Please reference the below article index for determining what back issue(s) of Pond Boss Magazine may suit your needs. This article index is created by Pond Boss Forum Moderator Bill Cody on an annual basis. Please visit the Pond Boss Forum for a robust conversation about a wide variety of topics related to pond management.

NOTE: Topics of: Field notes and Pond to Plate food recipes were not indexed. Occasionally a question with a detailed answer from Ask The Boss (Letters & emails) was indexed and then identified as Q-A postscript.

January - February 2016

Key Topics: Fish handling, native fish best, Pond builder life, Pond fertilizer, Bluegreen algae, Science pond management, Fish harvest benefits, Deer antler sheds, Winterkill, Bluegill growth, Fish under ice, Genetics for trophy fish, Constructing island, Threadfin shad.

PROPER HANDLING OF TROPHY FISH: Lusk provides seven methods to handle large fish when caught.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF NATIVE SPECIES: Lusk tells why it is important to selectively choose the correct fish for you pond goals. Production site of your stocker fish is vital to your success. Genetic selection is often important for best survival and growth.

LIFE IN THE CAB: Mike Gray tells how he rebuilt and converted a leaky poorly dug hole into an aesthetic well sealed pond. Some wives' tales about pond building.

FATE OF FERTILIZER NUTRIENTS IN PONDS: Dr. Boyd aptly describes the dynamics of fertilization. Explains why nitrogen and phosphorus are most important. Explains why most of the added fertilizer in not used by plants and what happens to it.

UNDERSTANDING CHRONIC BLUEGREEN ALGAE ISSUES: Beasley explains how nitrogen and phosphorus play important roles in producing nuisance blue-green algae problems. How to reduce the trend toward bluegreen scums. Ideras for nutrient management.

SCIENCE BASED MANAGEMENT: Dr. Brian Graeb introduces the plan for his articles that will combine science with common sense to help us build better fisheries. Explains why bass were not growing to trophies despite lots of food and southern genetics.

HARVESTING THE BOUNTY BEYOND THE SHORELINE: Bruce Kania explains how harvest can produce more harvest. Innovative methods to recycle excess nutrients into harvestable fish.

SECOND CHANCE DEER SEASON: VanSchaik explains shed antler hunting, how it benefits deer management, methods of hunting and finding deer antler sheds when, how and where.

WINTERKILL LEMONADE: Tom Stroup describes a duck pond with fishery that winter-killed. Starting over with help from school kids to transfer fish to repopulate the pond.

NEW PERSPECTIVES ON SLOW GROWING BLUEGILL: Dr. Wes Neal – why BG grow slow – causes, basic fixes, factors the control fish growth, and whey slow growth can be a social issue.

INTO THE COLD - WHAT FISH DO IN WINTER: Cornwell describes the normal distribution of fish in winter under ice cover.

USING YOUR MINI POND FOR SELECTIVE GENETICS: Lusk tells reasons, why and how to use a small pond to grow premium fish for later transfer for trophy potential.

LETS BUILD AN ISLAND: Otto discusses planning to build a better dream pond and what was involved in creating an new island.

THREADFIN SHAD IN BASS / BLUEGILL PONDS. IT ALL DEPENDS: West summarizes some recent studies that examine competition of bluegill and shad, plus provides some new ratios of bluegill – bass stocking.


March - April 2016 

Key Topics: Yucatan pond plan, Fish catch rules, Deep hooked fish, Watermeal, Alkalinity facts, Western U.S. ponds, Habitat and fish production, Liner pond, Furbearer nuisances, Timing water sampling, Karst limestone pond, Bucket biology, Testing bass growth, Repair flood damage, Pond revitalization, Bass genetics, Bird migrants vs residents, Crappie and female bass.

YUCATAN VISIONARY: Lusk describes a master plan for am 18 ac lake project in Mexico – stocking plans.

SETTING CATCH RULES AND DEEP HOOKED FISH: Lusk tells all about harvesting fish , describes discretion harvest and deep hook removal.

WATERMEAL WOES: Beasley discusses watermeal, what causes and how to manage it.

WHY ALKALINITY IS IMPORTANT: Dr. Boyd in an excellent article, simplifies the concept of alkalinity, its causes, it as an index, influences of carbon dioxide, fluctuation of pH, diaffect of acidity, categories of alkalinity, benefits of limestone, fertilization affects, phosphorus features, liming guidelines.

POND FOR EVERY SEASON. DIVERSE POND ENVIRONMENTS OF THE WESTERN U.S.: Tony Voght discusses wide variety of types of ponds and fisheries in California.

