Before anything is decided,the water from the lakes should be tested to see what the root of the problem is,meaning what is causing the depleation of oxygen or is it even a oxygen issue.Perhaps ammonia buildup is the cause of the winterkill.
Something that may be considered as well is to run the aeration hard all summer long,increase the amount of pumps and diffusers and get the water super saturated.Introduce benificial bacteria's to control phos,nitrogen as well as ammonia.Once ice comes ,shut the air system off and continue using the bacteria all winter long.
I have a small lake that is about 8.8 acres that I have been doing this in and have had no death loss over winter.The water has about 11.68 ppm of oxygen in it right now.Weed growth is slim to none and the trout are doing well in it.Bacteria has been added every couple of weeks.There is about 2500ish trout in there that will avg 5lbs.The pond gets about 60lbs of feed a day,so lots of manure meaning lots of phos,ammonia and nitrogen.With the application of bacteria and a product called Pond Zilla to control organic matter,this pond does not get aeration over winter,with,as I said,no death loss.I have done this now for 3 years.Might be something to consider
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