I am strongly considering adding 200 6-8 inch Walleye and 200 6-8 inch Smallmouth Bass to the pond. I would consider these to be "bonus fish". If they reproduce, that is OK too. The stocking would occur in the fall when the water has cooled from summer highs.

Given (the large predators in the pond ((LMB and NP)), abundant plant life, structure and forage fish), how many would survive predation and grow to adulthood?

Dwight,
If you wait until late this fall to stock, a good portion would survive predation. Also I would consider removing some small to medium sized LMB this summer and next to make room for the new guys.

You may also want to consider removing the big northerns that you catch and starting over again with smaller ones. I like to remove the muskies and notherns from the ponds I manage once they reach 28 inches or so. They are very beneficial fish up to that size, but they are not quite so beneficial when they get BIG.

Nate

When you stock NP, do you make certain they are female? I worry about having a pond full of hammer handles!

Get the biggest stockers you can and habituate them .

http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthread...true#Post127590

Take out some small LMB (equal in weight to what you are adding) in addition to your normal harvest. Add a bunch of FH to the habituation area.

Do you have golden shiners, Dwight? Can't recall.

Dwight,
I have never seen a bass/bluegill pond with natural pike reproduction. I am sure others have, but we just don't get much pike or walleye to reproduce at all in panfish infested ponds.

Also stocking yearling walleyes in our zone in November really hasn't seemed to lead to much mortality due to predation, and that is in predator heavy waters.

Bunches and bunches of yearling walleye to stock the entire midwest come out of Minnesota the last half of October to the first half of November.

If you could habituate them with a net and some fathead minnows I am sure that quick meal before entering the real world would help them out quite a bit, but we don't typically do that and have great success stocking them that time of year.

If you do go ahead and stock them, I can't wait to see the results. Do you have any YP in your pond? I know I have seen you catch some crappies, bass and NP along with BG, but can't recall seeing any other species.

I had the habituation technique in mind. Thanks for the Link.


I haven’t ever seen a Golden Shiner in the pond. Would they be a good additional forage fish for a pit type pond?


That is good to hear. The hammer handle syndrome may apply more to large bodies of water. There are tons of hammer handles in Minnesota lakes. There could be many reasons for that such as over fishing removing the large Northerns.


Yes there is a very healthy YP population.

If you could get the golden shiners established, it would be another prey source for your predators. We kept talking about adding predators, and so of course, my thoughts strayed to what they would eat. Your only chance to establish would be stocking large adults. I don't know if you could find a source or not. Honestly, we've had a hard time getting them established. I have been wanting to find some wild golden shiners out in ponds in western SD, and then bring them back. Maybe they would get started more easily than naive shiners that are purchased straight from the hatchery?

Dave trouble establishing GShiners I assume not SMB & WE ?

Dwight is it lawful to stock GShiners in MN next to a river ?

My thinking is that the pond can handle 400 new predators due to the current forage base being healthy, though I do really like the idea of an additional forage fish.


I am checking with the hatchery on the golden shiner question as well as a source for some "Minnesota tough" shiners.

Usually when I decide to do something, I just go ahead and do it. Adding Walleye and Smallmouth has been contemplated and discussed for several years now. I don't want to upset the the natural balance that exists in the pond today so I tread lightly.

The idea of adding a new forage fish along with the new predators certainly seems to have merit since I don't do any feeding.

From Ewest: Dave trouble establishing GShiners I assume not SMB & WE ?

Dwight is it lawful to stock GShiners in MN next to a river ?

1. I could not even get the golden shiners established by buying and stocking hatchery fish into a pond that only had fathead minnows and orangespotted sunfish (a prey pond). That's how bad this is, and why I wanted to try some wild fish instead. Sort of embarassing, don't ya think?

2. Golden shiners are native in MN, so that should help Dwight.

Considering your existing fishery and predator base, I would be very interested in seeing the catch ratio of adults after stocking the juvenile WE and SMB. It would be very good and valuable data if you kept and reported catch records after the stocking.

I think you would have to follow the "new book" on doing everything you could to acclimate the new fish to the pond....blocking nets, removal of many numbers of the other predators...baitfish stocking prior to the new stocking...just everything you can do to amp the chances of establishing new populations.

