Honey Hole Tree Fish Structure and Habitat

The Honey Hole Tree is the very best commercially available artificial fish attractor/habitat! Fish absolutely love them for spawning habitat, protection, and feeding zones! 

Each fish cover honey hole tree has 93 flexible limbs that produces a permanent haven for crappie, bass, and catfish. The cone and limbs are made from environmentally friendly polyethylene. You can fish through the cover without snagging which puts more fish in the boat and less tackle lost below. 

Our Honey Hole Tree Fish Attractors have over 15,000 square inches of surface area for algae, eggs, and insect larvae to attach to. The dozen slots around the exterior allow baitfish access to a place to hide which in turn attracts larger fish. 

The Honey Hole Tree Fish Cover is best utilized in water that is six feet deep or deeper. A cluster of at least three trees in a triangular pattern is the most effective. Sink trees on points or coves and any spot where there is a sharp contrast in water depth. Another prime location is under a floating dock or pier. In deeper water you may want to suspend the tree. 

For deeper water reefs, you can remove the pre-formed weight and simply connect 2 or more honey hole trees together to create a 12 foot tall fish attractor! Connect 3 of them together to create an 18 foot tall attractor for really deep water and an artificial reef that will hold fish all year long!

The Optional Maximizer Kit doubles the overall size of our fish cover trees and shrubs, allowing you to get twice the cover for 1/3 of the price.

Honey Hole Trees can be purchased at Herman Brothers Pond Management in Peoria, Illinois or are available online at Herman Brothers Lake Products

Vertex Aerators: Complete Pond and Lake Aeration Systems

Vertex Water Features builds lake and pond aerators for aeration and destratification of an entire pond or lake. Their pond and lake aerators pump compressed air to bottom diffusers resulting in total water column aeration, circulation and destratification.

Vertex lake aeration and pond aeration systems have been independently tested and are guaranteed to be the most efficient and highest quality lake and pond aerator you can buy. They have the very best membrane diffusers, cabinets, compressors, cooling fans, and self-weighted tubing!

Membrane Diffusers
• Last Longer = 5 Year “no questions” warranty!
• Less Maintenance = self cleaning!
- Eliminates the need for removal from Lake Bottom and the time consuming, hazardous muriatic acid cleanings required of out-dated air stones!
• Less Operating Costs = more energy efficient!
- Requires only 0.5cfm per disc - aerate up to an 18 acre lake with 2/3 hp!
• Higher Performance = Independent tests confirm over 37,000 GPM/hp!
- Provides higher lake turnover rates with less power consumed=saves you money!

QuietAir™ Cabinets
• Last Longer = lifetime warranty from rust!
- Equipped with tough, electro-statically bonded powder-coated finish
• QuietAir = a fully gasketed seal provides not only greater protection from moisture, but quieter operation.
• Safer = Equipped with integral GFCI protection.
• More Secure = Equipped with integral barrel lock for protection against unauthorized access.

Brookwood™ Compressors
• Piston design (vs. rotary vane).
• Increased durability!
(typically twice the service life).
• Higher pressure (for longer tubing runs, deeper water or higher altitude applications) without sacrificing air volume.
• No possibility of reverse operation after loss
of electricity.

BottomLine™ Tubing
• Self-weighted = faster, easier installations.
• PVC composite = no dangerous lead in
the eco-system.
• Flexible under any conditions.

• Heavy duty wall thickness for protection against cuts, fish hooks, kinks, etc.

LakePro 5.7™
• The industry’s only data based aeration design/sizing program!
• The most systematic, scientific-based approach to aeration design-based on individual specifications of lake conditions!
• Provides confidence in aeration recommendations and tangible, fact-based reports to
substantiate them.
• Can target specific customer (or governmentally required) lake turnover rates.

Complete Vertex Aeration Systems are available at Herman Brothers Pond Management in Peoria, Illinois and also available online at Herman Brothers Lake Products

If you need help determining what system to get, have any questions, or you want to make sure you will get at least full turnover per day, Contact Us for a free design and estimate.

