Great Blue Heron?

I think this SMB will survive as it hit a crank bait today. I found another SMB two weeks ago roughly the same size that did not with similar marks on one side. I am a little surprised that the GBH visiting my pond is targeting SMB in the 13-1/2" size range.

Thry target anything that show up at there feet

I'd say yes. Any marks on the opposite side of the fish?

I had them kill a RBT 2 years ago that was 17" long.

If you find more fish damaged like that I'd say keep them for the frying pan..

Esshup, no marks on the other side of the fish.

I have seen worse damage on a fish heal up over time.

Herons are such a nuisance here they have changed the way they dig ponds. The bank is dug straight down to a "shelf" 2 or 3 feet below. The shelf is 5 or so feet wide clear around the pond and then drops straight down to deeper water. When at full pool, the shelf has from 2 to 6 inches of water on it. If you plant tall shallow water plants on the shelf, there should be no where for the herons to stand to hunt fish and the water in the pond is deep enough to keep the plants from spreading out too far. Mine just filled last year and I'm trying to decide which plants to plant. I have no idea why herons are still protected. They sure are not in short supply.

Then we can rule out an Osprey. I think GBH.

I would just think wounded fish would be more prone to diseases and such.. and fish with holes through them make better sandwiches rather than thinking damn my pond is infested with this disease could it of been that fish I threw back in with the holes through it..

Just a thought. .

Open sores might make them more prone to infection but they can heal up quite well given time. At my dad's old pond we had a 14-1/2" LMB that got hit hard with a boat prop one year, it sliced a 1" X 3" chunk of skin off it's side. I caught that fish at least five times while it was healing up, it was skinny and looked horrible for several months and I was very tempted to put it out of it's misery. The following year I caught that same fish one more time and it was super healthy, all it had left was 1 centimeter x 1 centimeter scar on it's side and it had grown to 16".

I don't doubt they can heal.. Ive seen some badly mangled fish still alive.. I just don't know if the risk is worth it.. I have no problem throwing a fish on the bank though most people can't do that..

Not risky at all IMO, if the fish dies then it's nutrients are recycled back into the food chain.

In order to survive a significant injury a fish has to become a highly motivated and successful eating machine, this highly aggressive eating pattern will likely be carried forward once it has healed completely.

In the short term an injured fish won't grow as it heals, but it is likely to make up some of that growth once it has. All that is needed is a good forage base and time. It would not surprise me to catch this very same SMB again in the next four weeks, if I do I will post pictures here showing how it is healing. I suspect that four weeks from now you won't be able to see where the GBH hit it.

Here is another one I caught today, marks on both sides this time. Not sure if this was a heron or a cormorant but think it was the heron again as I haven't seen any cormorants yet.

My wag is a heron.

Caught a 6" BG last week out of our pond with a strike mark that looked just like that. One side.

We have regular GBH visits when I'm not around. They go to the old pond when anyone is home or moving around. Have realized one shows up right at dark that may have been missing it being there.

Also have had cormorants on and off also. Only singles so far. Hope they don't decide to bring their buddies back.

Definitely a heron. Seen it many times before I put up my staked lines. Electric would be fun if someone would film it and share it with us. I hear herons do an great break dance when they make contact with electricity. LOL

Agree... #*@&# heron. They've killed or ate more fish out of my pond in the last 5 years than the winters got. I hate finding dead large fish on the banks with the gouges or "hole" right between the eyes. I won't shoot them but they don't like bottle rockets .

Man alive!!!

A heron attacking my SMB....and it's on!!!!!!!!!

Generally, I like herons, but I love smallies more.

Shorty, your second picture with more of a 'slash' is what I've seen more of.

I had 2 or 3 GBH that were daily visitors to my 2 acre pond along with about 30-40 geese. I put in one of the fake alligator heads about a month ago. I have not seen a GBH since and the geese numbers dropped to 3.

So far 2 herons down on my pond this year (+/- 5 last year). I have nothing against wildlife unless it has no negative impact on my pond. Herons have. Well, one has to give up and I don't see any reason why that one should be me.
By the way, you can never know how much herons visit your pond daily. I thought that my pond usually was visited by 1 or sometimes 2 herons. One down but still coming. OK, another down and still coming. After killing those 5 obviously one had left because his visits were rare.

