So I have been trying to get the SAVs (Submerged Aquatic Vegetation) going in the ponds for a while without much luck. I would go out and collect a bit from here or there (mostly coontail or widgeon grass) and get in the pond and stuff it into the soft mud......but have not seen much evidence that it was taking. Then a few weeks ago I noticed several large blue crabs (which I have documented in the ponds since shortly after they were built) and each would have a short piece of coontail or widgeon grass in its claws chewing away. Hmmm, the pond is bare bottom except the few fistfulls of SAVs I would stuff in there......they are mowing down whatever I put in there....right? Ok lets do a new sort of experiment. So Thursday July 4th I drive out to the property and set three crab traps in the pond. Saturday July 6 I called up Judge Edwards who had previously and graciously offered to let me collect some widgeon grass from a pond he manages. So we head down to Pecan Island area and collect a good amount of it and I haul it home. Next day on the 7th I head to the property and hop into the pond and spend a good two hours stuffing it all in the mud again (in the pouring rain, but it did not matter I was in the pond anyway). Then I went to the traps I had thrown in a few days before and pulled them out..........
Dinner plans for the day were quickly re-arranged! There was about a dozen large (all male) blue crabs in two of the three traps. No small or mediums ...just large....nice. So I'm gonna bait and set traps the next few weeks to even the odds for my SAV's and slow down the crabs. This way I get a nice fresh seafood dinner and the SAV's have a fighting chance!
I also bush hogged the prairie plots in preparation for the chemical treatment and disking that I will have to start soon.....also in the pouring rain.
Also after a talk with Billy Finny decided it would be a good Idea to cut some tall tallow trees (25-30' tall) and prune some branches and move those pruned trees (snags) into the pond and stand them up for bird perches/ rookery space. So I chain-sawed a couple...pruned them...sharpened the bottom of the cut tree and left them on the outside edge of the pond to dry and lighten up a little...this weekend I'll stand them up out in the middle of the pond and see if the birds like. I'll probably keep doing this until I have a nice little patch of em out in the middle. (Oh did I mention it was pouring down the whole time!) Great weekend...good to be out there in it.
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