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Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 370
Lunker
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Lunker
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 370 |
I heard you can harvest more than food at your pond in Colorado.
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Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 5,712 Likes: 3
Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
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Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 5,712 Likes: 3 |
We harvest a fair amount of BG/HBG, CC, and LMB in the summer and early autumn. We stock golden and rainbow trout in our CC/HBG put-and-take pond each October. We harvest them in April and May.
We grow water cress and horse radish in the wetland I created to filter water going into my main pond. The water cress is in the area that flows. The horse radish is in an area a little higher, that stays wet nearly all year long. I hope to get some floating islands made this year for a few other veggies.
Then there is my 50' x 100' garden. It isn't actually part of the pond, but I keep a 2-inch semi-trash pump at the edge of my main pond during gardening season. About 200-feet of hose feeds up to four large sprinklers in my garden from this pump. If we go for a week or so without rain, I run the sprinklers for an hour or so.
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Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 294
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Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 294 |
We rarely if ever harvested fish from our pond,before PondBoss we threw everything back in hopes they would grow bigger.Our main goal has always been to have a nice fishing hole for friends and family.I now know thanks to PB that we can enjoy harvesting fish from our pond and have a better chance at a trophy all at the same time.Lately I just haven't had time for the pond but that is about to change.My wife and I come spring should be settled in our new place and finally putting down some roots.This will hopefully allow me more time to manage and fish our pond.Now I know I am a little off topic but with the help of PB we hope to get roughly a meal for 3-4 a week during the warmer months to keep the wife happy. With roughly 8 acres of water I don't think we'll have any trouble reaching our goal.
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Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 2,315
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OP
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 2,315 |
.....ooops!
Last edited by fish n chips; 05/12/14 11:17 AM.
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Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 2,058 Likes: 7
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Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 2,058 Likes: 7 |
Good idea or bad?
I didn't want to hi-jack a recent thread, but it gave me an idea. To start a new thread that would compile information about what everybody harvests from their pond. This might be a good place for those that are interested in having a pond for a food source to see what is going on in real-life scenarios. Yes, there is the pounds per acre formula, but instead we often relate to amounts per year in different ways. I would assume that most don't even keep track of pounds for a meal, just that a meal is meal. Obviously there are many variables to this, but I am thinking along basic info. like:
1) Size of pond/lake? 2) What fish do you eat from the pond? ---This does not have to include all the species present, just the ones you harvest for food. 3 The Amount? ---Just a aprox. number of some sort. For example: 5 meals a year for a family of three. -OR- One fish fry a year for the family re-union of 40 people -OR- one meal a week for a family of two. etc, etc, etc.......
Just keep it simple for overview purposes. Myself, along with hundreds of newbies out there would be curiuos and thankfull for it. Excellent question ... Yet, this is a very difficult question to answer. Our pond, and the ponds of many friends, are the centers of many community get-togethers. All include a lot of harvesting and good eating from non-commercial sources. I was with several friends at breakfast this morning as we were joking about one of the latest "Preppers" shows. We were all laughing, scratching, and telling lies as we decided we must all be preppers, even though we don't really subscribe to their views. We just enjoy life as it has been for us, for many generations. We grow big gardens. We preserve what we harvest. We shoot and harvest wild animals, meaning, that we hunt, and we have guns, but we aren't 2nd Amendment activists -- actually we like to "bare arms" during the summer gardening season, and we find it rather humorous to arm bears!. We grow warm blooded animals like cattle, hogs, rabbits, and poultry. We grow the warm blooded animals for what they give us, like eggs and milk, plus meat. We grow cold blooded critters like the fish in our ponds. In our family and neighborhood group, we all have specialties. To us, a neighborhood covers at least a 25 mile radius -- maybe more. Around the edges of my ponds, I grow horse radish, lettuce, spinach, onions, and cress. Just above the pond, in the wetland areas, I grow WV ramps, berries, and much more. In these areas I grow many of the gourd family, like cucumbers, squash, and pumpkins. I guess we grow kids and grand kids at the edge of the pond too. They camp in tents at the pond. They learn to make s'mores and just enjoy a campfire, while they wait for a big old catfish to grab their line in the dark. In the morning, they are in the canoes and kayaks, making parents and grandparents nervous before we can start cooking pancakes and eggs. My friends and I regularly renovate or replant fields around our ponds for the major critters, like deer and turkey. We carefully manage their numbers every season, which we can do with reasonable confidence, because friends and relatives own hundreds of acres around us. Although my wife and I are "come heres" to where we now live, we are one of many local families who have multiple multi-family gatherings each year. A typical neighborhood gathering, whether just a party, a wedding reception, a baptism, or a funeral wake, they always include at least 30-40 people. Sometimes more. Nobody ever goes home hungry. We always have lots of fish and lots of good times. Our 3/4 acre pond probably provides about 250-350 lbs., of fish per year. Mostly bluegill and catfish, with some LMB. I have no idea of how much venison the pond area produces, but, it too, is in the many hundreds of pounds per year. Vegetables -- ?? Enjoyment for swimming, fishing, canoeing -- ?? It always involves at least three generations, and frequently four, of family and friends. In November and December, it includes a lot of butchering and a lot of good eating and fun. It is family inclusive, from infants too young to know how young they are, to those too old to remember how old they are. As the weather gets too cold to gather outside, we congregate in neighborhood barns or big basements for country dancing, eating, and just plain family fun. At least where I live, our ponds produce far more than what can ever be measured. It can't be measured in pounds, inches, whatever ... Regards, Ken One of the most well worded most elegant post I have read in a long time. I am sorry I do not have data to add to this thread but I had to comment on how well worded Ken's post was and hope to have every bit of an oasis as you have described. I hope to harvest perch in the not so distance future from our pond. Cheers Don.
