Per ewest's request here is a small sample of some of the "critters in the grass" I found while raking. It was actualy warm enough this afternoon to do some raking. There were also some things too small moving around to get a good picture of that I could not identify.

Five gallon bucket(s):
RES fingerlings, GSH or FHM, tadpoles, whirligig beetles, dragonfly larve, damsel fly larvea, snails, (empty) fingernal clams shells and to my surprise I pulled in a YP ribbon.



YP ribbon.


Jellylike substance on stem, snail eggs???


Snails and empty fingernail clam shells


Tadpole


Whirligig beetle

1" RES fingerling


GSH- what is the little critter under his head? A larval whirligig or backswimmer?


FHM


I did not find any large leeches today but here is a picture of some small leeches I pulled off my feet last summer after pulling smartweed. I also found these same leeches on my legs after helping seine TJ's grow out pond last summer.

shorty thanks and great pics btw. It is always interesting to see what all lives in the shallow grass (weeds/plants) in the pond

The diversity of life you can find in aquatic vegetation can be pretty amazing and this was just a small sample too.

I still want to get a picture of a large leech, a walking stick, a giant water bug, and predaceous diving beetle. I'll wait till it warms up a bit though. We had a light frost this morning and the high today was in the upper 50's.

Looks like lots of tasty RES food there...

Yep!

If you happen to be pulling pondweeds by hand, you would be wise to wear gloves. That beetle looks like the critter that I know will put a sting on you that you won't soon forget.

I am using a rake and no gloves. I haven't got bit yet but I hear you about being wary of most types of water beetles, I typically don't pick them up and handle them.

I'll second the 'stinging beetle' cautionary statement...when I was removing willows from the pond a couple of summers ago, via cable and truck, I got stung twice and I'll tell you what it HURT. I've got a high tolerance for pain but this was some serious attention getting action!!

Hard to tell from the photo if he's swimming rightside up or upside down. Rightside up = corixidae (water boatman, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corixidae), they only eat plants.

Upside down = predatory backswimmer, usually the ones that bite, not that you want to get that close

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notonectidae

I am pretty sure I have both, lately here while doing a little raking I have been seeing a lot of very small very young water boatman in the vegetation. They are roughly 1/5 the size of an adult. Maybe I will try and get some pictures of them. I tossed one back in the water and it did swim right side up.

There is also a lot of other very small stuff moving around that I would need a magnifying glass to get a better look at, very small semi-transparent worm looking things. Maybe damsel fly larvea?

Well, we had critters in the vegetation twice today. My wife is ready to leave home, especially since our "hunter" cat brought one of these non-legged critters in the house last week.

My oldest grand daughter (18 y.o.) was here helping me most of today, while my wife was in town. As we were cleaning up late this afternoon, she spied about a 5-ft black racer in the driveway. I grabbed an old pillow case, put the snake in it, and my grand daughter drove our UTV, with the snake and me about a mile away, down the mountain, to a state-owned river bank.

I told her not to say anything to my wife about the visitor. We got back. My wife got back. We had a snack, and my wife was headed off to a meeting, swinging by to drop off our grand daughter at her home. On the way out the back door, our grand daughter spotted another black racer, sprawled across the walkway. It was another 5-ft black racer.

My wife went ballistic. Our grand daughter was taking pictures while I got my gloves and the pillow case.

The snake and my grand daughter are gone. My wife returned from her meeting. This grand daughter will be here again tomorrow to help my wife with a bunch of chores.

I hope she doesn't attract anymore legless friends, and I'll sure be glad when snake mating season is over.

Nice pictures Shorty. I also spend a lot of time looking at the micro in my pond. It's another sub-world with in a macro pond world.

I pulled a small twig out last night that was covered in 1" long leeches.

Creeeeeepy...leeches are the one critter I really don't care for. I blame the movie 'Stand By Me'...

I suspect that they might have been "spawning", I pulled one off the stick and it left what looked like little yellow eggs on the stick.

Tasty fish food!

Excellent bait.. tough as hell on the hook stay alive for along time too

I have grown up with my mothers pond in central PA Lebanon valley. I have seen salamanders under logs snails tadpoles what not. I bought a house last year with two ponds, I have never seen the amount of water newts in my
Life. I am only 50 miles north but in the mountains. They are every where, when I run my trash pump they clog it. In my pond and others just south in the valley I have never seen one.