Jacob Hendrickson

I’d like to cut the cattails back anyway to promote more habitat for ducks. how it is now it’s just to deep and we get wood ducks in the yard eating acorns but few ducks on the lake. I’d like to change that by exposing mud flats to some degree. So that would help with the length of dock needed.I just don’t know how to deal with floating cattail mats? I’m going to cut and burn some of them to reduce mass, (or possibly use it as mulch) while the lake is frozen. once it thaws what does one do to the floating root mass that would be left? If it was feasible to pull them out I would but it’s like 4 acres long. That would be tough to carry out threw the cattails that are left. I also plan on relocating muskrats from my grandparents place to my lake to help cut them back as I hear that works to a degree.
Anyway back to the dock I think a path in the shallows with a floating dock/ kayak landing pad at the end is what I’ll end up doing. Can pilings be made of wood? I suppose that’s a possibility as well.

Yeah I thought about the floating dock I’ll have to do some digging on Facebook/ Craigslist for barrels. I think a combo of floating/ Neolithic might be the way I end up. Still open to ideas of course. I’ve still got a few months before open water so plenty of time to plan. I wonder if there’s any other options for floats other then barrels that are readily available?

That Neolithic pathway is a great idea. I need to clear some fist sized trees anyway so I could use that material from that. Do you think the under rail is needed? I suppose it adds support so you’re stakes don’t tip. Only thing I’d be worried about is deeper water. The cattails form floating mats on the edges but if you step off you’ll go from knee deep on the mat to  neck deep with your waist in mud. Would this same design still work in that deep of water?

Hey guys we recently moved to a new property and have an abundance of water now. There’s a lake within 100feet of my back yard and a large pound even closer then that. So I’m interested in cheap docks you guys have built?
I’ve been saving pallets from work and thinking that might be a start. Only problem is there osb ones mainly so I’m worried they’ll rot quickly. I don’t want to spen to much because I don’t have a nice beach on ether one. The pond is deep mud on the edge and the lake is 100feet of cattails. Mainly just hoping to be able to gain access to the water without having to use waders, and to be able to launch my kayaks from them. Thanks for any ideas/pictures of docks you guys have made.

I’m a little late but I really like the hornady leverutions. ( probably butchered the spelling) in 4570 they shoot very accurate for me in my marlin.

I wear the old “bunny boots” there military surplus stuff rated for -65f and are great for ice fishing or deer hunting if you aren’t walking around. The downside there very heavy. There also water proof unless submerged at lace height so ice auger splash isn’t a big deal.
Just google bunny boots and they’ll pop up. Had to do some searching but they can be had for not to bad of a price.

Hey guys so the wife and I kinda jumped head first int aquaponics. We just got it all plumed up and I’ve been testing the siphon system.
Well had a mishap and lost 10 gallons of water from a leaky tank overflow 🙈 dumb on my part didn’t thread tape a seal and lost suction. Wife was not happy lol.
Moved on from that and now noticed that my grow bed doesn’t  drain completely. There 2 feet wide by 4 long, and 1 foot high. There filled with lava rock. Tracked it down to my bell portion of the siphon sitting on top of my bulkhead fitting. This prevents me from draining the last 3 inches from the system. Is this a problem? Can you have water in the bottom of the grow bed all the time?
I’m currently looking for something to use that’s a hair bigger to allow the bell to fit over the bulkhead fitting and thus allow the siphon to drain lower, the problem being I need something about 2 1/2 inches wide and we don’t have that for pvc at the hardware stores near me. 3 inch might work,so I’m going to look at that but I think it will be to tight in the 4 inch pipe I have as my walls to hold the lava rock out.
https://worldwaterreserve.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/bellsiphon.jpg
For those who don’t know what a bell siphon is here’s a link
Having learned about these I now think they could be really useful for lots of things.

Fair point on the bread I’ll try to find other free feeds or stick to chicken feed. I’ve read some do dog food but I can’t think that’s a good idea? Ether way if I’m only paying 1/2 an ounce per day per bird that seems very economical. And there pretty and fun to have around.

Wow love your setup. I was wondering if there was anything I’d need to do differently in a cold climate we live in central MN and winter’s do get cold. Everything I’ve read says they need lots of ventilation do you do anything special for that? I like that they don’t take up large amounts of space and are easily managed.
Thanks for sharing. I’m probably going to copy some of your setup.