If you can locate a pond or lake with a healthy wild GSH population, you can do what Esshup and I have done and that is using small baited hooks to catch larger adult GSH or a cast net if you know how to use one. I have had luck getting GSH to take hold in ponds when stocking very large GSH. Then again, I have never stocked them into ponds with large NP like yours has... There is no doubt in my mind, a smaller number of wild GSH being stocked has a far better chance of establishing a breeding population in a pond like yours as opposed to stocking a large number of hatchery raised GSH. Sorta like stocking pen raised pheasants as opposed to trap and transferring wild pheasants... You could put out 200 pen raised pheasants into prime habitat and they probably still won't establish a breeding population. You trap and transfer 20 wild pheasants to that same area and you have a decent chance...

If I wanted to try to establish GShiners in a pond with adult predators like Dwight's I would do the following (caution in advance as it could turn out badly):

Block off a cove/area about 1/2 acre * and add some extra cover (10 xmas trees would work) , add several range cubes (at least one suspended away from shore) , assuming a light bloom then add a floating fertilizer tub (to ramp-up the bloom in that area) , add adult GShiners (in time for spring/summer spawning) and let them do their thing , buy a bag of AM 400 and 20 days after stocking the adults start feeding 1 lb of food by hand per day, 30 days after the adults go in add purchased GShiner fry and feed until the food runs out (you have a 50 day supply), at the end of the food remove the net. Better yet buy an extra bag of GFC and keep them there an extra 25 days feeding 2 lbs per day.

Keep a close eye on things so you can adjust as needed.

* to block off the cove reverse seine out from shore to run out the predators.

This discussion is great...Dwight I'm 100% behind you on this - I love your ideas. If the SMB and WE don't establish - okay, so you have a put and take fishery. There's no downside at all with adding SMB and WE IMO - certainly aren't going to get ahead of your LMB or NP - but sure adds a new element to your fishery. One tastes great, the other fights 2x harder than your LMB. Sounds like a winner.

IMO Dwight just needs another class or two of high end predator to whack his perch and crappie numbers down some. So other than some FHMs on realease of the new fish, I would not worry about adding any other prey until he sees what happens. Dwight, you get the fish and I will take care of whatever you need for FHMs, as long as I am involved in the "release".

I like your idea Eric, I think it could work. I just requires a lot of work to do. One has to decide just how important establishing GSH is to them...

The stick has intimate knowledge of Dwight's pond. Seems his point is valid. Adding GSH to a pond can take predation away from YP, BC and BG. Perhaps something that isn't wanted if trying to keep their numbers in check and produce a higher quality panfish fishery?

So does Dave Willis and he brought up the GShiners and knows about prey/predator balance up north. Dwight knows his lake as well. This one is a tossup for me. SMB and WE are not particularly good at controlling BG and YP #s so I would not count on them to do too much in that regard. LMB do a very good job and over time and it is not uncommon to see LMB only ponds as a result. The opposite result is also not uncommon - BG overpopulation and stunting. Add in the crappie and you have even more uncertainty. GShiner adults will help with crappie egg reduction , and same for BG and LMB eggs. They do take up space which could go to other fish. One thing I can say is the more fish species you have the harder it is to manage for an unbalanced result like lots of big - your choice LMB , BG , NP , YP, SMB , WE etc. There are just too many interactions we don't understand as managers.

My comments were a generlaziation of how to if you really want too - not a you should try GShiners. The problem with the method noted is the success rate. You could have just the right # of surviving adults to establish a GShiner population. You could also not have enough to establish either of which is managable. The danger is you could be too successful and be overloaded with GShiners. No matter what yo have to realize you have ramped up the amount of forage and predators and as the ultimate balancer do your job.

If you have any kind of predator base, getting overloaded with Golden Shiners is a temporay problem, in my opinion.

I though SMB could help with YP control???

They can help but not control BG or YP #s as per Dave in northern ponds. YP can also help control small BG #s by eating them when its cold while they have an advantage as a coolwater fish. I assume YP do the same on crappie but that is one of those many interactions not known.

I figured correctly that there would be some interesting discussion in this thread.