If you think about killing them but are afraid from shooting because of neighbours or so, I can give you some advice.

And my dogs look at them like they're tree stumps. Then the heron hears me open the sliding glass door and bolts .

We have one that visits nightly, after almost dark. I always thought they went to roost by the time this one comes in. Easy early evening snack I guess before retiring.

I don't mind them getting a fish now and then. But the fish I saw floated up to the bank today really made me sad. To be fair, I can not say for sure the GBH got it. Looks like a resident snapping turtle took a big bite out, but that could have been before or after the fishes death.

Do 12" snapping turtles actively attack 9" fish? I thought they were mostly scavengers. My guess is the GBH stabbed and killed this fish and the turtle started the clean up process.

The irksome part is this is by far the biggest fish to come out of my pond. Biggest BG caught to date is 6.5" and this RES measured 9". Both opercular tabs were gone but the coloration looked right to me for a RES and the gill raker's were very short.

Wouldn't you know it. The fish I have the least of in the pond and wanted to increase, and something (besides me and a fishing line) gets one of the biggest and best.

I guess the good news of the situation is, I now know I've raised at least one 9" RES in a little over a year from stocking 3" fish.

Doubtful a snapper caught the fish. He probably came along and took advantage of the situation after it was killed by the GBH.

Forgive me if I forget but was there a reason you can't put up staked lines to keep the GBH out? Was your pond too big? If so have you considered staking out areas where is he is most likely to get in?

I.e., last year I just staked out an area of shoreline my bluegills bed off of.

Another concern about GBH's, other than just needlessly killing larger fish is they are parasite vectors. All they have to do is stand over the water and the parasites will drop out of their mouths.

GBH's are just doing what comes natural and as you can see he's giving a turtle something to eat. However I can't tolerate it in my ponds due to niche market I supply, make sure they can't feed in my ponds, and have to move on somewhere else.

You're smarter than the bird. You don't have to take this!

looks like a crappie to me...check out those eyes.

Sprkplug, you beat me to it. snrub, are there any crappie in the pond? The coloration, body shape and eyes/remaining gill flap looks like a crappie to me.

Not supposed to be. That being said, when they were counting fish and checking for off species when the fry were delivered, they did pull two crappie out of the fry. So it is entirely possible that one got past them.

Hopefully not two.

We have caught and removed around 80 fish and caught and released maybe another 20 so far from the pond and everything caught has been BG, one CC and maybe a couple mutt hybrids (as they were called by the experts ) with some RES in them.

So if it was a crappie, hopefully it was the only one.

I had not even thought about it possibly being a crappie.

I appreciate the thought Cecil, and I understand why you do it, but fishing line strung along the shore line just does not go with the decor we wish to see out our kitchen and bedroom window. Also two grandsons and I put in one aeration diffuser and went swimming and boating today (burrrrr, 68 degrees, they swam more than I did) and I'm afraid mono line strung around the pond just takes something away from it for us.

Before attempting to become a pondmeister (with a small "p" not a capital "P") a GBH sighting on our old farm pond was considered a treat. We enjoyed them. Only now that we have spent boo-koo money on fish and fish food have they become the enemy.

I guess it gets back to goals. For some, the fish are the ultimate goal. For my wife and I, we would like some nice fish for employees, family and ourselves to catch, but being a grand bass master or whatever they are called will never be on my list of attempted accomplishments. So the fish, while important, were really only a passion I gained after deciding to build the pond. They were not the primary reason for it.

So we will put up with the different birds visiting, even enjoying some of them. But for me they are like relatives. Ok for a visit, but no permanent residents please. Time to move on.

Thanks for the suggestion though. It is a novel solution I would have never thought of on my own.

Well, there's one less in there now. Just goes to show that anyone can make a mistake when stocking fish, whether straight off the truck, or straight from the hatchery. We're all human after all, mostly.

There is just something about it that gives me an uneasy feeling though. Over 2000 fish put in that pond and the one I DON'T want in there dies?

