Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Creating the food chain coppernose bream yes or no

Hey Dave: Maybe it was not approached the right way, I mean about dropping in on Bob Lusk and all. Did any one ask his wife if she would let him out to play. She might prefer to have a weekend to herself, or we could take up a collection and send her with " some" expenses paid to Dallas for the weekend-- depending on the number of guys getting together. No offense to the female pond fisherpersons. But it may be more aggreable to his wife if the get together was limited to guys only. ( Why do I think that I am fixing to get into trouble ?) And we could promise to limit it to tea and BBQ, that way it would not offend the fish, and we might remember what Bob had to say if we were closer to sober. And we could ask other note worthy fishknowledgeable speakers to volunteer to speak for a short bit.

With a little extra manpower I can feed 2-3 hundred people BBQ Brisket dinner with my BBQ pit .I do that fairly routinely for school fund raisers. For that matter we could do it as a fund raiser (enough to cover costs, and maybe a scholarship to an in-school fishery biologist in need.

What's the hotel status around Lusk's place.

I actually road with and in Bob Lusk's Shocker boat once, here in East Texas. He seemed like a likable fellow, and with a quart jar of tea and a plate of good BBQ could be encouraged to preach, I mean speak on one or many of his favorite subjects .

Do you think he might read this thread and get the general idea.???

Bruce that is some fish ( Geogia Giant).

Thanks Brad-now that I know what Bullheads are and how to deal with them, I am ready for them --hook,line and fishcooker.

I see you're a dentist also. Sometimes I'm accused of just practicing dentistry to support my pond habit.

Bruce, I never was much for golf, they were hard to shoot and even more difficult to skin. Ponds are safer, at least you can eat what you catch. Of course you have to raise it first. Now there is where you have to be able to justify all that pond stuff to your wife ( if you have one) But then I have found this easier then trying to justify a new driver or putter. Especially since my wife likes to fish ( that is she likes the part about raising the pole out of the water with a fish on the other end) everything else she figures that I enjoy--- Which is probably true. It's all about the challenge, and messing around with a big hole ,out side, wind blowing and in the natural sunlight. Yes , it think it does beat the heck out of those little holes hidden down in some dark cavern called the mouth. So tommorow, I will work alittle for the bank, some for the IRS, some for the collged tuition board, a bit for the staff, some for supplies, and about the last half hour I dedicate to the pond. Makes the end of the day worth waiting for.It also beats the heck out of raising cattle to. My fish come to the bank when I whistle them for feeding time. This is better therapy then any liquid sedative at the end of a stressful day-- would you agree ???

Bob, this is difficult for me to say....but when I'm around many of our colleagues the coversation quickly turns to bond strengths, emergence profiles and strep mutans. I struggle valiantly to redirect the topic but it can be an exercise in futility. Sounds like there's one other sane voice out there in the dental world. I'm passionate about my pond and raising huge bluegills and striped bass hybrids. My pond motto used to be "Trial by error, and error, and error, and error...... Lucily, in the last few years I've found good sources of information such as this forum. My wife is like yours in that she enjoys fishing when the action is good. This beats the heck out of not liking it at all! When she met me she realized what she was getting into. My two daughters are similar. They are 11 and 9 years old and as long as they have a spinning reel in their hand they don't have room for a credit card. If you need any information on huge bluegill or wipers let me know.

Bruce, I am also the proud dad of two fisher children. Several years ago,fishing the saltwater bay on the east side of Louisiana, I captured on film the smiles on both of them as the fought redfish at the same time at the front of the boat. What a moment. With both in college now, we shared a little time down at the pond this summer. Just as much fun to watch my daughter out fish her older brother. He on the other hand was not jealous, but acknowledged her fishing prowess. Equally joyfull.

I started this thread asking about coppernose bream, because that is what I put in my pond, along with redears. College books and gas have set me back on getting feeders for my 3 pond collection, but then that forces me to feed daily by hand, which is probably better therapy.