Eric's "establishing a viable GShiner population" post is something I would consider doing in a separate pond. Thank you for the concept! I am not willing to submit Bremer Pond to that level of human intervention. Keeping things as "natural" as possible has always been my pond credo. A FH pond sounds interesting too.

Did I mention that my brother-in-law may be "storing" his track hoe out here this summer......

I have been convinced that removing the +-40" NP from the pond and replacing them with some small ones may be a smart move.

Why could it be a smart move?

Those big NP are probably cropping off the larger YP, BC, and BG (hereafter, the “Trio") in the pond with their voracious appetites. There has been some discussion of this phenomena in the Nine Inch Fish Thread .

Nate brought up the idea and after thinking about it, I can see the clear logic of his comments. Dr. Dave and Eric have hinted at this at times as welll. It took a smack upside the head to cause my fish brain to engage. Thanks, Nate!

The small NP will eat off the lower end of the Trio since that is all that they can get their mouth around. This will allow the larger Trio fish to grow to lunker-size while keeping the small Trio fish from overpopulating.

Since I want to add WE and SMB this fall, removing the large NP should free up a lot of predator “space” for the newcomers.

Targeting the big NP could result in some serious fishing fun!

Questions:

How many small NP is a good number for 16,000,000 gallons of water (5 acres x 10 feet deep average)?

What are the downsides of this potential plan?

Dwight, the only downside that I can see is the potential for the smaller NP to target the stocker WE & YP while the larger NP would key in on larger fish.

Dwight give us your thoughts on the fish population , balance by size , type and condition etc.

Possible :

Big danger - a reproducing NP population , not enough predation on YP , crappie and BG.

Depending on your answer my thought is to go slowly on removing all the big NP. Movements in fish population rebalancing are better done slowly if the existing populations are in or near balance. If they are out of balance the faster changes are in order.

My guess , pending your data, is to remove 20% by weight of the big NP and enough of the crappie and LMB under 14 inches to equal your normal harvest plus the weight of the WE and SMB you are going to add.

How many big pike are there? Your probably only talking about a handful of those fish in a 5 acre pond, but even so most likely it will take awhile to catch em all out even if you wanted them gone tomorrow. Your gonna need to find an awesome taxidermist because there are not many people in America that can say they caught a 40" northern from their very own pond.

I dont think you will have a problem with pike getting out of control and stunting in your body of water. If for some odd reason they happen to pull off a spawn, your panfish will actually wreak havoc on the baby pike and the stick will wreak havoc on any pike that happens to make it past the 'pond panfish' slaughterfest. If your pond was such that no one would fish it for a couple years than it might be a different story, but regularly spending time on the water and you can keep the baby pikes in check. (if for some reason there would happen to be)

There is a small number of large NP in the pond. We estimate 6 but since they haven’t been tagged identification is not guaranteed. On one occasion the same 38 inch NP was caught by two different people on the same day ice fishing. In that case the hook marks were used for identification.

The predator population consists of NP, LMB, BC, YP, and BG. Every fish that we catch no matter the species are fat and healthy looking (there may be a rare exception, but I don’t recall one). Even the small fish have big bellies on them. I believe this means there is an abundance of forage for all species.

Other than the NP there appears to be fish of each species in multiple year classes. Typically the smaller fish are easier to catch than the large ones, but large ones are definitely in there.

Catch monitoring has recently (OK, yesterday) been implemented with the assistance of Dr. Dave. Every fish we catch will be weighed, measured and recorded by: date, # of Anglers, hours fished, species, length, and weight. The hours fishing will be kept confidential.

Dwight,
Here are a few pictures that might be of interest to you:





Big fish don't get fat by messing around with small meals

"The hours fishing will be kept confidential, "

At least yours !!!


Nate some small fish in those big stomachs.

Eric, maybe thats all those big fish had available to eat? Note how as the size of prey increased the amount of fish in the belly decreases. Also how many big panfish will a 5 acre pond be able to grow annually and how many of those will escape the jaws of 6 big northerns annually? Fish eat all kinds of stuff, but the main question is when its dinner time what do they go looking for?

