I was thinking of getting some smb from TJ, but they would be nothing more than a quick snack if I dumped them into my pond with lmb. Has anyone tried raising them in cages? Over the winter?

Very intriguing idea Bullhead. Growing them out first. Would have to be very large cages that reached down to great depths. Would be almost necessary for them to be feed trained as TJ's are, but how would you feed over winter? What were you thinking Bullhead?

I frequently raise smallies in cages. I have two batches going currently in two separate cages: 2 yrs old (7"-9", 5 mo in cage) and 3 yrs old (10"-13", 16 mo in cage). Cecil Baird1 also occassionally raises smallies in cages. If you do it contact me for some feed training hints. It is best to get them eating pellets about 3-4 weeks before the water drops to the 50F range which will be soon.

I use methods described in my 3 part article of Caged Fish on The Small Scale - PBoss mag 2007: Mar-Apr, May-Jun, & Jul-Aug.
Cages do not have to be deep and fish do not need to be fed during ice cover. Size of cage depends on how many fish you are wanting to cage raise. My cages are 25"-34" in diameter.

Guys

This is great news. I have a question about cages - don't mean to hijack Richard...

I need floating cages, but lack the time to build them myself. I see some online for 140 bucks - hate to spend the money, but I'm desperate. Anyone have a better source or any advice I'm missing? I need cages...

Cecil Baird may be helpful here. With all the materials gathered, I can build a cage in the time it takes to watch a football game. I think some fish cage kits require some assembly.

Thanks Bill!

Cecil...if you get a second, let me know.

Some assembly is required unless you want to pay astronomical shipping charges.

TJ, I can get them built about 50% of the way and you do the rest. I can get all the parts together, make a kit and picture assembly instructions. I'll even number the pieces. As long as you can read numbers & follow directions you should be able to put them together.

Let me know what sizes you need, both in physical dimensions and mesh size. I made 2 from one roll of netting - 4.5' long x 4' wide x 4' high. You will need to furnish the flotation bottles. I used 1.5 gallon bleach bottles so they all matched, unlike Cecil's trailer trash look.

LMK

It might make an interesting PB article - 2 pgs maybe?


TJ, PM sent.

He's got a neighbor to the east of him that likes to build stuff too.

What type netting do you use? I need to protect some lilies from waterfowl, thought I might cage them. Float cage about 6 inches out of water?
Greg

Stoney Creek (and other places) sell a plastic netting that is used for fish cages. DIfferent mesh sizes are available. Mesh size is 4' x 50' rolls or it can be purchased by the lineal foot.

Ohama, if you want to build the cages, I can tell you how to do it - LOTS less shipping costs. (except for the net material)

LMK.

I sent you a P.M. Like I said in the P.M. Bill's "trashcan" models go together quicker than my "dumpster" models and his don't require the three way connectors.

Other than AES I think Memphis Net and Twine and Boat cycle sells them.

I will cover the materials and shipping costs!

Thanks for the opportunity to tally up another post Scot.

Cecil, there are several cage sellers on the web...Even Ken of GG fame sells them.

FWIW, cage raising fish to grow them out sounds fairly easy, but it is far more complicated and requires a lot of attention, labor and care to get even moderate growth. It doesn't take much of a mistake or unseen problem to wipe out a lot of caged fish quickly. Not such a big deal for people that do it daily as part of the normal routine, but not so easy for others not accustomed to knowing what to do and look out for,

IIRC, HSB and SMB grow at about half the "free range" rate and lost growth is lost forever. Just be sure to figure that into the goals you are looking for.

If I remember, you posted it in the first place!

FYI, all the fish made the trip just fine. The 2 that I thought weren't going to make it ended up being just one. The largest was about 5.5" tall and 9" long - Female. 30 were transferred. Thanks!! Give me a shout when you need a hand.

Dangerously close to a major misspelling there Scott.

Scott/Rex, if we could work out a way to get these to my farm I would gladly put them together for TJ and Richard.

I don't need no cages, I got em. I need fishes.

Sheesh! Order them then already!!!

I've had outstanding growth with lmb, smb, bg, and yp in cages as long as I keep the cage free of algae and put it over deep water. That said these were fingerlings up to 10 to 12 inches. After that it seems they get territorial and stress easier.

One exception was last fall for some reason the smb's were a little stressed so I released them into the pond. It may be have been the time of year as I usually put fish in cages in the spring through summer. One of the easiest fish I raised in a cage were feed trained lmb believe it or not.
.

Hey Teejay,

Do you have a pier to attach the cage(s) to yet? A pier makes life so much easier with cages.

No, I don't have a pier. I wanted floating cages not to grow out SMB, but to have a place to collect and store them allowing me to seine earlier than the day folks are coming for fish. I hate to keep people waiting as seining is not an exact science as we all know. Much easier to seine this weekend [no husker game] and separate and count them.

I want cages so I can collect BG from traps for a few weeks and get them ready for whomever wants them. Seining my lake with 2:1 slopes is going to be dicey - trapping is going to be the most effective and reliable method - but that takes weeks of daily trapping in order to get an appreciable qty going. Thinking floating cages needed for my BG.

My SMB have a pond all their own to grow grow grow - and I lack any predators who require any stocker fish to be grown out - so that's my reason for needing cages.

Cecil - NO, I don't have a pier or a dock yet. It's going to be a pain to get to the fish, but it is what it is.

[/quote]
Dangerously close to a major misspelling there Scott.

Scott/Rex, if we could work out a way to get these to my farm I would gladly put them together for TJ and Richard. [/quote]

I'd NEVER do that to a friend!

It looks like TJ wants them for this weekend. He'd better have the net material on order or have sourced it locally for pick up or the schedule will never be met.