More info about the concept and need for aeration. What does it do and why do you need Aeration: Your Lakes Dynamics

HB Blend Pond Muck Bacteria

HB Blend Pond Muck Bacteria is the very best and most cost-effective way to breathe new life back into your lake or pond. HB Blend naturally reduces layers of organic muck buildup consisting of decaying aquatic vegetation, fish and animal waste, tree leaves, grass clippings, and fertilizers. HB Blend not only eats up the organic waste on the bottom, but also will clear up muddy water caused by suspended organic sediment.

HB Blend Pond Bacteria is a premium blend of 8 different strains of naturally occuring bacteria specifically selected to quickly digest organic muck. HB Blend comes packaged in 1/2 ounce water soluble packets that contain more than 56 billion colony forming bacteria in each packet.

HB Blend Pond Bacteria is specifically designed to digest organic muck. It is not the same as most other Pond Bacteria products on the market today that are specifically geared for reducing algae by removing nitrates and phosphates. HB Blend will not efficiently reduce silt and muck caused by mud and soil runoff, the enzyme forming bacteria in HB Blend is only able to digest organic muck.

Application Tips:

Just simply toss the 1/2 ounce water soluble packets of HB Blend Pond Bacteria about 10 feet from the edge of your lake or pond. Evenly space them around the pond, but focus on the shallow areas and coves. I don't recommend applying the first dose until the water is at least 65 degrees.

Another method of application that I use is to put a scoop of organic muck into a 5 gallon bucket half full of pond water. Then I put in one HB Blend packet and let the mixture sit. After 25 minutes the 56 billion bacteria colony will literally double its population size. Then I simply pour the bucket into a muck infested cove or along the shoreline.

Application Rates:

Application rates vary greatly depending on the age of the pond and amount of organic waste that has accumulated. I typically recommend between 12-48 packets per acre for most lakes and ponds.

For new ponds I recommend using 12 packets per acre at the beginning of the summer when the water temps reach 65 degrees and 12 packets per acre towards the end of the summer. A brand new lake or pond would need a total of 24- 1/2 ounce packets per acre for the growing season. This is the most cost effective and absolute best life insurance policy you can buy to protect your pond.

Example applications for brand new ponds to prevent muck buildup and prolong the life of your pond or lake:

1 acre pond- apply 12 packets at the beginning of summer and 12 packets at the end of summer.

2 acre pond- apply 24 packets at the beginnning of summer and 24 packets at the end of summer.

3 acre pond- apply 36 packets at the beginning of summer and 36 packets at the end of summer.

10 acre lake- apply 120 packets at the beginning of summer and 120 packets at the end of summer.

For older nutrient loaded ponds with layers of organic muck build-up I recommend applying 24-48 packs per acre at the beginning of summer when the water reaches 65 degrees. Then I recommend applying another 24-48 packs per acre towards the end of summer as some of the aquatic vegetation starts to die and trees start to drop their leaves into the water. I sometimes add a third application in the middle of the summer on ponds that are in desperate need of muck removal. HB Blend Pond Bacteria is a very affordable alternative when compared to the costs of mechanical dredging and silt removal!

Example applications for older muck and nutrient loaded ponds to prevent more muck from building up and actually to start slowly eating away at the existing layers of muck:

1 acre pond- apply 36 packs at the beginning, apply 36 packs during the middle, and apply 36 packs towards the end of summer. Total of 108 packets per season.

2 acre pond- apply 72 packs at the beginning, apply 72 packs during the middle, and apply 72 packs towards the end of summer. Total of 216 packets per season.

10 acre lake- apply 360 packs at the beginning, apply 360 packs during the middle, and apply 360 packs towards the end of summer. Total of 1080 packets per season.

How much does HB Blend Pond Muck Bacteria cost?

12 packs- $51

36 packs- $135

108 packs- $351

216 packs- $648

360 packs- $990

I do not recommend purchasing more HB Blend Pond Bacteria than you will use within 3 months time. The bacteria is alive inside of the water soluble packets and starts dying after a couple of months inside the packet. After 6 months, instead of having 56 billion bacteria per packet, you will only have about 28 billion of bacteria still alive in the package. Using fresh bacteria is very important! The bacteria will live and colonize much longer and better in your pond as opposed to in a small packet.

Water Use Restrictions:

HB Blend Pond Muck Bacteria has absolutely no water use restrictions. It is completely safe for fishing, swimming, and irrigating. In fact, the beneficial bacteria in this blend help keep your pond or lake clean and healthy!