They are all opportunistic feeders. They will eat the easiest thing they can catch that offers the most positive energetic results. They will do that until the results are negative and then even keep eating less nutrient rich meals (losing weight however)until they starve to death.

The question is if you have a good pond (lots of well conditioned fish of all sizes) then how drastic of a change do you want to make (risk profile) and are there better (less drastic methods) that will get you to the same place with less risk.

Perhaps it would be best just to add your planned WE and SMB, then see what happens for a few years. The NP deserve to die of old age, they are my buddies.

You could always relocated the pike, under cover of the night, to the Rock River.

I don't think they would like the change to the river where they would have to work for lunch!

The pond is only 'good' for panfish up to a certain size, that is info from another thread stating that every year they think the panfish are going to get bigger, but instead they remain plump, but the same size. If you want to grow bigger panfish you need to do something different or something has to change naturally.

I usually take a more aggressive approach on removing undesirable fish and think the faster I can get the resource wasters out the faster I can start to see changes.

There definitely will be ramifications to taking out the big predators that may need addressed once removed, but if for some reason the big pike are the limiting factor to growing bigger panfish, more than likely you won't be seeing bigger panfish in that pond for the life of those fish. Which could be a very long time.

Now on the other hand if the stick and others are happy with how everything is currently than nothing really needs changing or a more cautious/slow change can be implemented.

Back to the smallmouth/walleye- the actual weight of those fish upon stocking isnt really going to be very much. Its not like you would be throwing the pond completely out of balance by adding 15 lbs of smallmouths and 10 lbs of walleyes. Any additional weight gain that they make will just be converting biomass from the pond itself slowly overtime. Will create a nice bonus fish to catch from time to time.

Dwight “The predator population consists of NP, LMB, BC, YP, and BG. Every fish that we catch no matter the species are fat and healthy looking (there may be a rare exception, but I don’t recall one). Even the small fish have big bellies on them. I believe this means there is an abundance of forage for all species.”

“My thinking is that the pond can handle 400 new predators due to the current forage base being healthy,…”

Stick “IMO Dwight just needs another class or two of high end predator to whack his perch and crappie numbers down some. So other than some FHMs on realease of the new fish, I would not worry about adding any other prey until he sees what happens.”

I have seen no indication that there is a problem of “too small of panfish”. I assume the goal is balance and that they are not trying to go unbalanced – trophy panfish.

What is the goal ? I thought it was just to add some bonus SMB and WE. I would not remove all the big NP (just some – 20%) at first. Until the SMB and WE can eat what the NP are eating (volume not size) because to do so only means more oversupply of YP, BG etc.

One thing for sure - an eyes on assessment and clarity of goals would be good prior to doing too much.

From the stick:

"Why do I catch a lot of 9 inch YP and BC ice fishing year after year in Bremer Pond? Each year I think next year they will be the next size bigger, but not. What is happening to the 9 inchers from the year before, and why are there always that size?"

Dwight addressed this a bit with his light beam theory and also acknowledged the fact that there is some fishing pressure throughout the year on the pond, but at some point you do need to ask the question why arent the fat panfish growing any longer and the stick asked the question. Big panfish are consistently caught through the ice on lakes and ponds that have quite a bit more fishing pressure than Bremer Pond.

If all the fish are fat, I am not convinced there is an over supply of stunted panfish, plus if Dwight and co needs to become the top predator to replace the pike they sure can. If done correctly, they could actually be much better predators than the pike.

Coming from my experiences with pike and musky they are a great tool up to a certain size (for certain goals of course), but then I do everything I can to remove them once they get too large. Basically we don't catch and release them very often. Once they get big they just become too good of predators in midsized ponds. They eat seriously big panfish, and pretty much at will.

Now I am not discounting anything that Ewest has said while kind of debating with him a bit. There is good information here to think about, but remember this is not one size fits all management and the stocking/removal of big predator fish needs to be done thoughtfully and is very site specific. there are major ramifications. I just want those of you who don't know that Ewest and I are good friends, and I actually enjoy debating with him, makes me think...

Nate said " Ewest and I are good friends, and I actually enjoy debating with him, makes me think..."

Absolutely agree with Nate and vice-versa. In fact our approaches are not that far apart only as to rate of change and risk.