I'll take pictures of one of my cages and send them to you, Josh. I made mine from 1" PVC

For a cage that is 48" square and 48 tall you'll need:

8 pc PVC 1" dia 90's
8 pc PVC 1" dia "T"'s
4 pc PVC 1" dia x 45" for the 48" wide ends
4 pc PVC 1" dia x 40" for the 48" long sides
8 pc PVC 1" dia x 2" for the 48" long sides
4 pc PVC 1" dia x 45" long for the uprights
4 pc PVC 1/2" dia 90's
4 pc PVC 1/2" dia x 47" for the top frame (to protect the contents from birds, etc.

It may have been overkill, but I used the black zip ties every 6" to attach the netting to the PVC. I used the same zip ties but on 4" centers where there was a seam, or 2 pieces of material were joined together - I didn't want any opening for the fish to escape.

Pictures to come tomorrow.

TJ,

I figured you need them just to hold fish and knew you were talking of putting in a pier. Just wondered if you had one in yet.

We're in the same boat. I hold fish in cages for sale too, and presently I'm holding fish until my second RAS tank gets cycled.

So been there done that and still doing that until I get a pole barn set up with holding tanks. I feel for ya!

Hey Scot was it you that made a cage out of the green plastic snow or garden fence? If the mesh size is right it can be bought locally at a Menards or something.

Oh now I remember it was Adirondack Pond!

For TJ's uses, 1/2" mesh would be best. It should be soft netting for scaled fish though---not plastic.

I use 1/4 for all purposes as a good all around size. Another source that is stronger is rigid plastic netting/fencing. Easy to build a cage with cable ties and rigid plastic.

Yeah TJ, Cecil is right, I used plastic fencing, I didn't use the cage after I had trouble with the bears and they ripped the top.
Too bad you don't live closer you could have the cage, I'm not gonna use it.

Rex,


I respectfully disagree. I've only used plastic and never had a problem. Same goes for Cody as far as I know.

Thanks Scott, looking forward to seeing how they look. I have some local guys that have been asking for HBG and don't really have a source. If demand continues I might think about them in the future.

TJ, are you seining this weekend too? I got waders man! Picked them up today in Lincoln. Nothing special, but at a great price. And the boy's should be here Friday. Can't wait to get them wet.

Just basing the info on what all the info I've read on cage culture, net and twine company's and cage builders suggest. Harder netting knocks off scales and increases stress/potential infections. Harder netting is only recommended for catfish to prevent the barbs from getting caught in the net material.

I would think the degree of scale damage would have more to do with stocking density and "fright/flight" activity when scared.

I bought my netting from Stoney Creek. It looks like galvanized hardware cloth, but it's plastic netting. It works great with the black zip ties.

That makes perfect sense Rex, but from my experience I've not seen any scale damage in the cages. I just don't see them banging against the sides. It's kind of like those coated black minnow traps that the minnows avoid because they can see them. It seems the fish in the cages with the black mesh plastic are able to easily see the sides, and avoid colliding with them. I shied away from the "soft netting" because it appeared more difficult to clean the algae off of, but I could be wrong. The black stiff plastic mesh is fairly easy to brush off with a push broom on an extended handle.

I am willing to concede that it's possible scale damage is more of an issue if the water is turbid (mine is quite clear) or the fish are in the cages at very high densities. I steer clear of high densities as my goal is high quality fish not just numbers. I also am keenly aware not to startle my fish. Interestingly though, we swim in the same pond I have most of my cages and you can snorkle around the cages and the fish are not startled by quite curious peering out at you like a convict behind bars.

The worst thing one can do however is lift up the cage and allow the fish to flop in the bottom with no water. If I have someone that wants to see them I am careful to lift the cage up only partially, but I don't even do that anymore.

The best time to plant fish in a cage is in the spring when water temps are rising and it's imperative to get them feeding ASAP to fight mucous loss from seining and the stress of hauling. When I stocked feed trained LMB's in a cage in the spring my supplier (Dan Laggis of Laggis Fish Farms, Gobels, MI) would seine them out of the pond right after ice out. If one did not get them on feed right away they were prone to fungus. To successfully counter that I would hydrate and pinch the pellets to push air out so they would slowly sink. In that cold of water the bass would not come up for pellets but they would take a slow sinking soft pellet.

There are 2 types of "netting" to which those suggestions are made. One is nylon uncoated netting which as CB1 notes will harm the fish - it knocks off scales. Second is coated netting which is what most seines and cages are made of and it does not harm fish. Those suggestions are directed at those 2 sources. I have not seen any comments on rigid plastic netting but in use the fish seem to do fine. It is often used in offshore fish cages used in large scale aquaculture operations. I am not addressing snow fencing etc as I have no idea how it works.

thats a swell looking cage, amigo. Nicely done. I think I can do that...I just need to find a crease of time. Wish I lived closer...quite a drive from NE to NY!

Isn't that the story of many of our lives?


The wife and I have seen people sitting on their front porches watching cars go by. (They are not retirement age and this was before the recession) We are baffled that someone would have the time to do that!

As I said I have yet to see any damage or scale loss of fish with the rigid plastic. However I did have some adult bluegills that had fin damage from territorial fighting. I no longer will put large bluegills in a cage. I've put yellow perch in a cage up to 14 + inches for holding and did not see any damage whatsoever.

Eric,

How long does the soft netting last? I'm still using the same rigid netting material I used 15 years ago.

It depends on the quality. I have some soft nets that are 10 years old. The rigid plastic will last a lot longer than me.

There is an easy way to make a cage with nothing but rigid plastic and cable ties (no frame). 6 pieces the same size and put 4 plus the bottom together with ties overlapping about a half inch and then put on the top with ties on only one side so it will open and shut. Then attach flotation.