Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations fish shocking

We just bought a home with a very old 1 acre pond in it I think the average depth is 12ft. has many large carp and Huge catfish,(20 to 50 lbs.) some bass, crappie, white bass, bream, and schools of shad. we are trying to make it a good bass fishing pond and want to know just what is in it and transplant the fish we don't want. I was told of a process of shocking the fish. Is this good or bad? also who does it, like the wildlife commission or can you do it yourself? any info or contacts would be helpfull?
Thanks!

Chris I inherited a pond some years back in same condition. Shocking by a professional is the starting place - too dangerous to do yourself. Money spent with the pond pro is very well worth it - I suspect they will suggest killing out all fish and starting over or heavy culling of carp and crappie and some catfish and selective culling of bass that are underweight. Anyway, starting point is to shock, in my opinion, so you may see what you are dealing with. Good luck

Lots of info here about that keep looking try "shocked" at the price. My website is http://www.lakework.com/. Others here do it too. Good luck! Not cheap for a 1 acre pond, but you will have a managment report in hand to head you or the right track.

Will the "Shocking" kill the fish that come?

No it just stuns them, they float to the top, and then go back to normal. The shocking will not work in too deep of water - usually done around the shallower banks and shore -

Will the shocking work in 5ft to 8ft of water

shocking can kill fish. It depends on how you have the box set. Most lake shocking equipment has a converter that will change the AC current from the generator to DC current. I believe this process is called rectification. my understanding is the diode in the box only allows 1/2 of the sine wave to pass and stops the other half. this makes the DC current pulse. It pulses very fast, like 60 times per second, but it still pulses. This pulsing action makes shocking fish safe. If you shock with AC current it will make the fishes hearts pop. they cant take the continuous current. i have conducted more shocking on streams with portable backpack shocking equipment than I care to remember. Backpack shockers are usually AC battery powered. The fish that remained in the field for too long died.

I once conducted a shocking survey with another lake management company. Large bass kept dying during our survey. The (so called) biologist could not figure out why his rig kept killing the fish. I figured out his shock box was set on AC and flipped the switch. The fish stopped dying and he got mad at me. Thats when I found out that just because you have a degree and a shocking boat does not mean you know how to use it.

Be careful whos shocking rig you get on fellas. I would make sure to ask some basic mechanic type questions before getting on any shocking rig. If your consultant cant change a starter on a truck I probably would not go shocking with him. One flip of the switch can kill your fish, one missed ground wire can kill you.