I've been around the forum for a while, but I'm new to posting. I'm not sure I'm in the right place, but could someone help me identify this fish from a recent trip to our pond? Sorry the pics aren't that great, but at the time we caught it we didn't think anything of it. Now looking back at the pics, I'm wondering if it is a LMB. If so, it would be impressive b/c I just stocked them in May as 2"-3" fingerlings.

Isn't that a very small mouth for a LMB?

Looks like a white crappie to me.

Both fish are crappie.

Welcome to the forum shietown. Glad to see you posting. When did you stock the crappie?

Hmmmm ... well, that is a surprise.
I never stocked crappie. I have stocked 500 BG, 200 HBG, 100 RES, 100 CC, 50 LMB and 20 lbs FHM. This pond is somewhere between 3/4 and 1 acre.

We have since caught LOTS of BH, some CC, a couple HBG/BG, a GSF, a handfull of CARP, 1 LMB, and now a crappie! This is a new pond that we dug and stocked ... so, apparently, I have a LOT of hitchhikers!!

I guess that was just wishful thinking on the LMB guess.

You catch lots of BULLHEAD? How did they get in there? and the green sunfish? crappie? Any ideas? I'm quite sure they didn't get air dropped in or come in on the feet of a heron to get 3 species including bullhead in there. Who else has access to your pond?

Ye Olde Fish Truck or Ye Olde Helpful Neighbor?

I could write a book on how to mismanage a pond! If I had to guess, I would say all 4 unwanted species came in via upstream ponds in my watershed. I live in North Texas, and this pond was dug during the record drought last year when there was no water. This past May we got a massive amount of rain which filled everything up. My tank fills up from a seasonal creek and has a few ponds within a short swim. Some of the bullheads are already b/w 1-2 lbs, which tells me they didn't come in with the stockers. I also saw a big black bullhead swarm a couple of weeks after putting my fingerling bass in ... which tells me I'm going to be dealing with that problem for a while.

The funny thing is, I read this forum for over a year, and figured out the exact type of fish I wanted, planned the stockings to a T, went through all of the fish by hand, and the very first 2 fish caught out of the tank were a carp and a bullhead ... followed not too long after by a green sunfish. Oh well, the best laid plans of mice and men ... I guess.

Can you say cast net!! Dang you could have gotten a lot of them right there and got rid of them!

RC

You got that right, RC. That ball was 6' in front of me, and I had nothing on me but a fishing pole. I have been kicking myself every since. I would have never in a million years expected that to show up. I couldn't do anything but mumble cuss words under my breath while my wife and kids talked about how cool it looked! I went to PondKing the next weekend to see if I could buy a few adult bass to do some damage control (with no luck) ... and I've had a net with me every time since. Haven't seen them again.

I think a better strategy is to stock a predator that can use them as forage (sharks?). Try to make lemon aid...

Haha, good advice! I'm hoping when the 50 LMB I have in there now grow up, they will get future BH generations under control. Until then ... the kiddos have lots of fishing to do (as the wife said nuking the pond isn't an option). So far they have been very eager to jump on a hook, and they are fun to catch, so I guess there could be worse problems to have!

I used to fish a pond with my dad and sisters that had bull heads in it. It was a blast and they tasted good also.

It is great to see an optimist in control of the pond! We had a bunch of kids catching small BG this past weekend. What fun!

Shie, carry a sawed off shotgun when you visit the pond. That cures a lot of problems.

Being at the "top" of the watershed I don't have to worry about this scenario, though I still live in fear of the bucket fish! I've read that an elevated discharge can keep out fish from downstream. Just out of curiosity, is there anything that can be done to keep fish from "upstream" out of a pond?

I've been wondering this too. I've thought about screening off the seasonal creek that flows into my pond, but my fear is that it will get clogged with debris and just spill over the top/sides, or back up and cause problems elsewhere.

DD1, I took your advice ... now I always have Taurus Judge loaded with 410 shells handy when I'm at the pond.

Mine is a sawed of single shot 12 ga that fits in my 4 wheeler basket. How long is it? Lets just say that it kicks pretty hard.

The small seasonal creeks in our area are always filled with various fish native to the area. Just throw a minnow trap in one to find out.

Periodically we will have a drought where all the puddles left in these creeks completely dry up. But then all it takes is one high water event and they are all filled up again with multiple species of fish.

Was walking through the timber one day where a dried up (almost) seasonal creek ran. No water in most of it. Heard some thrashing sound in one puddle about 10' long and 5' wide. Upon further inspection I could see a couple of GS about 4" long that I had startled.

Almost anything that runs water that backs up to any significant creek (in our area at least) will have fish. BH and GSF for sure. Other stuff if the water is not too putrid. If it does not have fish now, it will when it rains a significant amount.

So your small creek is likely the culprit and will continue to supply unwanted fish. As long as you get a healthy population of predators, I would think you would eventually gain the upper hand on them though.

Snrub ... I think I have finally come to terms with the fact that, no matter what, I will be dealing with some unwanted fish in my tank, thanks to this creek. I'll make the best of it!

I'm going to try this Fish ID thing again ... how about this one? Does anybody know if it is a LMB or something else?

Shietown,

My guess is yes on the lm. Is your water stained heavily? Not much color on that one.

Cmm

I second that " LMB x2"

Yes, the water is turbid with suspended clay, and when the clay ever does settle out, you can see the water is tannin stained. I had my doubts bc of the complete lack of color on the fish.