I looked up that " Giant Bream" you mentioned earier. No offense, but that is an ugly fish. Is that what you are trying to raise in your pond. If so, then how big have you got those suckers. And where did you get them.

And can you give me a heads up on " wipers"????
WE don't find much need for regular wipers down here in Texas during July and August, so if you need to borrow some we could Fed-Ex you some.

That fish on the internet is a redear sunfish that's been incorrectly represented as a hybrid developed by some guy in Georgia who's trying to make a quick buck. I'm raising purebred bluegills only. The ones we have here in Nebraska are native to the area and aren't quite the same as the coppernose that are available down south. I've raised bluegills to 910 g. and 305 mm. I've used some innovative techniques to raise them to that size.
Wipers are striped bass hybrids. I couldn't tell if you were pulling my leg or not, but I've got them to 8 kg in my small pond. Like my bluegill they are very receptive to pelleted feed.

Bob Shelton, first of all, i loved your comment about seeing the kids catch fish. i also love to see kids or whoever gain pleasure from catching fish from my pond. is great. i feel the same way; is a wonderful feeling to catch fish, but to see others enjoy the wonders of catching a fish is great.

As far as fishery biologist simplification: i had the wonderful opportunity to meet the...Bob Lusk... on his "Pond Boss World (country) Tour", and trust me...ain't nothin' simple about fisheries biologist "stuff"!!! I am impressed on how well Pond Boss Magazine is able to provide info to small pondmeisters like myself, as well as the "big boys"!!! i have a lot to learn!!! mark

Bruce-- No leg pulling--- I did not know that striped bass hybrids were called " wipers". That goes back to an earlier suggestions for a section here on the PB forum to have the names of fish in one section so that less knowledgeable person's such as myself can look up a name and understand which fish is being discussed in any particular thread. That list does not have to be every fish in the USA, but atleast the common pond and small lake fish that are discussed here. And may my redears grow up to be big boys like that picture.

Mark-- Yes it is all about the smiles. I think the best ones are the smiles that grace a child's face when he/she first lifts that fish out of the water. The ones made for the picture are usually nice , but not the same. Catching site of the afore mentioned (just out of the water) smiles is the payment for all the blood, sweat, and stubbed toes in creating the pond in the first place.

For any one who had the guts and grits to read this whole thread, here is the maybe some dessert.

Neat place to visit with mucho information.
No www stuff -- just -- wildlife.tamu.edu --- then click on the aquaculture section

thanks to the contributors

Bob

Bruce, do you mind telling us what some of the "innovative techniques" you've used to raise bluegills as big as you have?

Bruce,
I'm in the market for all the information you can provide for raising huge blue gill and especially for "wipers" as you call them.

In fact the name "wiper" was strange to me - yes -sunshine bass, palmetto bass and as I prefer, hybrid striper.

I am an avid striped bass flyfisherman and have recently stocked hybrid striper in our two acre E. Texas pond. I noticed on your website video, the fish caught was on a fly. What are your favorite fly patterns for hybrid stripers?

Thanks for your interesting posts,
George Glazener

Bruce and Bob,

The way you two dentists talk about seeing the smiles on kids faces makes me wonder if you are sizing up future clients . Actually, giving the neighborhood kids a place to wet a worm is one of the reasons why I have built a couple of ponds at my place.

Russ

George, for purposes of this forum, I wonder if we should standardize the name "hybrid striped bass (HSB)". That way everyone would know what we are talking about. Does anyone have any thoughts about this?

I believe there should be be some type of standardization. Mike Freeze, manager/partner of Keo Farms in Lonoak, Arkansas calls them "hybrid striped bass", and he largest producer of hybrid striped bass fry and fingerlings in the world.

Actually, Mike Freeze calls 'em HAH-brids.

