Need advise on best brand and what size minnow seine to sample fish in my 2 acre pond. 15 foot? 30 ft? 4 ft wide? 1/4 inch mesh? 1/8 inch mesh? Special material? Need to check for small lmb and cnbg and maybe res. Thanks I read June is a good time to sample after the spawn to check for fry also?

Easy way is buy a Walmart seine in 1/4 inch size mesh. May have to get 2 15 ft and zip tie them together. 30 X 4 ft is best - this is for sampling.

Do you plan on using one person or two to operate the seine? One can buy a longer seine, attach one end to shore and then to a 90 to 180 degree sweep across a beach. Effective seining does require a pretty clean bottom.
Douglas Net Company has some good minnow type seines at reasonable prices. They will custom make a seine for you by adding length and or extra weight and or floats. Netting can be green or light colored. Check with Kelly Douglas for custom builds. Available in nylon or polyester
https://www.douglasnets.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=60_71

https://www.douglasnets.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=60_83

Thank you everyone!

Here is a good information video for how to seine a narrow forage pond. Adjust items as needed. Also included at the end is how to handle larger catfish.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLVLSFOhsjg

Make sure the seine is at least 1/4 taller than the deepest part of the pond that you will be using it in. You have to have the bottom of the seine in front of the floats as it is pulled thru the water or the fish will squirt under the seine.

Get a mud line on the seine if you are having one made. Pull the seine slowly through the pond, pulling it fast will make it ride up off the bottom and the fish will squirt out.

If there is junk on the bottom of the pond, i.e. sticks, branches or weeds, it's a waste of time. Make sure you have plenty of area to lay the seine out afterwards to dry before putting it away or it'll rot.

Get the net dipped, that is a preservative. It will be stiff at first, but it will make it last a lot longer.

As for mesh size, make sure that the smallest fish you are wanting to catch won't fit diagonally into the net. If the mesh is too big, you might "gill" a lot of fish and picking them out of the net is a PITA.

When you get the seine to shore, pull the bottom of the net completely out of the water, leave the rest in the water. Use a long handled dip net to get the fish out of the seine. If you have a lot of fish in the net, get them out and into clean water ASAP or the mud/silt they stir up will start to clog their gills when they are in the seine in shallow water.

I can pull a 200' x 12' x 1/8" mesh seine by myself. Not saying it's not a lot of work, but I can do it.

Most critical thing is to have all the equipment set up and full of water and ready to put the fish in before you start seining. Have another container there to put fish that you don't want to go back into the pond.

Oh, yeah, use a knotless net seine - less injury to the fish that way.

Thanks Esshup. Lot of good info!! I have had a clover leaf trap set out now for 3 full days baited with the feed I use in my feeder and not a single solitary fish!! kind of worried now!! Can catch cnbg back to back to back but the smallest I catch are 7 inch!! Maybe I will have a really good spawn this year and get me some babys!!

Flame, it's just that your CNBG grew that much from last year, there are no more small ones in your pond! LOL

No, really, try setting the trap next to some dense cover in the warmest water there is in the pond. Little fish don't like to swim very far from their hiding place.

You could also NOW have too many bass and too little refuge area thus not many of the small BG are surviving. Too many bass are a common problem. If you have good healthy numbers of small BG you should be catching some of them in a baited trap placed around cover. Some would go into a trap for cover from bass. Have you tried fishing for BG with a small baited hook No 10 or 8 & bobber around cover? If you are catching numerous small bass this way you definitely have too many small bass. Fishing this way you should be catching about 20-30 smaller 3"-5" BG for every small bass.

I catch most all my cnbg with a small baited hook and a bobber next to the feeder area. I also had the clover leaf trap at the feeder area. I will move it to the other end of the pond near some heavy cover and see what happens. I am not catching ANY lmb!! But I believe my trophy Florida strain are just not wanting to bite!! I have a very good stand of sawgrass almost all the way around my pond and out into about a foot of water. I would have thought that was plenty of cover not to mention a lot of artificial items I have put in.

After stocking Florida's three times. I continued having problems catching them. I would catch one or two on most fishing trips to the pond but it was tough fishing. I then added some Northern lmb that were feed trained. That really made a difference in catching lmb and growth has been outstanding using the Purina lmb feed. I am guessing about two pounds per year of growth. I am also seeing some of their yoy are also eating the feed. This will be my second spring spawn with the two different lmb strains. I'm looking for an F1 lmb that will reach 10 to 13 lbs in 5 or 6 yrs and will bite when you go fishing.

Thank you Tracy. I'm certainly leaning that direction!! I did finally catch ONE small 2 1/2 inch cnbg in the trap at the old location. I will check it this morning at the new location and see if any are in it,