Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations CC or Bullhead?

You can make simple, cheap, and effective bullhead traps out of plastic garbage cans.

Have a way to wire the lid to the can, so it can be easily removed as well as put back on.

Cut a small hole the size of a soda can in the lid. Put a brick or two in the can along with some kind of stinky bait. Tie a rope to the handle so as to anchor it from the shore.

Let it sit for a few hours then quickly haul it back in and see what you get. If the yield is not great, try a different spot. 4' of water is a good start for placement.

Don't be too bummed out about the bullheads. You can get them under control, and it's best to bite the bullet and spend the time now.

As far as having found Pond Boss before making questionable choices, we are/were all in the same boat!

Called Zetts hatchery and got the answer I expected. 'Absolutely no way could they mix CC and BH or FHM together. They are kept indifferent ponds and their employees would pick them right away'. Must have been birds then?

She said BH eat mostly plants and shouldn't bother the other fish. Also, since I have LMB any spawn should be eaten up right away. She also told me that some people stock BH in leaky ponds because they keep the bottom stirred up and that helps seal the pond.

If my pond quits leaking I will looking to add BH instead of removing them.

Go figure?

Oh, wait a minute, was "she" being serious?

File that answer from Zetts in the circular file.

If Zetts sells them there must be a market for them, so I have to ask, why would anyone buy bullheads?

If I had to guess, Zetts has bullheads in their ponds like most every pond, so why not sell them also?

No offense, Bullhead!

I am NOT making this up. Go to their website and check out the spin they put on having BH. It's Zett's Tri-State Hatcheries in Inwood, WV.

I made a fishtrap from Sunil's recoomendation tonight and will deploy it Thursday. I will post a pic of the trap tomorrow and update the results.

Hope it works and I really hope to see more CC than BH.

No one is doubting your word Mark, this isn't the first time that we've heard of a fish seller that has less than ethical business practices and I suspect it will not be the last.

Fortunately we have some great fish suppliers that support this site to provide us with both great product and great support.

Mark

Sorry to chime in so late in the game - but thought maybe I could suggest something to do with your BH once they are caught:

Two parts to this -

I use BH when I go after flatheads - super hardy and flats love them. I have caught many very large LMB and CC on them under my heavy duty bobber rigs also.

N8ly recented commented whenever he is culling small BG he removes their tails and feeds themt to his bass.

SO - my suggestion for turning lemons into lemonade would be to clip the BH fins, making them more fusiform, and feeding them to your CC and LMB. Certainly would be more useful than fertilizer...and they are a natural forage item for your existing apex predators. Keeping them for CC fishing would also be an option perhaps.

Just a suggestion - if you do feed them to your LMB can you please take some video of the process? Would be very cool.

I'm not sure Mark has bass big enough to eat those bullheads - his pond is only a couple years old. The bullheads he's catching are a pound or better - it would take a six- or eight-pound bass, at least, to eat a bullhead that size.

Ah, I see...cut bait for the CC perhaps, then...or fertilizer it is!

Complete and utter nonsense! Bullheads feed on any animal matter they can fit in their over sized mouths. Plants, maybe on accident! They aint no grass carp or tilapia!


More complete and utter nonsense! They do stir the bottom up, but that isn't sealing any pond bottom up!

Zetts sure knows how to spin a tail... They are the only close show in town for us in northern VA, but just know what your dealing with and hand sort your fish!

Here is the fishtrap I made per Sunil's suggestion. I will stick a knife in the brain of any BH Iacatch and throw them back. Don't want them to suffer much. I'm a little soft hearted I guess.

Be patient with the trap. Once you find the honey-hole, so to speak, you should put a big dent in the population.

What are you baiting with?

Also, you can throw some hotdog pieces around the trap to help sucker them in.

I am using chicken and Purina fish chow. I am putting the trap where I was catching them last weekend-near the feeder. Hope I catch more CC than BH. The opening is 3 1/4" and the little holes are 1". I felt I needed the litle holes so the water would drain while I pulled the trap.

Yeah, those little holes are good for letting the air out also. Really, you want this thing to sink to the bottom.

There is nothing more gross than seeing a bullhead wiggle it's way through a smaller hole.

I am going to set it Thursday mid morning and pull it that evening. Will keep you posted.

Bullheads are more of nighttime feeder, you may have better success leaving it overnight...

They may feed "more" at night, but at least in my pond, they will feed whenever there is food or bait in front of them.

Experiment with placement, timing, and time left in position and see what works best.

Remember that when a bullie goes in, he can come back out just as easily which is different than true traps. Therefore, leaving the trap in for extended periods of time is eventually an excersize in diminshing returns.

I will not be so PC, if you hear this kind of BS from a supplier why would you buy from them. I would not trust to have on the truck what they say after hearing other thigns that are also not true. Anyway cool idea sunil. WIth smaller holes would that work for fatheads?

Greg, the big issue we face is if we don't use Zett's, who do we use? There just aren't as many options in the Mid-Atlantic area as in Georgia... Wanna open a hatchery in the area? I'll be a loyal customer and I bet many others in the area would too! HAHA Since we are limited, we have to deal with what we got. Knowing the possibility of fish contamination is there, hand sort your fish... Knowing they are full of it in many regards, run the info by your fellow Pond Boss members first and see if their BS meters go off and so on...

I did not know of the risk when I called and ordered my initial stocking. I just showed up the next day and loaded 25 boxes of fingerlings that I ordered. What newbie would know to check the bags that are already inside boxes?

My pond is 30 min. from where I live. I am going to put it out in the morning, go to work and check it tomorrorrow night. I will experiment with times, etc. but I am busy all weekend so this will be the first try.

Hopefully, I will have results and pics to post Friday. Thanks to all!

Mark, I have a couple fish traps you can use if the trash can method isn't enough to thin them out. That or I can bring and ultra light and lots of catfish bait!

Travis - agreed...that's my dilemma too. Greg let me have it when I posted that I was satisfied getting one CNBG in my 10 lb FHM order from Ye Olde Fish Trucke - but not everyone [obviously] adheres to the standards Greg does...and we suffer for it. Essentially competition, and the lack thereof, dictates that guys like us in NE and VA have to either take what you can get from the hatcheries or be forced to "bend" regs and move fish from private or public impoundments to our own.

I'm hopeful Rex will be able to help a lot of us here in the midwest. Still doesn't solve your problem, and it sounds like Zetts makes Ye Olde Fish Trucke look pretty solid at this point.