Norm and George--I'd love to talk about big bluegills and striped bass hybrids but it will have to wait until tomorrow due to the fact I'm on my way to fish for them at this exact moment. You know...Wednesday, dentists' day off. Stay tuned...

Sound like the proper pronunciation to me - being from a neighboring state I guess I don't notice the difference.... ;>)

BruceC. I have asked the PBoss editor (B.Lusk) to contact you for an indepth article about your methods for raising these fish. Save some of the details for the magazine article. In the mean time, get us some good pictures of your dandy fish while the weather is still decent.

Russ--- No offense taken, but if I do my job right and the kids take my advice, then the most they will see me is twice a year for a cleaning and a new toothbrush. And they will never contribute very much to my car or pond. And as for your dentist's taste in car's , he should have built a pond , it won't take up space in the garage and you get all excited when it rains.

Norm-- as per your suggestion about standardized names....I don't think that would ever happen given the diversity of pond owners from here to there.... That's why I made a plug earlier in this thread for a spot on the forum that would be a permanent site to list the official name and description of a fish,including a nice picture,( and pictures of the fish at differnt life stages would be the icing on the cake-because it was that lack of knowledge that started this thread) and a list of it's common names. And that such list would and could be amended as each pond member would visit the site to learn what the other pond guy is talking about..... It could be down in the "Help" section... Heading " Fish Names and Descriptions". Also a list of Zones probably based on temperature extremes that these fish seem to prefer... It would be much like the seed catalog zones that tell you when to plant your seeds and if the seed would even grow in your Zone...

I don't think an article in Pond Boss would be the best, because it could not be added to as pond miesters test and fail or succed at growing a new breed of fish in their special Zone.

But like all pondmiesters---- " First you got to have a dream, then go dig a hole,and the size of the hole only depends on your dream."

Bob,
You sound a lot like my dentist, if things go right and I listen to her and her hygenist, I only have to sit in her chair twice a year. I also have some work that she needs to fix from my military days. But I do have to see her everyday, since I married my dentist! Kids tend to not mind going to see a 4'11" dentist who still looks like a kid herself.

As a thread related issue, I suggest that we all start pulling together our photos of our fish, from fatheads to our big flatheads and blue cats (that's for you, big_pond) so we could start our own info page. I would think that would be easier than researching copyrights to taking other pictures we found elsewhere. Just a thought.

Bill Cody, George, and Norm,

My method of raising big bluegill has evolved over the last six years and is constantly being modified as I learn from research and from discussions with other educated fisherman such as yourselves. It involves a combination of natural selection and induced selection, or culling, to favor delayed maturation of male bluegill. I also advocate "compensatory feeding" to speed growth rates.

There are two important prerequisites for such a program.

1. It is necessary to have at least two other holding ponds which are easily drained or seined.

2. It is necessary to be a little off your rocker to spend this kind of time researching and raising a fish that is next to impossible to catch.

Bill, I'm extremely flattered that you would like to see a detailed explanation of methodology and if Pond Boss is interested I could go into extensive detail. I already have photos of my 11 year old daughter with a two-pounder that is quite impressive. Off all bluegill sampled through angling or other methods this year the average weight was just under one pound. My daughter nearly drove me up a wall because I said she wasn't fishing right. Every cast she'd drag her bait right into the rooted vegetation along the edge of the pond. Time and time again I'd have to pull the giant mess of weeds off of her hook. Fittingly, though, she ended up catching the biggest bluegill I've ever seen! It made it worth all the trouble.

...by the way, I'm glad that the Pond Boss forum overseer has granted me lunker status. My wife was looking over my shoulder the other night as I made a post and with great consternation stated, "All your friends are lunkers and I married a fingerling?!?!"

nice laugh before bed , ty

Bruce,

If your daughter is hauling in two pound bluegill, I'd like to see an article showcasing your achievements. I think a picture of your daughter holding a prize trophy like that stands a good chance of being POND BOSS cover material.

Russ