We have been using the technique learned here on PBF (think it might have been Pat Williamson????) of dropping the CC in an ice chest filled with ice and water and leave them an hour or two before cleaning. Wife adds some salt to lower the temperature even more. The blood mostly goes out of the meat and into the organs as the fish tries to survive the cold. Really takes the blood out of the meat well and makes a simple way to kill the fish without it squirming around.
Wife got in a little hurry with one batch and only left in the ice water a short time. She did not like it near as well. Lot more blood to soak out of the meat after cleaning.
In the past I was never a big catfish fillet fan. What I had eaten in restaurants sometimes was a little greasy or just not nice white flaky meat that I like. My favorite all time fish is Long John Silvers Haddock. I like fish that don't taste fishy. Don't care much for oily fish like Salmon or Trout. I'll say that the CC we have raised in our pond is as good as any fish I have eaten.
.....We have been using the technique learned here on PBF (think it might have been Pat Williamson????) of dropping the CC in an ice chest filled with ice and water and leave them an hour or two before cleaning. Wife adds some salt to lower the temperature even more. The blood mostly goes out of the meat and into the organs as the fish tries to survive the cold. Really takes the blood out of the meat well and makes a simple way to kill the fish without it squirming around. .......
I have been using Pat's method as well (minus the salt). Works great!
The salt just lowers the water temperature below normal freezing temperature. Like adding salt to the ice in a home made ice cream machine, it makes the temperature colder.
So I was needing a way to get out on the pond. I bought an Old Town canoe Discovery 169 for $200 today. Not a scratch on it. Looks brand new. I know absolutely nothing about buying boats. How bad did I screw up?
Bill, Wear a flotation device (jacket). Canoes are not known to be stable like a Jon boat is...at least till you get used to it...
Well, the canoe turned out to be a Discovery 158 but we are happy with it. Here is a pic of my son Daniel and a little visitor from Singapore checking it out. First time in a canoe.
The little guy from Singapore is named Ethan. He told me he had never caught a fish but almost did once in Australia. I set him up with a little chunk of worm and prayed to God and he caught one. Here is a pic of his first fish. I told him we have a pond record book and he might catch one big enough to get his name in there. He told me he will never be in a record book his whole life. Well our puddle is new and hadn't been fished much. You should have seen his face when he caught a 17 inch CC and I told him he had the record. He was so excited he wrote the wrong date when I made him enter his catch in the record book!
"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.
It really was Sparkie. After he put his name in the book he turned to me and said "But somebody will beat my record." I said, "Maybe, all records are made to be broken but your name will always be in the book." He thought about that and decided to give me another big smile.
Pretty sweet Bill. There aren't too many things better than a kid's excitement over catching fish, smiles are priceless! I like the record book idea, I think I am going to steal it (I will give you credit).
Finally got the 1000 yds or so of soil piles away from the pond and the rough grade is done. The black dirt I saved has been dropped in piles at appropriate locations for final grade work. Two inches of rain shut us down but hope to get back at it the end of this week. The 3 to 5 inch base stone is ordered for around the pond and the waterways. The erosion mat for the waterways is on site and ready to install.
Hopefully, I will be posting new pics soon showing a more complete pond and landscape! It has been two very very long years of staring at mountains of dirt and ugly landscape. Keep yer fingers crossed my friends! I would love to finally start getting some things to closure!!!!!!
Harvest continues. I limited the CC harvest to 30 pounds and that is done. I figure that is enough for the first harvest in a 1/3 acre puddle. Stocking 20 CC 6 to 8 this fall.
I set the size limit on SF at 7 inches or less. That did not yield much. 50% of the SF beat the 7 inch mark so I guess I need to raise that for next year. Any thoughts on what the size limit should be for next year? I see very few SF in the 3 to 5 inch range but I see a few small schools of 2 to 3 inch ones and tons of smaller ones. I am thinking the YP, CC and SMB are doing a good job of limiting the recruits. The FHM have pretty much disappeared as expected but still seeing a few small schools.
Last edited by Bill D.; 09/06/1509:11 PM. Reason: Clarification
Well I have always been a subscriber to the thought that FHM will eventually disappear after the initial stocking and predators grow. Now I am thinking well "it depends!" My FHM population had dwindled down to almost nothing in July "as expected." Then I threw 400 sq ft of broken concrete slab into my little puddle. I now see thousands of FHM again. I am thinking adding the perfect spawning habitat along with the perfect protection for new spawn it provides made a huge difference.
