and the budget might allow for trying out a bag or two of alum. But thats about all:)

Are they doing any logging or construction on the properties further upstream of your pond?

Well, I think it started getting muddy after rains..around the time a small junkyard near us had all the cars taken away. I think they had some clay runoff from not planting any grass, but that was a couple years back. (Hes been in the logging business before too coincidentally)

There's also some minor things going on up that way in the area but I'm not really sure exactly where the stream runs. I'll have to try to track it on google earth again.

The stream gets little flow but is constant. It must flow about 3 miles from a spring, so it will pick up a little runoff. I think I can find a way to make sure nothing comes in by filtering it.

What if I dug a small area for the water to collect into a pipe to run into the pond? Using a screen to catch large stuff and then a filter of some kind surely that would catch anything right? Anyone see or have a set-up like that?

I think if I can clear up the water and get a little more of the excess muck out of the pond, then the pond should be okay for a while. It just occured to me until Rainman touched on the bacteria needing sunlight...the muddy water must be keeping anything from breaking down.

Wouldn't it be viser to track the creek's inflow by foot?
Google earth is a odd instrument to use if you want 1.hand info about your own pond, in my mind.

Not exaclty. Id rather not tresspass, especially during hunting season haha. But I understand what you mean.

I put a hay bale in the creek and the water cleared nicely.

The pond is coming along well, Ive manually removed a bunch of muck from the shallower areas. In some places the muck is from above the water over 4 foot down!

The pond is still muddy under the ice, and has stayed muddy since some storms in October.

I recently bought an alkalinity test. Results today were under 10ppm in the pond and also under 10 upstream 100 yds.

The test measures on a 10ppm scale by using 10ml of water, one drop of dye, and as many drops of another bottle it takes to remove the blue dye. If I double the amount of water will let me read on a 5ppm scale? Also if I double the water do I double the amount of dye too?

What kind of results could I expect using crushed ag lime? Ive looked at charts before but I'm concerned about the amount of turnover. The pond is under .2 acres and is an acre foot of water more or less. The stream is pretty constant maybe 10-20 gpm. Is that considered high turnover?

Also the mud is definitly from runoff over a mile upstream of the property. After rains the stream gets very clear again, but the pond doesn't clear on its own. Until the alkalinity is higher an alum treatment will be shortlived right?