Maybe I need to visit a casino, because that is usually not the way my luck runs!

And as far as being mostly human, that reminds me of a story of when I was about 5 years old. I was tagging along with my dad on a cold winter day where a bunch of farmers were standing around an old pot belly stove "chewing the fat" (likely cause my mom had had enough of me). Being the pesky kind and somewhat more noisy than what some of the old guys appreciated, after me making some comment about "being born", an old guy named Lonnie Brown spat a wad of tobacco spit on the stove and said "hell boy, you weren't born. A crow shat you on a stump and the sun hatched you".

So there has been some prior discussion as to my origin.

Funny I should remember that from my childhood. I became good friends with that old man through my teenage years till he died.

Caught another injured SMB tonight.

It's pretty much invisible (you can only see the mono really up close) and very few stakes needed.

I wouldn't have it on my ponds if it was an eye sore. If the stakes are an issue they can easily be camouflaged. To be honest I have a lot of stakes on my small 1/10th acre trout pond but thst is becsuse it's so small it is almost circular so the stakes need to be closer together to follow the shore line. On my 1/2 acre pond I don't need nearly as many.

I've taken pictures of it for an article and you can't see the mono in the picture.

I hear you guys complaining about the herons but there is an effective nonlethal solution.

Cecil, I would put up stakes and mono if I thought my dog wouldn't knock it down and get tangled up in all of the time.

Won't happen.

My dog routinely goes under it to get a drink of water and she is a big dog. You could get by with one strand the dog could easily go under or even multiple strands as long as the dog can go under the lowest strand.

The only situation where the staked lines wouldn't work is on a pond where the water level goes up and down rapidly. And even then I think I could figure something out.

Cecil, at what height do you place the Mono?

High enough where the heron can't step over but low enough it can't duck under. It's a judgement call.

Shorty, even for my liking herons, I'd have to get VC on this bird!!!

So, if there is some resistance they encounter with the mono, they won't get more aggressive and try to overcome?

Dinner is that way!

Cecil, my german shorthair runs the bank full throttle hunting frogs and throws caution to wind both in and out of the water. My wife had to take her to the emergency vet three weeks ago to get four layers of stitches and drain tube put in chest from the 6" gash she got while running around our place. She had a similar injury on the other side of here chest last year. Stringing mono all the way around the pond is a bad idea with our dog.

Understood. We had a German Shorthair that almost ripped his scrotum off running high speed along a fence. He was definitely high energy and could run for miles.

They will only wade in unless they know the water is exceptionally shallow and then they may land in the water. If you set the line up where they can't wade in as it's too deep on the pond side you're good to go. An electric fence would be more fun to watch though. Some day I may put one up for kicks. As I've said here before I've heard they do a awesome break dance when they make contact.

The truth be told I'm running behind on the big pond and don't have my line up yet. I've had it up so many years the birds seem to have given up. Last year I only staked the areas where the bluegills bed near shore.

I also don't have small fish to eat in that pond. The yellow perch and big gills stay deep except for spawning time.

High enough where the heron can't step over but low enough it can't duck under. It's a judgement call.
I presume they don't Limbo.

I caught this fish earlier today and wounds are healing up, this fish was nice and chunky and looked very good. I wish I had brought my camera.

I have not seen my GBH since the pond muddied up but I have seen a Green Heron at the pond on regular basis lately.

I wonder if carefully adding some salt to the pond would help the fish recover from these kinds of injuries. Bob Lusk told me that when fish are being transported it is common practice to add some salt to protect them from stress.

The amount that you'd have to add would be tremendous! A fish hauling tank has a few less gallons than a pond.....

Amazing what they can survive, and even put up a good fight on a horny toad!

Now if I could just train the GBH to take only 12" and under LMB and all BCP, it would add a whole new element to pond management

This is from a few years ago at the 3/4 acre pond . I haven't seen any herons around in the last few months but over the years there have been some occasions where there were 2 herons walking the bank picking off some of my bluegill until I chased them off.

just saw this post and thought I would post a few pictures of one of my Brookies I caught the other day that was nailed by one! I actually pulled out two others that had similar markings but not quite as bad. I also unfortunately witnessed an Osprey pull out a 14" brookie while I was at the pond but some rather quick thinking on my part and the osprey took off with the fish still on shore and no major marks on the fish.