HABITAT SCIENCE AND THE ATTRACTION VS PRODUCTION DEBATE: Dr. Graeb discusses does adding habitat increase fish production. Types of habitat studied and amount needed.

OUR NEW SERENITY: TJ Greaney tells how he built a liner pond and provides ideas with helpful hints.

NUISANCE FURBEARERS ARE BACK: Van Schaik revies the benefits and control needs for three main fur bearing mammals; features, natural foods, evidence of activity, carnivorous furbearers benefits and cons, control methods.

TIMING WATER QUALITY ANALYSIS: Lusk discusses reasons for water variability and when best to collect samples for analysis.

A HOLE IN ONE: Mike Gray tells of repairing challenges of a pond with sink hole in karst limestone. The pod building, history, and associated problems to attempts to fix it.

BUCKET AND BOAT BIOLOGY REVISITED: Cornwell discusses how unwanted and accidental introductions of water and fish can dramatically change a pond fishery.

CONVERTING A POND QUICKLY: Lusk tells how he used a small catfish pond to test growing rates for female Largemouth bass.

MIRACLE OR HARD WORK?: Otto describes the repairs and methods needed to a pond heavily damaged by flooding.

BEGINNING AN INCREDIBLE JOURNEY: Scott Wren provides three tasks as a plan to revitalize two ponds and a six-acre small lake.

UNRAVELING THE BASS GENETIC CODE FOR PONDMEISTERS: Dr. Wes Neal simplifies importance of bass genetics and reviews four main factors that affect how large a fish will grow. Discusses hybrids and how best to manage them.

GET READY – THE FREQUENT FLIERS ARE ON THE WAY: Birdman Toellner explains resident birds and ones that migrate. How to attract each type. New products for humming birds and some tips for hummers.

CRAPPIE – THE ENIGMA. PART DEUX: West discusses using crappie with female only largemouth bass as apex predator. The problems and benefits.


May - June 2016

Key Topics: Pond plants, Fathead minnows, Channel catfish, Phytoplankton blooms, Build dream pond, Re-plumb food web, Sculpting rocky soil pond, Black Bears, Reader survey 2016, Pedersen pond I, Smallmouth spawn surprise, Mini-pond conversion II, Pond properties evaluation, Fish habitat, Spring birds, Fish food taurine, Turbid water productivity. 

AQUATIC PLANTS. GREEN THUMB OR BLACK PLAGUE?: Lusk gives a primer about what to watch for in spring plant growth. Discusses management strategies.

FATHEAD MINNOWS: Lusk presents good information about fatheads. Benefits, reproduction, and short story why to not feed them to existing bass.

CHANNEL CATFISH: Lusk relates his early history with channel catfish, plus pros and cons of using catfish in pond management.

PHYTOPLANKTON BLOOMS: Dr. Boyd discusses fertilizing to produce plankton to increase production. Over and under fertilizing, pond colors, types of blooms, bluegreen algae info.

BUILDING THE FISHING POND OF YOUR DREAMS: Beasley outlines a good organized plan for buying property and building a dream fishing pond.

RE-PLUMBING THE FOOD WEB: Brian Graebt and Katie Bertrand present in-depth information about productivity and three ways you can increase it. Discuss the leaky pond food web and habitat curve.

PAINTING A WORD PICTURE WITH EQUIPMENT: Mike Gray describes building two ponds in rock exposed soil.

GOT BLACK BEARS: VanSchaik tells all about black bears, preferred habitat, seasonal feeding habits, mating, and eight main signs bears are present.

2016 POND BOSS READER SURVEY: Results from the magazine reader survey.

PART 1: MY MOM’S REFLECTION: Kurt Pedersen begins a three-part series of buying property and building three ponds.

SMALLMOUTH REPRODUCTION, ACCIDENTAL LEARNING AND OTHER SURPRISES: Cornwell discovers latent smallmouth reproduction, cast net sampling, and homemade dock winter durability.

CONVERTING A POND QUICKLY, PART 2: Lusk describes how they drained and seined the catfish pond. Results of the seining, restocking. Goal is to over stock F1 bass, feed aggressively and evaluate the overall growth rates in a small pond.

THREE DIFFERENT SCRIPTS: Otto describes some preliminary details of three pieces of property for building three different lakes.

HABITAT FOR FISH: IT’S COMPLEX: Dr. Neal describes how to find a happy medium between an empty pond and one with too much habitat. Defines habitat, structural habitat, how they are different than structure-cover, do fish need cover, he enters the mind of a fish, how to design habitat, location of habitat, and amount of habitat. Structure - habitat placement map.

WHEN THEY SING IT IS SPRING!: Birdman Mel reflects on spring singing birds, robins, features of tree swallows. 

