Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations an el dorado sunfish pond

Well at least you don't have to worry about the Greenies D.I.E.D. They're tuff e nuff!

Awesome pic's!

Beautiful pics, Dave! To what do you attribute the phenomenal growth rates of your fish? Keep the pics coming, please!

i go out to the pond every evening, don a tinfoil hat, link to at least 6 satellites, locate dr. bruce condello's brain waves somewhere in or around denton, draw all that energy and wisdom back through space and time and focus it directly into the pond.

bruce, have you been feeling a little tired lately?

mr. davasta, all i can say is i'm lucky, i really dont know...good water, good vibes, a few snails, and some supplemental aquamax?? i'll take suggestions. fish just seem to thrive here and in the ranch pond down below me....with really very little effort. my biggest challenge is going to be able to maintain enough water for everybody to last until the next rainy season.

if i had to make an educated guess, i would say the system is young, biomass is below carrying capacity (which is changing rapidly with decreasing water levels), and there is lots of natural forage, for now, in addition to my quasi routine supplemental feedings.

dave, is your expected rain to watershed ratio such that you fully expect the pond to top off every rainy season? How much annual rain do you expect, and how much of it is during the rainy season? How long does your rainy season last?

Great Photos Dave, Wow the RES are really making themselves at home.

So far all of the sunfish seem to be mixing well.

yuppers jeff

bruce, yes, the pond will fill each rainy season. it takes 6-8 inches of combined rain events to get the creeks flowing. once flowing, the pond rapidly fills (within a couple weeks) and the total pond volume is replaced many times over during winter months. All the significant rainfall occurs during the rainy season. it's almost as if mother nature flips the switch on in November, and turns it off in May. with virtually no exceptions, rains come to a halt by May and do not resume with any punch until November. Last year (05/06) we got 55-inches over that timeframe. This year (06/07) we only got 23-inches over the same timeframe.

edited post....BTW bruce, please expand....in your watershed question, were you thinking of something specific about my situation?

so a quick follow up question on the RES. they have been on the nests for at least 4 days now. on average, how long will they tend the nests?

the water they are in is getting shallower every day, and i'm getting worried about their spawning success.

I was wondering primarily about whether or not you could have a complete loss of the pond at some point. Glad to hear that you won't.

I think that a lowering water level wouldn't be a great detriment to spawning success. I'm just guessing here, based on some ponds that I know of that have had good year classes during years with significant loss of water. Keep in mind that spawning success is less about nesting areas, and more about availability of appropriately sized forage items after hatching.

You'll be fine when it comes to recruitment, I'm betting.

I had RES on nest for 3 weeks this year. I don't really think they should need over 2 weeks. And after the eggs hatch, I bet Redear Dads could move their broods to deeper water.

thanks guys...in two weeks time, the area they are in may be dry....lets hope they were there for a while BEFORE i saw them the first time earlier this week.

From start (male on the nest) to swim up size around 15 days. New moon was the 14th so you need about 13 days from then (best guess).

Why is it that I can never catch green sunfish much above 6" here in NC but I do catch a lot of them?

Those GSF are huge.

First Bruce measures his enormous Bluegill over a cutting board and now this from DIED.....



Oh, the horror! You could of at least closed the blade Dave. Dang no wonder this poor fish's eyes look so huge!

Don't feel bad Gam. Nobody catches GSF as large as DIED's. I've caught a 10 to 11 inch GSF at my place but nothing like DIED has. DIED is rapidly becoming the the "Condello" of GSF. In fact I think there is some untold mentoring relationship between the two. Although I don't have any concrete proof I believe that the Bruce's ranch is in actuality a clandestine operation using the name "Condello Institute for the Creation of Ludicrously Proportioned Blue Gills." I now believe that Bruce and DIED are in collaboration and are developing the El Dorado Laboratory for the Development of Ginormous Green Sunfish. I further believe that DIED has enlisted the celebrity support of both Santa Claus and Tom Cruise. In addition I believe that both Bruce and Dave are using psychological warfare tactics in their operations. First a photo appears on the internet showing Bruce suspending his BG over a cutting board and now DIED's photo which clearly reveals him threatening his sunfish with a knife. I fear that in the quest for the ultimate sunfish many horrific things are happening in the name of science. We already know that DIED is dabbling in the black art of Water Witching, who know what depths he has sunk to in the pursuit of a huge green sunfish....

jeff...you a funny man.
you ought to see how they react when i threaten to use the corkscrew

hey, for me, part of having a fat sunfish population is managing gams.....here's me and tom cruise moving gams from my sediment basin over the dam to the big pond. the sediment basin is just about to dry up, saving as many as we can.









close up of some gams and an occassional baby GSF

How did I miss this one?

Sure Moderator Condello, sure you "missed" this post, we believe you .....or was it yet another case of "plausible deniability."

May the pond gods have mercy upon your soul (or is that sole?).

Or sure bring up the unfortunate Gams incident, and show Paparazzi photographs of you and Tom "saving" the Gams. Go ahead, try and divert attention from your heinous laboratory practices.

speaking of heinous lab practices, while "saving the gams" we also caught and observed EVERY phase in the metamorphosis of bullfrogs......tadpoles, tadpoles w/ buds for legs, tadpoles w/ two legs, tadpoles w/ four legs, frogs w/ long tails, frogs w/ short tails, and full fledged frogs......it was really cool....i wish i had taken a photo documentary but my hands were slimed w/ FA and other fun stuff which is thick in the upstream sediment basin.

a brief update for the el dorado sunfish pond. water quality is excellent this time of year, nice olive color with maybe 2 feet of visibility. we need rain though, have had none in march so far, and none in the extended forecast. have been at full pool for several months, but level is now below spillway.

starting about last friday, observed the first surface activity since late november/early december 07....and enjoyed the first little hand feeding coming out of winter. a small group of about 100 BG are taking pellets.

decided to try and sample sunday afternoon and caught some BG who appear fat and happy.. seems like the first class of active fish in the pond are 7-8-inches and mostly females? fished for about a half hour and caught about a dozen all in the same size range, no larger BG, no GSF, and no RES seen or caught, but they should still be in there...perhps need a bit longer stretch of warm weather to bring everyone out.

am aerating for a few hours in afternoon (12 to 5 pm) to cycle around some warmer water, keep water visibility and weeds down and prevent early thermocline development. if it stays warm, i'm going to shift aeration to nighttime, probably 12 to 8 am.

some pics to enjoy:

mrs. DIED hooks a BG on the fly

Those are nice looking BG by my standards.

Nice start. Looks like an enthusiastic feeding.

Those BG are growing fast DIED. Better watch them or they will take over the whole ranch.

Nice job, Dave! Or should I say Mrs. D.I.E.D.?

I love the coloration on your BG.