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If you aren't familiar with stream fish species or any smaller fish species, I would recommend you purchase a field guide to North American Fish... The Audubon Society and Peterson are my two favorites. One uses pictures one uses paintings to display the fish... Combine them together and you should be able to identify any fish you catch. It will really help you find species that will survive in your pond, ie bluntnose minnows, fatheads, redbellies, golden shiners etc...

I like using a 4'x4' seine with poles on each end in smaller streams. One guy mans the seine while the other guy stomps the stream pushing the fish into the net. Once the pusher reaches the net the net handler lifts up and you generally have large numbers of fish in productive waters. If legal, larger sizes make collection even better in bigger bodies of water. Minnow traps can also be effective, particularly for fatheads and bluntnose minnows...

My favorite method is using a 12'x12' seine which is the largest size legal in VA. With 2 guys, you can really load up on minnows. One guy holds the pole on one end of the seine close to the shoreline edge. The other guy walks the net out into the body of water, when he reaches the full length of the next he then turns back shoreward making a large loop. He quickly pulls the net back to shore but not so quick that the bottom of the net comes off the bottom. Once at the shore the net is pulled onto shore and sorted. If you are just looking for fish to feed hungry mouths, as long as you are careful to not accidentally introduce unwanted species you can catch thousands of minnows and place them in your pond. They may not reproduce, but its better than wasting money on fatheads from a fish farm.

Different states have different laws as to the number and type of fish you can keep. VA the state I live in for example allows you to keep unlimited numbers of golden shiners and fatheads caught from the wild but sets a limit to 50 per day for most other species. TX on the other hand allows you to keep an unlimited number of any non gamefish species. Check your state's regulations to be sure you don't violate the law.

When I was in my teens, my neighborhood had a small 1/8th acre pond. I had 7 bass in their that were literally my pets. About once a week through the warm months I would seine the local creek which was about a 1/4 mile walk away. I'd catch a couple hundred fish, most of which were not adapted to pond life, but they lived long enough to keep my bass well fed.

If there isn't a source for certain fish species you want for forage in your pond, say the lake chubsucker, you can use these methods to catch them for your pond. There are several species of forage fish which are great forage fish for ponds but are not commercially available. The two most common would be the bluntnose minnow and the lake chubsucker.

Hope this information was helpful to you and gave you some ideas for future pond management.

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Just make sure you ID the fish in the net, wouldnt want to introduce any bullheads or carp into your pond.... In Ohio, an 8 ft seine is max and I believe you can have in your possesion, up to 500 fish before a Bait Dealers license is necesary.
I for one, will not allow any live baitfish to be used for bait, or introduced into my pond but that is just my opinion.

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Mark Blauvelt - Dayton Ohio
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CJ, there's a good article in the sept.-Oct.2007 pond boss on central mudminnow, banded killifish, and mosquitofish.
The central mudminnow sounds real interesting and I'd like to get some for the pond, especially since their so tough. Have you come across them?
Also for people who don't have a good fish Id book, there's a good ID section on the Enature website.



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There is the eastern mudminnow, they are native to your neck of the woods. Very closely related to the central mudminnow. I have caught the eastern mudminnow in several locations. Mostly lowlands where there is a TON of vegetation and swampy. However I have caught some in one small stream that runs into a heavily vegetated section of river. From what I understand, the eastern mudminnow is native to the Atlantic Slope drainages where as the central mudminnow is native to the Mississippi drainages.

I caught a couple dozen easterns and placed them in a pond but never saw them again. The pond was well vegetated, but I think they fell prey to the bass before they could reproduce. I suspect if you caught a large enough number of them or stocked them before bass were established they would make a good introduction.

Banded killifish also know as bull minnows are great pond fish. They would probably do well in your Adirondack pond... I know of a few commercial hatcheries that sell them as well. They are egg layers but other than that are in many ways like overgrown mosquitofish(gambusia). They hug the surface and tend to stay very shallow. They are hardy as well and make great bass bait.