I am intentionally doing the good cop/ bad cop here. One of PB's major goals is to put out solid info and make people think through all the angles. Nate is giving one cutting edge approach which offers high reward with some risk. I am being the balance and giving the less risky alternative with slower more controlled results. Both have pluses and minuses. You need to hear both and learn how to make the knowledgeable choice commensurate with the risk level you are comfortable with. That advances learning and good choices.

I do not think that the absence of large YP is due to all of them being eaten by the few NP. One method of finding out would be to harvest 1 or 2 NP and look at the stomach contents. I would wait until after ice out to make that check however. Same for a couple of bigger LMB. I have not seen Dwight indicate he wants to address the YP situation only to add some bonus SMB and WE. Will also note that all the info/reports are not consistent on the status of things.

It is Dwight's pond. I am always in full support of what he is doing. I just think that some larger panfish would be fun instead of cathing ones that are all the same size. I believe Dwight was shooting toward that with the addition of WE and SMB to weed out some smaller panfish,and have a bonus fish to catch from time to time. Looks like a great idea for bonus fish, but not so much to eat the panfish. In short. We are after panfish of various sizes and a chance at a big BC or BG. There are lots of YP in the pond but they are not an angling priority. Dwight is busy doing end of the month sruff. I am sure he will be on in a day or two to correct, clarify, or disavow this post.

I am thinking about all that has been discussed. It is not like there is any rush to just do something.

Dwight, have you ever had your pond electroshocked? Seems like this could be a great time to give it a whirl, particularly if the funding isn't a major issue. Really see what you have going on down there that angling alone may not be able to tell you...

Dwight,

Have you ever thought of tossing in a few Coho?
Could be a fun experiment.

This is why I have a concern about Northern Pike spawning. In the spring when they are ready to spawn the water extends up onto the pond banks. Shallow areas with vegetation is where they could spawn.

Dwight it is feasable the NP could spawn in those inundated vegetated areas of the previous years growth. They 'like' shallow marshy habitat for successful spawning.

Dwight, have you thought about replacing NP with Tiger Musky in future stockings if you want to keep the large predator niche filled? You wouldn't have to worry about reproduction, and I think the TM is a much cooler fish than the NP.

Good idea! I will look into Tiger Muskies and if anyone has any thoughts on the subject don't be shy.

One of the strongest drivers in fish is to reproduce and fill the pond. They will find a way to reproduce if its possible. I would never assume the NP could not reproduce just because there may not be weeds.

I have not checked to see if TM can back cross with NP. Are they sterile in all events ?

TM males are always sterile, females are generally fertile and will backcross with either parental species, particularly NP.

The conditions your pond shows with the flooding of vegetation such as that is similar to a lake in PA where they drained it down several feet for dam repairs. It was down for about 4 years allowing vegetation to grow in the area usually covered when at normal pool. When the repair was finished and the lake filled back up, the pike had an incredible spawn producing an amazing couple of years classes.

So Dwight, anymore thought on whether you're gonna pull the trigger and add some SMB or WE to your pond?

Dwight, your picture is exactly the conditions that we saw the year we got the big year class of northern pike in those gravel pits I showed you a few years back. It did not take much vegetation to let the pike bring off a big spawn.

Yes, I am going to add the SMB and WE in the late fall and leave everything else alone.

Knowing Bremer Pond as well as I do I expect the predator-forage relationship will evolve and re-balance in a natural way.

I will monitor everything and report the results over time in a thread starting on the day the new ones are added to the pond.

I very interested to see how a well established community of fish you have in your ponds will play with the SMB and WE. Will you be able to source larger sized fingerlings of sub adults or will you just have to hope smaller fingerlings make it?

They will be in the 6-8 inch range and yes it will be interesting!

You should have no problem getting SMB from any of your local rivers or streams...have you considered stocking advanced sizes from angling in MN? I think those fish stand the best chance of making it in your fishery. I wonder if they will compete well with the LMB considering it's such a Northern BOW? I know many lakes in So Ontario that have very few LMB but are dominated by SMB.

My preference is stocking certified disease free fish from a hatchery. Transplanting large fish(in quantity) would definitely blow out the predator/forage balance.