POND ENVIRONMENT: FOOD REQUIREMENTS AND DIRTY WATER: West reviews current research about protein (amino acid taurine) needs of pond fish and how suspended sediment significantly impacts pond fish.

July - August 2016

Key Topics: Pond Boss beginnings, Snake types, Barley straw algae control, weather influences pond quality, Trophy bass program, Smallmouth pumpkinseed combination, Tansil Lake, Native browse benefits, Golden shiners, Pond dream perseverance, Invasive species minimization, Mini-pond Pt3, Trench roller benefits, Dry pond tour, 25 years of pond changes, Woodpeckers, fish telemetry, Bass stocking mortality.

25 YEARS AGO: Mark McDonald reflects on how Pond Boss magazine was created.

SNAKES: Lusk gives basic info about snakes found around ponds and two ways of dealing with them. 

ORGANIC ALGAE CONTROL: Tom Shroup reviews a study of using barley straw for algae control.

WEATHER AND POND WATER QUALITY: Dr. Boyd explains how weather plays a big role of pond water quality. Topics are: rainfall, water level, heat and stratification, oxygen production, phytoplankton response.

A YOUNG FISHERY WITH A BRIGHT FUTURE: Beasly describes a plan for creating a trophy bass fishery in a seven-acre pond – objectives, management and tasks.

USING HIGH DENSITY SMALLMOUTH BASS TO OUR ADVANTAGE IN NORTHERN PONDS: Schumann, Hill and Kaiser tell how using pumpkinseed sunfish can benefit a crowded smallmouth fishery. Discuss other sunfish candidates.

TANSIL LAKE: Mike Gray describes the problems of building a pond in rocky soil.

NATIVE BROWSE IS STILL IMPORTANT: VanSchaik How to balance food plots, feeders, and natural habitat most preferred by wildlife. Six reasons why browse forages are worthwhile.

GOLDEN SHINERS: Lusk pros, cons and the basics of using golden shiners.

STARTING THE DREAM, PART II. PERSEVERANCE: Kurt Pedersen continues his pond saga of renovating for a bass bluegill experiment.

KEEPING THEM OUT - INVASIVE SPECIES AND YOUR POND: Cornwell defines invasive species, provides 15 ways to help keep invasives and their damage out your pond. Ways to help you not to move invasive species.

CONVERTING A POND QUICKLY – PART 3: Lusk reviews how he reworked his mini-pond into a bass bluegill experiment. Provides ideas of how to rework the basin as needed.

STOPPING WATER FROM ESCAPING: Otto describes equipment of a trench roller, and how it was used to fix a leaky dam for a 15-acre lake.

WALKING TOUR OF MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY’S DRY POND EDUCATIONAL TRAIL: Dr. Neal highlights the teaching tool features of a dry pond.

25 YEARS LATER: Lusk reviews the changes to pond management over the last 25 years.

ENJOY THE RHYTHM SECTION ON YOUR PROPERTY: Birdman Mel describes characteristics of downy and hairly woodpeckers.

TELEMETRY – A FASCINATING NEW WORLD: West tells about some of the new instrumentation and tools for monitoring fish location. Includes a study about monitoring early mortality of newly stocked bass obtained from wild and hatchery sources.

September - October 2016

Key Topics: Holtzbauer pond, Sick fish, Trophy fishery in WVA review, Water conductivity, SD management plan, Habitat enhancement results, Earth surgeon, Grass shrimp, Wild hogs, Dream pond III, Jungle rotenone, Mini-pond bass update, Pond life span, Triploid crappie, Birds, Adding larger bass.

HOLTZBAUER’S HEAVEN: Lusk reviews this family pond’s development for its first 17 years.

SICK FISH: Lusk discusses pond fertility, fish production, and the three main limiting factors for a healthy pond and fishery. Covers fod, water quality, and crowded fish. Fixing ideas for overcrowding.

CHECKING ON A TROPHY FISHERY IN WEST VIRGINIA: Beasey updates the progress of a non-reproductingpredator trophy fishery. Reviews the renovation and restocking.

CONDUCTIVITY OF POND WATERS: Dr. Boyd aptly explains water conductivity. Examples of normal range, and how it affects fish growth.

STARTING A WILDLIFE AND FISHERIES MANAGEMENT PLAN IN SOUTH DAKOTA: Brett Kleinschmit reviews and evaluates a property in SD to blend ranching and wildlife.

EVALUATING RESPONSE OF LARGEMOUTH BASS TO HABITAT ENHANCEMENT: PRELIMINARY RESULTS AND OBSERVATIONS: Chance Kirkeeng presents first results from improving usable space with artificial habitat as fish cities having horizontal and vertical structures.