The eNature website http://www.enature.com/fieldguides/intermediate.asp?curGroupID=3 is good, they don't have every species listed but have most. Another one I like is the EFISH website by VA Tech http://www.cnr.vt.edu/efish/ Although it is geared for VA fishes, most species found in VA are found throughout the south and Midwest.

Eastern Mudminnow:



Banded Killifish:



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Looking online, it seems that the central mudminnow is more common than the eastern mudminnow in my area, and I found survey info of the moose river system that confirms the central mudminnow near my pond.
When spring breaks I'll try trapping some and put them in a tiny shallow pond 50 ft. below my pond. There's nothing in it so I can see if they multiply.



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Sounds like a good idea... If you can catch just a dozen or so, they should multiply fast. Once you get the number up in the smaller pond you can trap a bunch for the bigger pond.

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CJBS Do you know of anyone in your circles selling lake chubsuckers? All I need to get started is 2-4 pair or 10-20 individuals. Any size will work but smaller ones will ship much better.

Last edited by Bill Cody; 02/10/09 03:22 PM.

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I do, the problem is the extreme expense! I don't have wild sources of them in my area or I would have caught and raised them myself.

The couple of places that I know sell them are:

http://www.aquaculturestore.com/index.html
http://www.aquabid.com/
http://www.jonahsaquarium.com/

But check the prices out and you'll have a heart attack! Some have them in stock, others are spotty... I have caught them in FL but I figured they wouldn't be genetically adapted to northern water temps in the winter.

http://www.aquaculturestore.com/index.html seems to have them in stock the most. The only concern I found was that they said it could be lake or sharpfin chubsuckers. Plus they are $12.95 a piece for 1-3" fish!!! Also, the company is based in FL which leads me to believe they are fish of southern genetics. I really don't wanna drop $12.95 per fish to experiment!

http://www.aquabid.com/ is a good source for unusual native fish. Just check the native fish section and see what they have. I usually check once a week just to see if they got anything unusual. I keep several native fish aquariums so I am always looking for a new fish to try out.

I do have several locations to catch wild creek chubsuckers. I have a small earthen pond that is void of fish. I think I may capture several and see how they do in the pond this year... I know they will live in it, whether they will spawn is the BIG question!

As a last option you may want to post on http://forum.nanfa.org/ They have a for sale/wanted section for fish. You may be able to find someone willing to sell or trade you some lake chubsuckers. I haven't looked into it, but might be worth the effort. I know a lot about nongame fish but some of the guys on there make me look stupid!

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I hate to be an alarmist, but I guess I've gotten to the point where I don't want to put anything in my ponds that I'm not at least 99% certain is disease free and exotic free. I just don't trust our local public waters anymore. Over the last 60 years, I've watched way too many favorite fishing holes, and major fisheries, ruined by disease and the introduction of exotic or unwanted species.

This is a recent horrible example from my old stomping grounds, where all the right rules were in place, but things still went wrong: DNR oversight allows fish virus to enter state

Here in the tri-state area of Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia, there are just too many unknowns to take a chance with stock from our public waterways. Our male bass have ovaries. We've got more and more exotic species every year. Every few months we seem to learn about some new disease.

Nothing goes in anymore that doesn't come from a trusted source, and even then, I'm wary. I've got a grow out pond above my main pond, but this year I plan to dig one below my main pond, just in case . . . I don't want anything draining in.

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CJBS - Thanks for the leads. If you can get some chubsuckers there should be no problem getting them to spawn in a normal pond environment. Several studies have used them as forage fish for LMB and SMB in the midwest with very good results.

Last edited by Bill Cody; 02/10/09 10:23 PM.

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No doubt disease is an issue to worry about. I am confident in my ability to identify fish species so as to avoid adding unwanted species. If you are not comfortable in fish identification, this may not be an option for you.

With that said, just because a fish comes from a hatchery doesn't mean it isn't diseased... It may reduce the risk, but is no guarantee. And many hatcheries have led to the introduction of unwanted species into a pond. I can't tell you how many times I have seen GSF or goldfish mixed in with GSH or FHM. Or bullheads mixed in with CC.


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