Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Corrective stocking BG WENT IN TODAY!!

Those measurements (6.5 to 7 inches) sound correct to me.

Ewest, thanks for the table. That will be very useful. I'm going to search to see if I can find a similar table for GSF.

Looking at the data that I kept for my LMB shows that they were only at about 78% RW prior to the introduction of the BG and RES. Between introducing more forage, slot removing bass (from what I've read pull out anything less 12" for a while) and removing the excess weeds (too much cover for the forage fish) I hope to see improvement in my LMB RW this year.

I'm not expecting trophy bass by any means but it would be nice in a year or two to catch some 3 to 5 pound LMB. (A one pound RES or BG would be a welcome catch also.)

Sorry for having a flash back but I've been pondering this (like I don't have enough to think about during tax season). I'm wondering if you might want to consider adding the Spots sooner. You mentioned that you don't think you have adult GSF anymore. If that's the case then you don't have any BG predators (except possibly the RES, which from what I've read will only eat the small fry at best). With 1,500 to 1,800 BG added you your pond and a distinct possibility that you will have at least one spawn this year, you may have a BG population explosion! Gregg at the fish farm said that the larger BG that we got will be ready to spawn by May or June this year.

Maybe I'm just impatient to see spotted bass swimming around your pond.

In the link Eric provided for relative weights I see where Dr. Anderson is listed under references. He also wrote a small article in this months magazine.

thought i'd post an update.

my new babies are very active. i think i've seen some of the RES schooling with the larger BG. i posted elsewhere (and repeat here) that the gams are forming small pods of about 10 to 20 fish, hovering around shorelines, and seeing small BG "hunt" the pods.

Pond turtles are active, have counted three so far. Big old adult bullfrogs back along the shores kershplunking into pond when you walk by. The biggest crop of bullfrog tadpoles I’ve ever seen in my life…..

The pond……..ITS ALIVE!!

surface water temps are climbing from 50 in early March to about 60 as of today. interesting note......my first water quality measurements on 3/1/07 showed pH ranges from 7 to 7.25 following some big storm events. with little influx of fresh water since, the average pH of pond lies somewhere between 7.73 and 8.98. i was encouraged at the natural increase in pH, EC and TDS with the water sitting and evaporating some. EC is now between 190 and 263 which "indicates" the alkalinity is up as well. (see this thread for explanations of water quality parameters…….which BTW ewest…..should have been placed into the archives because of ewest’s posts……ewest…..

with our recent 80 degree weather am getting a good plankton bloom, nice light green water, fairly low visibility, and aquatic weed growth being inhibited for now.

had one RES floater a couple days ago, cause unknown, but a kingfisher has been hanging around. i didnt see any puncture marks, but he could have been stunned.

eric in NY.....i've complimented you in the past on yer patience to wait on fishing yer pond......i have a better understanding now of how you could do this. since Sunil got me to throw some chow in the pond, i'm getting the darndest kick out of this and cant wait to go feed them again. at the moment, feeding is much more enjoyable than the thought of fishing for them....dont know if i could withold fishin for 3 years or whatever you've done eric.....i generally go out after working, about same time every day 5-530 pm, dig a few worms, which is how i got them trained to really take the feed, throw out some mashed pellets and reward with some worm chunks......its an absolute blast!! (advanced pondmeisters please constrain yerselfs.......ahhhh, go ahead make fun.....)

had the biggest feeding by far this afternoon, and thought it worth mentioning….i had about a 30 x 30 foot area exploding with hungry gills taking mashed aquamax……what a kick!!!

jeff, in response to yer reply up above, i thought about an earlier stocking of the bass......i still think i will wait until the new guys have clearly spawned at least once. like DD1 said somewheres else...."i want the bass to be able to go sleep with their mouths open, and wake up with full bellies".

keep pondering jeff, its a healthy break from Uncle Sam's meat hooks.

:D
Ain't that the truth. Between tax interviews yesterday I was reading "A Tax Practitioner's Guide to Cost Segregation Methods to Facilitate Rapid Depreciation of Components of Commercial Buildings." How's that for some light reading.

I'm always pondering. It must be great to see the schools of BGs chasing the gams. Sorry to hear you lost a RES. I've probably lost some too. As long as we have a few survive to start a RES population I'll be happy.

It was interesting to hear how fast the water temperature climbed. 10 degrees in 14 days, wow! At this rate you may have spawning temperatures by the beginning of April!