EARTH SURGEON: Mike Gray creates a talented flow of words to describe his profession of moving dirt to create ponds and lakes.

MOST INVASIVE INVADERS: VanSchaik describes the history of wild hogs, their unique characteristics, and the various ways to control them.

GRASS SHRIMP AND OTHER CRUSTY CREATURES: Lusk introduces grass shrimp and places where they thrive best.

GETTING THE DREAM FIXED, PART III: A Little Boy and His Water. Kurt Pedersen describes his newly filled pond, the stocking process, and a fishing update after three years.

AMAZON BUCKET LIST ADVENTURE – MAKING JUNGLE ROTENONE: Melissa Miller and Mark Cornwell describe a trip to South America where they made and tested some homemade rotenone.

MINI- POND IS STOCKED FISH ARE GROWING: Lusk reviews his rationale and experiment for a 0.3 acre pond to quickly grow some big bass.

HOW LONG WILL MY POND LIVE?: Otto discusses the life span of ponds. Covers enemies of shallow water of growth, evaporation and size. Includes the main things to lengthen pond life span.

TRIPLOID CRAPPIE. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: Dr. Neal discusses management of crappie, how triploid fish are made, benefits and problems.

LATE SUMMER OBSERVATIONS: Birdman Mel provides hints for bluegirds, humming birds, purple martins, and monarch butterflies.

STOCKING ADULT LARGEMOUTH BASS INTO AN EXISTING FISHERY: West evaluates adding adult bass: reasoning, good idea, helpful, expectations, limits for survival.

November - December 2016

Key Topics: Pay lakes, Pond oddities, Dirt love, Pond morphometry, Pond sweat equity, Habitat improvement benefits, Cold hydrilla, Hybrid milfoil, Wildlife land squeeze, Paddlefish, Mosquito eating fish, Mini-pond bass growth, Pond aging, Fee fishing, Fall bird tips, Single sex bass.

MONEY IN THE TANK: Steve Alexander provides examples of types of pay trophy fishing on private lakes.

LESSONS FROM THE HIP: Lusk shares several curiosities observed at ponds: yaks, rodent eating bass, fish eye nematode, tilapia benefits, importance of communication in pond building.

A PASSION PLAY: Mike Gray describes his love affair with moving dirt and some of the obstacles to build ponds and lakes.

MORPHOMETRY OF SPORTFISH PONDS: Dr. Boyd explains types of pond bottom topography and how it affects water quality. Includes shoreline development, volume, depth, surface to volume ratio, stratification.

SWEAT EQUITY’S ROLE IN TROPHY FISHERIES MANAGEMENT: Beasley elaborates on the integrated approaches to achieve a trophy fishery. Reviews the main items necessary for producing trophy fish.

EVALUATING RESPONSE OF LARGEMOUTH BASS TO HABITAT ENHANCEMENT: PART 2: Chance Kirkeeng describes results of increasing habitat improved fish growth and condition. Discussed bass energy budget was affected by added habitat.

AQUATIC PLANT MANAGEMENT UPDATE: Dr. Bruce Richards provides new information about cold water hydrilla, salt tolerant cyanobacteria, tough hybrids of Eurasian water milfoil, grass carp plant preferences, hydrogen peroxide control of algae.

THE SQUEEZE ON WILDLIFE: VanSchaik tells how increased populations and changes in farming land management have put more pressure on wildlife.

PADDLEFISH. ENDANGERED? WHY SHOULD WE CARE?: Mia Brelsford tells of the features of paddlefish and ideas how they may help your lake.

WILL FISH EAT MOSQUITOS?: Mark Cornwell presents some good information about mosquitos and which fish will best eat them.

CONVERTING A SMALL POND: Lusk updates the progress of trying to grow big bass and bluegill in a renovated catfish mini-pond.

LIFE EXPECTANCY OF A POND: THE AGING AFTERMATH: Otto explains why special experience and equipment are needed for pond renovations to start, handle and manage the volumes of thick sloppy mud.

TURNING PONDS INTO A BUSINESS ENTERPRISE: Dr. Neal describes how crowded public lakes push anglers to productive private waters. Describes several types of fee fishing options. Fish outs, day leases, and long term lease and related obligations of angler and landlord.

FALL AND EARLY WINTER BACKYARD TIPS: Birdman Mel provides ideas to encourage birds in fall and winter. Benefits of leaf litter, maintaining feeders, natural plantings, best high energy foods for birds.

SINGLE-SEX FISHERIES: West provides ideas to easier produce high quality fish that can normally difficult to grow. Common catch and release reduces change of growing trophies. Single sex fish allows more room for errors to produce trophy fish.