Hi! We just bought a new house with a pond. The property sat vacant for almost a year and had little to no maintenance prior to that. We are working with our extension folks on managing the pond and clearing out the cattails that are threatening to overrun it. The pond does have fish in it - some bass and some type of sun fish - no idea what they are. Nothing bigger than maybe 5-6" and plenty of smaller ones. Plus one 2' long koi. Yes, a koi vs a grass carp. I am wanting to get a better idea of what is in the pond so we can start figuring out what we may need to stock or thin out with the ultimate goal of some larger fish and adding two more large koi (which the extension folks said we could add now). I just don't want to start throwing in fish until I have a handle on what we have now and how many.

My son suggested dynamite (we are in the South after all) but I prefer to toss my dynamite on dry land. I am going to try using a seine net but I have no idea where to buy a well-made one suitable for what I need. I am hoping someone here might steer me in the right direction. Thanks in advance!

How big is the pond? Have you looked at having an electroshock survey done?

If there are weeds or if there is stuff on the pond bottom (sticks, stumps, etc.) a seine will not work very well....

Welcome to the forum, PondPirate!

Pictures would be a great help, both of the pond and any fish caught! If there are 2" Koi, you can bet there are bigger Koi making those babies!

Depending on goals, budget and pond size, you may be better off using a version of your son's idea, but instead of dynamite, nuking the pond with Hydrated lime, which will kill anything living in it, yet be safe to stock again in as little as a couple weeks.

Do some fishing and post pics of what you catch. An inexpensive seine (Wal-Mart has 20' seines ( 2 of them zip tied together) work well as a 40' sampling seine. With that you can catch small fish and see what is reproducing.

How big is the pond?