I was looking through some old photos when I found a BBQ pic in a friend's backyard. In the background you could see his pond and a tarp-covered object at the edge of his pond. Under the tarp was a 'pond window'. It's an expansion of the old fisherman's trick of using a glass-bottomed bucket to find fish.
Here's a general pic of the 'pond window'. The plywood was coated with 5-6 coats of dark brown vinyl paint to cut glare and to not scare the fish away. The plate glass was sealed onto the outside of the shadow-box since all the pressure would come from the water outside the box. He used silicone caulking at all the joints and these joints were then coated with the vinyl paint.
He made concrete block molds to give him a flat surface on top when the blocks were placed on the slope of his pond. In each block, he mounted a 4ft piece of 1 1/5" pipe. The blocks and bases of the pipes were sealed with epoxy paint. On each side of the pond window shadow box, he mounted pipe-clamp fittings. This setup allowed him to crank the shadow box into and out of the water. Pretty cool setup and it had a decent sized viewing window (4ft x 2ft). It was a comfortable view from the lawn chairs he kept near the setup.
The fish were attracted to the front of the pond window by being fed. And, the fish soon associated the lowering of the shadow box with being fed and would come over without being coaxed with food.
Here's a general pic of the 'pond window'. The plywood was coated with 5-6 coats of dark brown vinyl paint to cut glare and to not scare the fish away. The plate glass was sealed onto the outside of the shadow-box since all the pressure would come from the water outside the box. He used silicone caulking at all the joints and these joints were then coated with the vinyl paint.
He made concrete block molds to give him a flat surface on top when the blocks were placed on the slope of his pond. In each block, he mounted a 4ft piece of 1 1/5" pipe. The blocks and bases of the pipes were sealed with epoxy paint. On each side of the pond window shadow box, he mounted pipe-clamp fittings. This setup allowed him to crank the shadow box into and out of the water. Pretty cool setup and it had a decent sized viewing window (4ft x 2ft). It was a comfortable view from the lawn chairs he kept near the setup.
The fish were attracted to the front of the pond window by being fed. And, the fish soon associated the lowering of the shadow box with being fed and would come over without being coaxed with food.