D.I.E.D

Sounds like you are having a good time feeding your fish. It will be another month before I attempt to feed.

do you feed by hand or use a feeder?

it is a blast russ....i guess i never really thought about it and was gonna let the little guys fend for themselves, now its a much anticipated part of my day AND can be combined with cocktail hour

one problem though, the local feed store only had aquamax 600 on hand (and a low protein catfish chow). i wish i had them order me a bag of 400. hand mashing 50 pounds of 600 may get old.

i also found a small (3-inch) BG floater this morning, and wonder if he choked on a pellet. he had no other marks or abrasions. i should have done some larval trawling, but tossed him back in before i thought of it.

i'm keeping my eye out for this, it was the only reason i can think of besides being stunned by the resident kingfisher.

Dave,
I was going to let mine fend as well, especially after reading about all of the natural that was available for small fish. But, after two days of worry that they were starving I bought some aquarium style food and haven't missed a day since. Everybody that sees them feeding for the first time can't resist trying their hand a throwing food, kids included. Many times a coctail is part of the process. For me it is a time when the sun is going down and the day is starting to cool. It's just plain fun to watch.

Dave, you and Rad are getting me excited about feeding. I had no plans to feed, but I'm sure food is scarce in a brand new pond with muddy water. I may get just 1 bag of feed, which should be more than enough to last until the insects become plentiful.

my buddy who helped me dig out the pond came over yesterday and thought it was a hoot. all those little guys lookin up at us WAITIN FOR FOOD HERE DAAAAD

bob, you'll get hooked. like rad said, sun goin down, mirror like water, fish food in one hand, cold beverage of choice in the other.....happy fish making boils all over......good stuff.

make sure to get the right sized pellets though

Sounds good! You talked me into it! I think I'll call it "Happy Hour".

I was at my lake yesterday and went to a spot where I'd seen a LMB spawning last year. Sure enough there was one there this time - looked like the eggs had been laid and the male (?) was there guarding the nest. I had about twenty 2" live worms and started tossing them in. The LMB didn't "hammer" them, but it did stay right there and eat them one-at-a-time as I tossed them in - 5' away. LMB was about 2#. Kinda interesting and fun.

rmedgar.....i get a real kick out of watching the fish eat. some of the BG just cruise and take pellets, others stay low, watch a pellet for a second, than thrust up and attack it like bug, and quickly dive back down in the depths with their catch....funny.

an update on pond water, for anybody following this rag (jeff.... ).

pH ranging from 7.54 at creek entrance in sediment basin to an average of 9.61 in main pond body. i was really surprised at this increase in pH. EC and TDS up as well where highest values were 447 and 224, respectively. i wonder how much higher these values will get in our arid climate this summer?

water temps up as well, maximum measured surface value at 64.0......just about spawning time? they should be getting ready anyway.

jeff, i assembled that aqua view camera this weekend, charging the battery, and gonna find out what the deal is this coming weekend....RES and bigger BG on beds? any remaining adult GSF? blobs of FA starting on pond bottom? my visibility is still pretty low from recent warm weather plankton bloom, so i hope the camera works out.

pond getting a drink of thunderstorm rain as i type this, will my little guys take feed in the rain? i'll know in about 20 minutes...

D.I.E.D., one thing I noticed when I first used my AguaVu...when you first start viewing the montitor, it's pretty tough to tell how far out, distance-wise, that you can see. I found that zoning in on stationary objects just didn't give me a warm/fuzzy that I would actually be able to see a fish with in the field of view.

But be patient. When a fish does show up, it'll be real obvious, and more detailed then you might have first imagined.

Sounds like we are getting close to a spawn temperature wise!

Fantastic! I have one too. This should be fun. Even if the water is too murky right now I figure when we have the crystal clear water later in the year that we should be able to take some good video.

Keep posting, I'm reading!

sunil, the only thing i've figured out so far with the aqua vu is how ugly i am on TV

i believe its one of the lower end models, small B&W screen display, but i was impressed with the clarity and detail of the camera pic in my living room......and hope that translates for the underwater viewing.


you got it jeff, even if everybody else across the country is bored to tears.....too bad.....this MY thread

Aw, what do they know, bunch of green sunfish haters.

thanks theo, ewest, george, mr. mcbutterpants, and anybody else i forgot to mention here, to provide some detailed convention reporting, descriptions of forum members, etc.......i know i missed a good time.

i went out to pond this evening with my wife in an attempt to "sample" the species distribution, and size of my fish.....as my sampling rig i used my small (backpack) fly rod with about a #14 size fly (crimped barb), and small worm chunk(s) pinned to the end of the hook and doused with a little "kokanee gel" [anise].....wow, did it ever work!!

based on the catch, here are the following observations:

last years stocking of lunker GSF (July 06) has resulted in a large crop of YOY GSF reaching 4.5 to 5.0 inches!!!!!!!!! with beautiful body condition (small eyes relative to body size) and fat stomachs. most averaged 3.75 to 4.0 inches and i'm thinking some of the big ones that measured between 4.5 and 5 inches will spawn this year......i think this is amazing.

the BG are growing nicely, most caught were 4.5 to 5.5 inches. the BG have split into two major schools in the upper portions of the pond, one on the east side, the other on the west side. no BG were caught around the shorelines of deeper water by the dam, everybody is hanging out in the shallower upper end of pond. i've been feeding the west side, and indeed, they averaged about 0.5" larger than those caught on the east side.

