January is a great month to improve near-shore habitat in your pond. Water levels are typically at their lowest making for easy access to improvement areas.
Identifying areas to beef up habitat can be tough. Areas in and around known spawning grounds are a great place to start as they naturally congregate fish.
Pond species such as largemouth bass and sunfish like shallow, sheltered firm bottom areas with materials such as sand or gravel for spawning. They will clear out any silt from the center, creating a bed or "nest", leaving their eggs exposed on the sand or gravel so the parent can fan the bed to aerate the eggs as they develop. However, most ponds are highly susceptible to sediment buildup which can have negative impacts on spawning success. When sand or gravel is unavailable, fish will use twigs, leaves and other bottom debris to keep their eggs exposed.
Adding bottom structure and cover such as rock piles around spawning areas provides alternatives for species like crappie that prefer hard substrate to lay their eggs on as well as ambush points for predators to use throughout the spawning season, summer and fall months. Burying sticks and logs at a vertical angle in the middle of the rock piles supports vegetation growth which supplies additional cover for fry and baitfish.
For the finishing touch on your improvement project, add a few bags of fresh gravel. Crappie being the first species to spawn in a pond during the spring will use the gravel as is to lay their eggs. When bass and sunfish begin their spawning routine later in the spring, they will re-distribute the gravel throughout the spawning area to build their beds.
In addition to habitat improvement, it is a good idea to cull small or undesirable species during the winter and pre-spawn months to help improve size and age structures of the fish in your pond. Not to mention, what's better than hot fried fish on a cold winter night!