I would appreciate hearing your folks thoughts on the dramatic FHM comeback I am seeing.
I suspect the pond dynamics will change once again when I stock crawfish that will want to share the same habitat.
Last edited by Bill D.; 09/15/1508:31 PM. Reason: Clarification
That is what I was thinking. I got my latest issue of PBM today and Bob L. makes a similar point. There is habitat and then there is HABITAT. I am thinking a lot of folks stock FHM and provide spawning habitat in the form of pallets, floating boards, etc. but do not provide the habitat for the spawn to survive once predators are in the mix. Is this why the FHM population disappears in most ponds? My FHM were almost extinct and now I have thousands again. I'm wondering whether my adding the broken concrete slab piles has now created HABITAT? If I got it correctly, Bob's point was we need to provide a suitable environment for every species we introduce to our pond so that all slot sizes of that species can survive and thrive.
Last edited by Bill D.; 09/16/1509:24 PM. Reason: Clarification
That is what I was thinking. I got my latest issue of PBM today and Bob L. makes a similar point. There is habitat and then there is HABITAT. I am thinking a lot of folks stock FHM and provide spawning habitat in the form of pallets, floating boards, etc. but do not provide the habitat for the spawn to survive once predators are in the mix. Is this why the FHM population disappears in most ponds? My FHM were almost extinct and now I have thousands again. I'm wondering whether my adding the broken concrete slab piles has now created HABITAT? If I got it correctly, Bob's point was we need to provide a suitable environment for every species we introduce to our pond so that all slot sizes of that species can survive and thrive.
After I had rip rap placed on my dam, I asked Bob about getting some more rock for habitat -- there is almost no natural rock at all on the pond site.
He said that would be good, but emphasized that I get a different size rock so that different size fish could use it for shelter. Never really thought about it that way before, but I followed his advice.
Finally got the 1000 yds or so of soil piles away from the pond and the rough grade is done. The black dirt I saved has been dropped in piles at appropriate locations for final grade work. Two inches of rain shut us down but hope to get back at it the end of this week. The 3 to 5 inch base stone is ordered for around the pond and the waterways. The erosion mat for the waterways is on site and ready to install.
Hopefully, I will be posting new pics soon showing a more complete pond and landscape! It has been two very very long years of staring at mountains of dirt and ugly landscape. Keep yer fingers crossed my friends! I would love to finally start getting some things to closure!!!!!!
Update,
Here are a few pics of what we did for erosion control. Finally, making some progress. We have the rip rap in the waterways where they access the pond (I think I got the idea from Snrub?). The rest of the waterways was seeded and covered with erosion mat. You can also see the rip rap we put around the shoreline on the northern half of the pond for erosion and habitat. There is heavy fabric under the stone in the waterways and on the shore. The remaining shoreline will be intermittent areas of native stone and marginal plants as that area does not see much erosion.
I let the pond go to low pool for the work. At full pool only a foot or so of the rip rap will show on the shore.
Supposed to be heavy rain tonight. Hoping to see a fuller puddle in the morning. If we get it, it will be a great opportunity to assess my erosion control efforts. I also dug in all the downspouts from the house out to the waterways. I am very curious to see how they perform.
You definitely put some time and work into that project! Looks good. Your crayfish will thank you. That should control any potential bank erosion from wind induced waves really well.
Don't know about your area, but in ours the rock will not even be visible in a few years, unless you control the grass. My rocked banks and driveway are beginning to be covered with grass and by this time next year will not even be able to tell rock was ever there. Yet it will still be there below the grass doing the job it was intended to do.
I would have liked to maintain the rocked look. But much easier just to let nature do its thing and cover it all in grass.
Thanks for the input Snrub. Now that I think about it, I think I might have gotten the "rip rap in the waterway" idea from you a few months back. Did you post some pics? I expect you're right about the stone eventually getting covered. For now, it has fabric under it to minimize the plant growth. As time goes by, dirt will undoubtedly wash in on top that fabric. I use a product called Aqua Neat that seems to do a very good job of controlling vegetation around the pond. I may try to maintain the rock look with it the next few years anyway.