NO RES takers by fly, i am not surprised, although i did see a couple larger ones (~7 inches) cruising the flats by the sediment dam.

yesterday my wife and i used our aqua vu camera for the first time. we inspected the aeration diffusers, saw a vast forest of aquatic weeds, saw some of the BG stockers near the boat (which was really cool to be in the middle of the school), saw mats of FA growing on bottom not yet detached......saw no lunker adult GSF stockers from last year. i am impressed with the camera, but its tough if wind blows and you cant sit still.

well, this evening while sampling with my fly rig, i caught a 9.75-inch GSF, that boga'd just a hair under 1 pound.........one of the original stockers that probably lost a little weight and is certainly gaining it back.....it had a beautiful body condition and could have knocked jeff's greenie of cecil's list.......but hey, i'm a nice honest guy right? who didnt raise this fish from a baby, didnt have a camera, and will wait patiently for the next time

i dont know or really care if anybody is following this stuff, but its nice to have a place to document it. watch yer back jeff

Hey Dave, I'm following this thread with interest and maybe a little envy. My BG still aren't doing very well, and I'm getting worried. Your camera sounds like a lot of fun.

Dave,

Great update. It sounds like the BG are growing nicely. I hope mine are fending for themselves. It's a fish eat fish world in my pond so who knows what has become of the BG or RES.

So it seems like you were satisfied with the Aqua Vu overall. Do you think it will be a useful tool around the pond?

Next time get a photo of your lurker GSF, sounds like a nice fish. My record won't hold for much longer anyway and I can't think of anyone I'd rather get knocked of by. Besides at least El Dorado County would still hold the record.


I don't worry about that too much. Most folks don't pay attention to 98% of what I post. I post some of the most ridiculous stuff and don't even get a reaction. Kinda cracks me up. I did a post about using lop eared rabbits as forage base - - nothing. I did a post in which I inserted as many goofy acronyms as possible - barely a blip on the radar screen. Big brother may be watching but he aint' watching me so I'm not too worried.

Moderator's Note: No Lop-Eared Rabbits were harmed in the making of this post.

bob, why do you think yer BG arent doing well? except for GSF, i've never seen a tougher fish with more adaptation ability than a BG.

the camera was a "freebie" when i bought our fishin boat two years ago and it sat in the box until last week :rolleyes: it is cool, but i'm not sure i would recommend spending $2-300 for one unless you had a specific use and purpose other than just something to have occassional fun with. in general trying to find fish with it is not easy, or maybe i havent really figured it out yet. the best viewing was lowering it all the way to bottom, focusing in on some weeds, and then SLOWLY trying to drift in a particular direction. i realized it would be nice to measure off markers on the camera cord to monitor depth....it could be used to map a pond bottom, so yeah for the right applications it could be a very useful as a tool for the pond.

jeff, since those lunker GSF did their lunking growth in the ranch pond, and even though it seems i maintained their lunker status since last summer, i probably wont submit to cecil until its a fish wholly raised in my pond, i just like bustin yer chops a bit

and BTW, i saw those posts you referred to and LMAO, but as ususal i rarely if ever have anything clever enough to reply with. i got about as much wit as a dozer blade. yer twisted sense of humor (almost) rivals theo .....stay on those meds dude!

I suppose it's because the BG's live in muddy water, eat a main course of mud, and eat mud for dessert.

I started feeding them about a week ago, so maybe they'll snap out it it. I think there should be insects in the pond in a week or 2.

Dave, you were right about feeding. It's addictive. My wife really likes to feed, and watch the FH minnows gorge themselves. I guess you really know your BG are in trouble when the FH intimadate them.

Oh, and my FH are gravid. I just hope there are sufficient spawning places.

DIED I am following this also. Do you have the camera attached to a poll. They make adjus. 8-16 ft pole to fit the camera and it really helps me. Easy to turn the pole and hold it still. You could easily make one. The cable is marked in 1 ft increments (see the writing on the cable) - they are 1 foot apart on mine.

I have a chore for you. Those cameras have the ability to take pics/video with an out cable. I would like to learn how to do that. Can you figure it out and tell me how ? Take a pic or video (like Wood's) of your GSF and post it.