A percentage of the little guys and girls will hopefully survive and merge with the current populations.

I think the LMB will remain dominant since there are so many more of them and they are successfully reproducing every year. Who knows if either the SMB or WE will spawn or if they will just grow and eventually become lunker bonus fish?

In preparation for adding the SMB and WE this fall I have been looking at these holding boxes for acclimating the new ones to the pond. I plan to feed them FH in the holding box so they are strong and tough when they enter the pond unprotected. A PVC tubing frame to float the holding box can be fabricated (you know me and PVC fabrications).

Does this plan make sense? Has anyone dealt with this company? Holding Boxes

Dwight:

I looked into those when I wanted to have a few fish cages. It was less expensive for me to buy a 4' wide roll of mesh netting from Stoney Creek and make my own cages, but I picked up the netting, no shipping..... For only one cage it would have been cheaper to buy the pre-made cages, but for 2 or more making my own was more cost effective. I made my cages 4' square, but found that if the cage was only in 2 1/2' to 3' of water, LMB that were held in the cage (13"-16" long fish) would get their chins scraped up on the netting. There has to be a recommendation somewhere on the 'net for cage size vs. fish size/density to minimize stress/trauma to the caged fish.

Either route you take, don't forget to fab lids for them - fish jump and birds/mammals can get in from the top too.

I forgot. If you do go with the pre-made cages, and you plan on using them for more than once, get them treated with the net dip. I've used the green dip and it's held up very well.

Try to get them pellet feed trained (smallies anyway) if you put them in holding cages. It will make a huge difference in their growth rate, and thus survival.

nate if you remove them once they get to 28 inches how will you get real big NP??

I am pro Tiger Muskie. They are beautiful and really help with the population control. I had no idea that females were fertile.

The GFP stocks them regulary around here instead of addin NP.

I decided to go a little more conservative and add 100 Walleye and 100 Smallmouth instead of 200 of each. The Walleye are 6-8 inch and the Smallmouth are 4-6 inch. Both are the largest size available from a certified Minnesota supplier. I am also adding 100 pounds of Fatheads as a pre-winter protein blast. The fish will arrive late October - November.

Some will say this is an experiment, some an investment and some it is just fun. I agree.

Sounds like a plan - and fun.

It'll be interesting to see how many show up in your future catches.

Sounds good!

Gail bought another new couch today.

Gail is in the process of repainting the rec room and removing the cool border around the ceiling.

Both couch and paint job are perfect. They are out of style.

Gail is a having new ¾ inch wide board oak floor installed in the living room and the hallway going by the bedrooms and bathroom #1.

The carpet is perfect and under it is near perfect ¾ inch narrow board oak floor that have to be removed. Both are out of style.

The new fish join the old fish in the pond. There are no style concerns.

Every pond plan has a cost. Yours has a double cost factor. Without that extra outlay life might get rough around the house. Pick your battles wisely - even if its out of style to do so.

"If Mama ain't happy, no one is happy."

When we discuss things such as this it is more informational rather than seeking approval for the expenditures. We have been with each other long enough that we understand each others "hobbies".

Bremer Pond clarity is the least it has ever been since record keeping. Dwight said the 100 pounds of FHM go in before the WE and SMB to keep the exsisting fish distracted. I said I would like to see clear water on release so the new fish can high-tail it to cover. Dwight thought there would be less predation on the new fish if the water clarity was low. Do hatchery fish have any sense of predators or are they pretty slow since they have not had to deal with that situation in a rearing pond?

In my experiences hatchery fish raised without predators are pretty naive individuals regarding predation; similar to pheasants and quail introductions. Predatory behavior is not all that different between fish and wildlife game. Predators key on this weakness. 1. New stocker fish also behave somewhat different compared to resident fish. Odd behavior makes the new fish an easier target-prey. 2. New fish are not familar with what habitat is available in the new surroundings. Instinct often causes them to move into a shallow water refuge where larger fish have difficulty swimming. 3. New stockers are usually stressed, sometimes very stressed, and weak for various reasons; due often to mishandling, reduced water quality from crowding, and/or temperature stressors. 4. If the fish is a completely new species to that body of water predators will be attracted to the new behavior pattern. 5. Also new stockers usually have color patterns - hues that are different lighter or darker than resident, similar sized fish of the same species. All these features reduces the chances of survival depending on several things. An important one is amount of dense nearby cover. Predators often 'hang' in wait in these cover areas (habitat) which are designed to be fish attractors! Generally the larger the stocker the better chances of survival during the early acclimation period.

