Talked with Walter Bassano today about electro survey. He said that they could do a simple electro harvest of smaller LMB for a much reduced price, less than half what it cost for a complete survey!

Like most pondmeisters, I struggle to harvest enough LMB. Took out 200 since last October, but wasn't easy. Electro is quick, and doesn't selectively target the most aggressive fish the way angling does.

Scheduled for when the water cools, probably late Sept or early Oct.

That going to make it much easier. Post some pics when it happens.

I've actually considered buying an old flat bottomed boat and having an electrofishing unit installed just to 'manage' a few ponds. This will be interesting to follow.

NEDOC, Shawn Banks is your man then!

That is the plan! Thanks for the reassurance.

Walter is a good guy. He lives in Benbrook, a suburb of Fort Worth. When he retired, a bunch of years ago, He called his buddy Lusk. He drives about 75 or so miles daily each way to enjoy his job.

I looked in to getting set up for a survey boat. I thought it would be a good management tool to have around, until I found out the panel alone is 10 grand. I own a couple of boats already and even after that it would still run around 12 thousand to put together a safe shock boat. Or maybe find an old crank telephone and crank away.

Frank, the cost for thinning the herd cant be all that less than a true survey, can it? They still have transportation cost, boat use and people to do the job. If I was to go the route of thinning only, I would want to be in the boat to watch and see what all comes to the top. Looking for the amount and size of the forage fish. A note pad to take numbers count. OH! and the size of your lunkers.

I have done two spring surveys and would like to do a fall survey but I can not seem to pull the trigger yet.

Tracy, I was honestly surprised at the price difference. Guess it relates to all the time spent measuring the fish, then charting them. As you say, if you're on the boat you can get at least some kind of idea of how the fishery is doing.

I'll want another water analysis, though. Last one was surprising, lower hardness but higher pH. Fish seem fine, but I'd like to measure H2O again.

My lunkers are probably in the 5 to maybe 6 pound range, not bad but way behind your bigguns. I do have some nice CNBG, maybe in excess of a pound. Two pounders is my goal, but that's likely a couple years down the road if it happens at all!

Looking to stock some forage trout in early Dec, then TFS when it warms next spring.

I clipped to what I found spoke to me most.

First, Tracy yes, I would be there too.

Second, Frank, the reduction in cost and the reasons for it make perfect sense. Why couldn't you do the business of measuring and charting the harvested fish perhaps with the help of one or two of those fishing mates that enjoy your investment with you?

The reason harvest costs less than a full survey is the amount of time it takes to collect data, record it, interpret it, analyze it, and then write the report. Travel and time in the boat to collect fish is the easy part. The analysis is really time-consuming.