I have a new, small pond in East Central Florida. I created a golden sand beach and drilled an artesian well that flows at 38 GPM to keep the pond level.
I cast netted about a dozen 6 to 8 inch mullet from a brackish lagoon and just threw them in the pond about a month ago.
The mullet are a blast to watch. They leap about 2 feet out of the water on occasion and I have seen them take spinach and pellets. They are strong swimmers. I also put about 100 blue tilapia fingerings in there as well.
In the winter when mullet are scarce I like to surf fish with cut mullet. I may just have a fresh bait supply ready to cast net up if needed. I can restock as needed.
Anyone else keep mullet? I would like to hear about your experiences. I may try other brackish species as well such as sheepshead and mangrove snapper.
We added a dozen Stripped Majorra and a ladyfish we netted yesterday.
Also netted a HUGE mullet, it was so old and beat-up looking I didn't have the heart to keep it. After seeing what BobbyRice has going on (!!!), I am looking forward to having an interesting pond as well. Thinking about a small dock, eventually.
Hi Bobby, I gave them about 50/50 fresh/salt bath for 4 hrs. I saw a majorra yesterday, so I think they are hanging in there so far. The pond is just shy of 1/4 acre and about 8 foot deep at the center and the ladyfish, herons, and osprey are the only predators so far. I see the tilapia fingerlings are growing fast and are making nests already so they may explode. I dont have any minnows or plants yet...was gonna net some minnows this weekend...I see some fantails guppies and mollies in the nearby canal. I would like a couple of mangrove snappers to act like my LMB and maybe a few sheephead because I know how to catch them. If I ever get out and catch a slot red or keeper flounder they may go in.
I am an electrical engineer, but in another life I am an aqua culturist raising pompano and cobia
blueGreenSpark... If my memory serves me... those ladyfish have a terrible smell??? Is that true in your case?
I would say they smell like cucumber to me. Barracuda have a similar smell. Ladyfish are actually good to eat if you "spoon" the flesh out from off the bones and make fish pattys. It's one of those strange secrets you run across from time to time. Some old time pier rat taught me that trick, and well now there it is on youtube...times have changed !
Lady fish are great leapers when hooked..did you catch some?
I've fished the marshes of SE Louisiana my whole life and have caught plenty while fishing for specked trout. They are fun to catch. Perhaps I'm remembering how needlefish smell???
Yeah, the well digger guys said we have a bit of salt, iron and of course rotten egg sulphur, plus I surrounded the pond with dredged up coquina shell from a local mine. We will get some shiners this weekend and I am starting to see minnows...have no idea how they got in there. Nature finds a way !!!
The bluefish idea was cool, I have caught them in a very fresh water canal near here. One of those may have a better chance than a surf blue...there is always the beer batter/hot oil bath if it doesn't work out.
Update: I decided to harvest a few tilapia for a crispy dinner last weekend so I threw some pellets and followed up with a cast net. Up comes a 1.5 ft big ole mullet with some nice 1 lb tilapia. I wasn't totally sure the mullet survived because the pond is muddy with all the summer rain and tilapia are frequent jumpers too. I added two mangrove snapper a month ago but I have not seen them yet and no noticeable reduction of baby tilapia. Pond is ready for bass and cats and pompano season is approaching. I feed twice a day with Tilapia Ultimate Growout Pellet and also sinking rabbit food so they can forage at their leisure. Kingfishers, egrets, and osprey are picking off some of the tilapia.
We love the sandy beach and the paddle boat is a blast !!! This new little pond is a sort of a dream come true for us and just a great place to relax and forget all the craziness for a while !
The pond stocker folks came by yesterday. Unfortunately I couldn't be there but I asked my sweetheart to make a video of the release. When she sees anything cute she goes into her "baby voice",
So 30 FLMB and about 35 CC join the party.
Now I am thinking about a 60-100 gallon natural (outside)aquarium with a bass, a few big crayfish, a tilapia and a sunfish.
Hi Bobby, IN our 0.2 acre, 8-9 foot deep pond I believe we have:
*2 Dozen larger Mullet (they are thriving, eating pellet) *One Mangrove Snapper (the smaller one of the two only lasted a few weeks, probably because of my rough handling and I saw that he ended up as lunch for a racoon) *Maybe one Ladyfish, (haven't seen it in weeks) *One adult Shellcracker (released by me) *Hundreds or more Blue Tilapia of all sizes (at least 100 are full adults) *Lots of Mosquitofish, a few fantail guppies *A few Majorra, maybe (hard to be sure how many are left). They appear to eat pellets *30 2-3" LMB *35 CC *Lots of crayfish (the pond is adjacent to a hydric maple stand)
I took your advice and added some structure (a large rockpile) and I think I can add-in a maple tree branch as well. The only fish I plan on adding now would be maybe some sheepshead. They would look cool. Possibly a few dozen shiners as well. In retrospect do think the pond is probably too small for reds, snook or flounder.....I doubt I will loose too many tilapia over the winter if any..just don't know yet...but man, are they ever prolific and great on the table! I expect the snapper, ladyfish and eventually bass and catfish will keep them in check. In a few years if the bass appear stunted, I'll start pulling them out... but for now they got lots and lots to eat.
I went down to the bait shops near the famous for big bass "Stick Marsh" in Felsmere to get shiners. The first shop said if you are stocking you want wild shiners. I appreciated their advice. The second place had lively wild shiners and he said instead of $12/dozen he'd only charge 10 and said lots of people stock ponds with his fish so I went for 5 dozen. So they were about 4" on average and went in yesterday. I looked for some this morning, didn't see any dead shiners and took some video of a tilapia super highway into some shallows.
Well my pond overran it's banks and joined the nearby swamp. Usually when I toss food in there it's an explosion....now nothing. Saw a large mullet swimming down my driveway.... [img]https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t...amp;oe=5A545E44[/img] I am bummed, have no power (92 Deg. in the house), lost my gazebo screens and roof shingles but you know there are many who would love to have my problems... Thanks IRMA. Still, I am bummed....guess I am a true pond freak.
Plenty of Tilapia swarming around despite the pond overflow. Also see some bass stalking around, some shiners, channel cats. The storm brought in a snapping turtle and a few unwelcome walking catfish.
for hours !!!
and maybe a few sheephead because I know how to catch them. If I ever get out and catch a slot red or keeper flounder they may go in.