Look at the links below for ideas and answers. A lot of the answer depends on your current situation including the existing fish population. Standard answer is less than 10 % will live to one year in an existing pond with adult LMB population. But it depends.

http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthread...=true#Post22246

http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthread...=true#Post26019


See these for blocking net method. Works for BG and LMB.

http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=5690&Number=52295#Post52295

http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=5690&Number=52299#Post52299


See this also

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.ph...=true#Post26019

Thanks for the info boys. Very interesting.

Late this afternoon a 100 walleye, a 100 small mouth bass and 100 pounds a fathead minnows are arriving in the fish truck. I will take plenty of photos.

Sounds great, Dwight! Can't wait to see the photo tour of the event!

I wonder how many pounds of FHM will be consumed in the next 24 hrs?

I hope a lot. The FH are slow and easy for game fish to catch and eat. Hopefully that will keep the current predators from slurping up as many of the new predators as they would otherwise.

John Chalmers and his Fish Truck:



Fatheads going to bucket:



Making sure the tank is empty of Fatheads:



Fatheads go in the pond first:



Walleyes going to bucket:



Walleye closer view:



In the Walleye go:



Going for the Smallmouth:



Aren’t they cute:



In they go:

FUN!

Let freedom ring!!!

Those fatheads looked large!

Those walleyes were a good size too!

Smallies were, well....small!!

Looks like great fun, Dwight! Good luck - can't wait to see what Bremer Pond does with them over the next few years!

I hope some get seen on the end of your line one day...

Dwight were there any dead ones? I see that O2 tank on the truck. The WE and SMB are probably in cover by now.

Dwight,

Looks like you will have some interesting bonus fish. Are the smallies pellet trained? Doesn't matter but was just curious. Keep us posted! I hope to hatch my own smallies in the spring in a separate pond.

I checked for floaters last evening and again this morning. Didn't see any.


I have noticed that the malaise caused by your not posting for a long while has been lifted!

None of this batch were pellet trained. I will update as needed , though there probably won't be much to report until spring.

I suppose it is possible on of those WE could be caught through the ice this winter. That would be almost as interesting as catching a 40" NP! Hopefully the WE will keep their distance from the NP and Darlene.

You get one of those walleyes on a hook in the ice, and you'll get yourself a 40" NP right quick!

NP don't like WE, no flavor and too many spines.

Yea right - just don't stick your hand down there while its on the line.

Jeff caught one of those little WE ice fishing this afternoon. 15 inches after 14 months! Photo tomorrow..

Good to hear that at least one has survived all those hungry mouths. If they are all in the 15" range, they should be safe from most of the mouths in the pond now, except for maybe Darlene.

I'll bet one of the larger NP would take a swipe at one if given the chance and it was hungry enough.

I caught a 22" walleye yesterday 5 years later. Pics tomorrow.

Nice Dwight.

At first I thought your post was some sort of inside joke that I was not getting. Then I looked at the dates of the previous posts and it made sense!

Nice when a plan works out.

What type of bait did you temp it to bite on?

Caught on a black skirted, black bladed, 3/4 oz spinnerbait with a MT chartreuse flake split double tail trailer in 12 feet of water.
Running the spinnerbait bumping on the bottom. She bit down on it three times before I set the hook. Clear bright sunny afternoon......

That is a beauty. Glad to see at least some survived past the size of NP snacks!

Yowza! Good fish. Cmm

Hopefully a few of those dandy walleye will show up in the ice fishing catches. They are a treat through the ice.

Solid, well done - she's a beaut! Any SMB yet? They should be 15-20" by now.

Fisherman needs a haircut and shave.

Haven't seen a SMB this year. Should target them this fall for a look see.

Luckily the hair is in a ponytail or your bald head would be even more jealous.

Very nice WE !!!!!!

Post pics of SMB and others when available.