Not sure how this tadpole made it but I thought it was pretty interesting! I had to bust the 3" ice to pull out the trap I threw in at about 6' a few days ago.
We have about 7" of pretty good ice on our pond and I have been aggressively clearing and flooding to add inches. We had a army of skaters come over on Saturday and the quad that we used to clear it went near the edge of the bank where the ground heat from the banks keeps the ice a bit on the thin side and created a slight pressure crack. Due to the weight of the skaters and the quad, water started coming up that crack. About an hour later there was about 3" of standing water on top of the ice, just around that edge and suddenly up through the crack swims a bullfrog tadpole. He/she looked disoriented but didn't seem to mind the water temps and seemed pretty vigorous. We ended up opening another hole elsewhere and putting him back in the pond.
I wonder if they seek light, oxygen or just are curious?
FHM and one GSF. Its been a while since I got the FHM in the trap. I know they are present because I saw them by the 10,000's this summer. I'm going to add bass this spring and may add a few more FHM just to be sure. I'd rather be a little wasteful now then sorry later!
It is always good to know you still have fatheads. Those in the trap are breeding adults. Without predators you likely have lots of FHM that can swim through the mesh of the trap. IMO you catch success will be better if you burn off the black coating of the trap. If you have two of these traps leave one with the black coating and one with no coating. Then report back your catch results of each trap. Put some pet food or bread in the trap for better catch results. Fish the trap for 2-6 hrs.
aka Pond Doctor & Dr. Perca Read Pond Boss Magazine - America's Journal of Pond Management