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Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 2,315
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OP
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 2,315 |
Sorry I missed this Snrub. Yes, I stocked trout again in the fall. Just about ready to start pulling them. I was very satisfied with the results. I think this year I will smoke a bigger percentage of the catch than last time.
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Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 4,318 Likes: 6
Ambassador Lunker
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Ambassador Lunker
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 4,318 Likes: 6 |
Well I guess I can finally answer this question.
My pond is 1 acre. And I kept 7 CNBG this year between 7 to 8.5 inches to eat. I don't want to keep to many as I have a few LMB to feed and some HSB so I want to make sure those bigger BG are spawning but they are in the freezer as of last week and going to eat them soon. I have never ate BG before so looking forward to it.
RC
The only difference between a rut and a Grave is the depth. So get up get out of that rut and get moving!! Time to work!!
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Joined: May 2012
Posts: 1,358 Likes: 4
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Joined: May 2012
Posts: 1,358 Likes: 4 |
Right now we are in LMB harvesting mode and our goal is 40# for the year. They do taste good filleted and batter-fried.
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Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 173
Member
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Member
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 173 |
Our pond is approximately 5 acres. This year I decided to get after the fishing as I'm spending a lot more time there on the weekends. So far this year we've kept about 100lbs of fish with about an 85/15 split between LMB and Crappie. We've caught some nice bluegill, but I rarely keep any of them. I've pretty well kept most any bass we've caught between 10"-15" and just about every crappie. Any fat healthy bass over about 15" typically gets turned loose. With the weather heating up both the bite and the time I spend fishing is about to slow tremendously. Nothing I like better than grabbing a rod, hitting the shoreline and in an hour be eating a fresh healthy dinner.
It ain't much of story if you don't have pictures!
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Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 6,980 Likes: 15
Ambassador Lunker
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Ambassador Lunker
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 6,980 Likes: 15 |
Well I guess I can finally answer this question.
My pond is 1 acre. And I kept 7 CNBG this year between 7 to 8.5 inches to eat. I don't want to keep to many as I have a few LMB to feed and some HSB so I want to make sure those bigger BG are spawning but they are in the freezer as of last week and going to eat them soon. I have never ate BG before so looking forward to it.
RC You've never eaten BG before? I'm not sure I understand what you're saying....can those words be used together in a sentence?
"Forget pounds and ounces, I'm figuring displacement!"
If we accept that: MBG(+)FGSF(=)HBG(F1) And we surmise that: BG(>)HBG(F1) while GSF(<)HBG(F1) Would it hold true that: HBG(F1)(+)AM500(x)q.d.(=)1.5lbGRWT? PB answer: It depends.
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Joined: May 2009
Posts: 5,730 Likes: 289
Lunker
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Lunker
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 5,730 Likes: 289 |
I allow a neighbor to harvest up to 60 BG from our 1 acre pond based on recommendations from this site.
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Joined: Oct 2013
Posts: 6,088 Likes: 96
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Joined: Oct 2013
Posts: 6,088 Likes: 96 |
Update from my earlier post when the pond was newer. I like fishing better than I thought I would. And the pond is producing well. Pond is three years old now, and we harvested probably 30 to 40 CC 2-3# each ourselves. And probably about that many more by others. We ate some of it, gave a way a bunch, froze a bunch for later. Had a fish fry for employees. Have cleaned about 50-60 BG, ate a few, froze a bunch and gave MIL a bunch. I think we could harvest another couple hundred BG without putting a dent in the population. Our LMB are not keeping up with their end of the deal. 3 acre pond. We eat fish on average once a week, but definitely need to up our game to keep up with what the pond is producing. For outright pounds of meat production, CC are hard to beat. I've not been much of a CC eating fan in the past, but our fish food fed CC are just as good as our BG, in my opinion. I have no problem eating them regularly. Edit: Link to another thread concerning harvesting fish What to harvest and when
Last edited by snrub; 11/08/16 09:10 PM.
John
I subscribe to Pond Boss Magazine
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Joined: Oct 2014
Posts: 6,080 Likes: 1
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Joined: Oct 2014
Posts: 6,080 Likes: 1 |
Seems like a pretty easy question. You go into this whole pondmeister role with expectations that you will form a management strategy, including a harvest plan, meat on the table and then..... Your harvest plan dictates that you harvest all LMB 15 inches or bigger and then.....you catch a nice plump 16 incher and you think to yourself, Hmmmm, this fish sure would be fun to catch when it gets bigger and before you know it....it's back in the pond! Tell the truth now...most of you guys have done the same thing!
Last edited by Bill D.; 11/09/16 09:19 PM.
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