Old pond, only LMB in it? - 05/08/09 03:16 PM
First off, this website has been a great resource to me for the past few months of research (been browsing and reading for a while, just now registered to make this post). You guys got a great thing going here and happy to be a part of the community now.
I recently (January 09) purchased a house on a lot that owns a portion of a ~4.5 acre pond (shares with about 10 or so other property owners) here in Virginia Beach, Va. From the little information that I was able to get from the neighbors, the pond was created in the late 70's when property owners wanted to keep "the young people and their ski boats out of their backyard" so they dammed up the entrance to their finger to the Lynnhaven Inlet (as you can see in the linked google maps. I personally think this was insane due to property values and deep water access, not to mention I own a 20' SeaCraft that I would love to dock behind my house, but I guess I'm stuck with this. Trying to stay on positive, I have rekindled my love for freshwater fishing (was all about freshwater growing up living in South Ga, but moved to Va Beach and have since done nothing but salt). Noone could tell me when the pond was stocked or what it was stocked with, though on neighbor said he vaguely remembered the person he bought the house from mentioning BG and LMB but don't quote him on that.
Since the weather has started to warm up, I've been fishing it for about two months now and the only thing I can catch is LMB. Usually in the 1-2 lb range, although I have caught one around 3-4 and a few smaller ones. They aren't hard to catch, caught them on top water (although for top water I'm used to violent strikes from LMB and these fish dont do that, they have the most delicate strikes, you just see a twirl of water around your lure and then its gone) and plastic worms.
I'm trying to determine what else is in the pond as well but cant seem to catch anything else. The water is extremely dark (cant see the bottom in anything more than 2' of water) so I haven't seen any other fish (haven't even seen a LMB for that matter in it, if I hadn't caught them I'd have no idea they were there). I've fished a popper in the shallows around every piece of shore in that pond, I've drowned crickets and worms under a bobber, but I can't seem to find any forage fish.
I would just give up and say the LMB ate everything and its just them in there now but whenever I'm out there, I always heard and seen the ripples from what I've grown up to know is a bream "kissing" a bug off the surface. Can a LMB make that noise? I would suspect their mouth is too big to make the "kissing" noise. How else besides paying someone to electrocute the pond can I determine if their is a forage fish?
Thanks for your help and since you guys like pics here are two of some fish I've pulled out of the pond. Enjoy.
I recently (January 09) purchased a house on a lot that owns a portion of a ~4.5 acre pond (shares with about 10 or so other property owners) here in Virginia Beach, Va. From the little information that I was able to get from the neighbors, the pond was created in the late 70's when property owners wanted to keep "the young people and their ski boats out of their backyard" so they dammed up the entrance to their finger to the Lynnhaven Inlet (as you can see in the linked google maps. I personally think this was insane due to property values and deep water access, not to mention I own a 20' SeaCraft that I would love to dock behind my house, but I guess I'm stuck with this. Trying to stay on positive, I have rekindled my love for freshwater fishing (was all about freshwater growing up living in South Ga, but moved to Va Beach and have since done nothing but salt). Noone could tell me when the pond was stocked or what it was stocked with, though on neighbor said he vaguely remembered the person he bought the house from mentioning BG and LMB but don't quote him on that.
Since the weather has started to warm up, I've been fishing it for about two months now and the only thing I can catch is LMB. Usually in the 1-2 lb range, although I have caught one around 3-4 and a few smaller ones. They aren't hard to catch, caught them on top water (although for top water I'm used to violent strikes from LMB and these fish dont do that, they have the most delicate strikes, you just see a twirl of water around your lure and then its gone) and plastic worms.
I'm trying to determine what else is in the pond as well but cant seem to catch anything else. The water is extremely dark (cant see the bottom in anything more than 2' of water) so I haven't seen any other fish (haven't even seen a LMB for that matter in it, if I hadn't caught them I'd have no idea they were there). I've fished a popper in the shallows around every piece of shore in that pond, I've drowned crickets and worms under a bobber, but I can't seem to find any forage fish.
I would just give up and say the LMB ate everything and its just them in there now but whenever I'm out there, I always heard and seen the ripples from what I've grown up to know is a bream "kissing" a bug off the surface. Can a LMB make that noise? I would suspect their mouth is too big to make the "kissing" noise. How else besides paying someone to electrocute the pond can I determine if their is a forage fish?
Thanks for your help and since you guys like pics here are two of some fish I've pulled out of the pond. Enjoy.