Where to Purchase:

HB Blend Pond Muck Bacteria can be purchased at Herman Brothers Pond Management in Peoria, IL or at any of the following online shopping sites:

Herman Brothers Pond Management

Herman Brothers Lake Products Ebay Store

WatermealControl.com

Digging Deep for Material

I have spent more time inside the last 2 weeks, than any other 2 week period of my modern life. Everything is wet, muddy and flooding. I havent been fishing in almost a month and am just now getting a minor case of the winter blues.

I did get out to some really neat properties for a handful of On-Site Surveys, but other than that been behind a computer for like 12 hours a day just trying to get everything done for our upcoming season.

The end is in sight- Next week we will be trapping Muskies at Spring Lake, starting some big dock projects, and tuning up the electrofishing boat!

Yesterday I was at one of the neatest ponds. It was shaped like a river and kind of wrapped around the property- Super Cool! I am gonna take some pics next time I am out that way.

Another cool pond I was at had this awesome rope swing.

The pond is about 3 acres and is a perfect swimming hole, except for the fact that the owner said it gets covered with duckweed and watermeal for July and August- Not this year though! This year they will be installing a Vertex AIR 3 aeration system, and killing the duckweed with White Cap.

Come on Spring!

Cygnet BioBlend Beneficial Pond and Lake Bacteria

Cygnet BioBlend is my favorite beneficial pond bacteria! I have been experimenting with bacteria in ponds for many years and have found Bio Blend to be the very best bacteria product available. It comes in 1/2 lb water soluble packets and contains over 5 billion CFU/g. That stands for Colony Forming Units per Gram.

These bacteria are a specific blend of high-quality, gram-negative, naturally occurring bacteria designed to augment existing pond bacteria populations to enhance their ability to reduce organic pond sediment (“muck”).

-Concentration of 5 billion CFU/gram

-Contains 16 different gram-negative strains

-Short reproduction time (30 minutes)

-Little mortality on first budding

-Extremely active compared to gram-positive Bacteria

Bio Blend is DNA tested to confirm strains and verify quality and content. All Strains are confirmed to be non-pathogenic bacteria which produce the following beneficial enzymes:

Amylase
Pectinase
Ligninase
Cellulase
Xylanase
Keratinase
Protease
Lipase

Bio Blend pond bacteria naturally removes decaying organic wastes such as grass clippings, leaves, excess fertilizer runoff, dead plants, fish and animal wastes. It also eliminates murky water, odors and bottom sludge caused by organic waste buildup.

By naturally removing excess ammonia-causing and nitrite-causing wastes from the water, Cygnet BioBlend is an entirely organic method of maintaining your water body. It works throughout the entire water column and bottom sludge layer, to digest organic wastes generated by animal and plant life.

Bio Blend programs rejuvenate life back into your lake or pond! I use Bio Blend Pond Bacteria to create natural, healthy bodies of water and reduce or even eliminate the need to use algaecides and herbicides altogether.

Application Rates:

Application rates can vary significantly from one pond to the next and depend greatly on the nutrient level and organic muck build up. I typically recommend starting out with 8 lbs per surface acre initially, and then supplement the bacteria with 4 lbs per acre every 2 weeks. Nutrient loaded ponds with heavy duckweed and algae infestations usually need to double those rates for the first year of a BioBlend Bacteria program.

For Example:

A typical pond in the Midwest will need 50 lbs of BioBlend per surface acre for a 6 month season. Apply 8 lbs of BioBlend per acre once the water temps reach at least 55 degrees in the spring. Then every 2 weeks throughout the season use 4 lbs of BioBlend per acre.

Application Tips:

Simply take out the 1/2 lb water soluble packages and toss them around the edge of your lake or pond. I usually throw them about 10-15 feet from shore. The bacteria within will self disperse and multiply on their own!

Water Use Restrictions:

BioBlend has absolutely no water use restrictions. It is completely safe for fish, animals, drinking, irrigating, swimming, and fishing once diluted.

Where to Buy BioBlend:

Cygnet Bio Blend comes in 1/2 lb water soluble packets packaged in buckets of 10 lbs and 25 lbs. It can be purchased from Herman Brothers Pond Management's Online Store.

It is also available at Herman Brothers Lake Products Ebay Store.