My wife caught this fish yesterday and it has healed up and looked very healthy. It did have faint scars where it had been hit, I had to do a double take on it to make sure it was the same fish, wish I had the camera with me. I also caught a yellow perch yesterday with a healed up chunk missing just under the dorsal fin.

This GBH is getting way too comfortable with me getting close! Used to be as soon as they heard the ATV they would scatter.



Although kinda cool, if not prehistoric looking, it may be time for him to have second thoughts about visiting my pond!

He's laughing at you!!!

And flashing me as well!

But I WILL get the last laugh!

Assuming a GBH before the turtles got to him...

That almost looks like a clean Snapper bite right through his back!

odl, just nicked up a little. Toss him back in, he should be fine...

Lol that was pretty funny

Can't you guys just shoot them?

Not legally

I use rubber buckshot at 100 yards NO CLOSER or it could really hurt the bird. Extra full choke

If you have a licensed aquaculture facility, (I am one) you can apply for a permit to lethally remove them.

A friend down in Texas gets a permit to remove cormorants from his ponds. He averages around 200/year.

I have never seen this before,,,a Great Blue Heron didn't see me and came flying low over my head,,,a male Redwing Black Bird at the top of a spruce tree watching out for their young just learning to fly, came out of the tree attacking the Heron in the back. A couple of days later as I approached the pond I scared up another blue heron and as the heron started flying from the pond a male Redwing came out of the top of a tree and attacked this heron. So I am guessing that a heron may be a threat to baby birds.

John, my Mockingbirds have done the same thing. The GBH will fly off through a clump of trees at the top of my big pond, and the Mockingbirds swarm after him. The GBH ain't happy at all. Mockingbirds and Blue Jays are pretty aggressive when they're nesting.

Blue herons are everywhere here. When I was younger a cottage full of people with me watched as one caught a chipmunk running by and drowned it by holding it under water then ate it.

I say, do what you need to do to protect your farm/investment. They are a pretty bird but if my livelihood was selling minnows, I don't think I would find them that pretty.

GBHs will eat whatever they can catch, ducklings, turtles, snakes, chipmunks, gophers, muskrats...

I've seen them in alfalfa fields looking for mice.

If they go after my ducklings, WE are going to have to talk......

Those are good picture of the GBH eating. It looks like the snake may have struck the GBH.

I wish they ate geese....

It wouldn't surprise me if they landed in trees and plucked baby birds out of the nests that they can reach.

Now that's just darn funny, considering I just read the thread on your goose experiment gone awry!

Heron eats gosling.

I will never look at a GBH the same way again! I never realized how much of a top line predator they are.

Yesterday I talked to a guy at the farmers market who said great blue herons were killing his KOI. He said since herons were territorial he put a heron statue in his KOI pond and hasn't had any problems since.

A long time ago when I stocked my first pond, the fish seller(now long deceased) told me to shoot any long billed bird that came near the pond. He was right. He should have also told me to keep my mouth shut about it. They are Federally protected.

The good news is that the GBH is very territorial. They will chase off other GBH's and Egrets.

And if you were to illegally "take" out a GBH, another one will be right behind it. So have a little patience and let him/her have its due. You are probably not taking out enough fish out of your pond anyway.

I chased a GBH off my pond last night when I went to feed the fish.

My guess he is going after my huge emerging bullfrog population, I have little bullfrogs everywhere.

I am going to order a "Flambeau Great Blue Heron decoy" and see if it works. I am going to move it to a different spot on the pond every few days, supposedly this makes it a more effective deterrent.

I would be very interested to hear your results!

Every morning and every afternoon I'm chasing one off, in one manner or the other

And the next morning, there he is

I found a few other possible GBH deterrents on line that might work as well but I'll start with the GBH decoy. My current GBH visitor appears to be a fairly young bird. I have no idea how well these other deterrents might work or if these can be found cheaper elsewhere.

http://shop.tjb-inc.com/alligator-decoys-c151.aspx