Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Fish Truck Report

10/16/06 Dunn's Fish Farm truck, I got some fish from there truck. The fish were loaded last night and the first stop was close to me. I got a few coppernose and a few pounds of FHM. The fish were about what I expected. In fair shape. The 1 - 3 inch CNBG are more like 1 - 2 some 3 inches, I payed for 50 I got 50. They look to be coppernose, I see distinct striped sides and they just look darker but there very small to tell for sure but do look like CNBG. The fatheads were in fair shape, mixed sizes, the fathead were actually bigger then the CNBG. I would say 15 dead out of 2 pounds when I got home. I also picked up a few gal of 10-34-0 liquid fertilizer. I saw a few other people pick up differnt things, the Hybrid LMB were little but looked good, the guy who picked up RES wasnt happy said they were small and didnt look good but I did not see them. Then grass carp were picked up and they looked big and nice to me. Overall its about what I expected (fair).


10/19/06 Arkansas Pond stocker truck, Arkansas Pond stockers was in town. Last week I said Dunns was fair, actually there not bad. Today I will report on Arkansas. POOR, the coppernose, I ordered 100, there was maybe 70 tiny and in lousy shape, could not determin if they were CNBG. Fatheads I ordered 3 pounds, they gave about 4 pounds to bad half were dead, there was a 7 inch crayfish in with them, a few sunfish and a few of some other minnow it was blackish, the water stunk. The lady and fella were nice as could be but that dont go very far when the fish stink. I also ordered 25 Channel cats which they did not have. Ark pond st. wont be getting my business anymore. (poor)


10/27/06 Farley's Fish Farm truck, I picked up 25 Channel cats and 25 Albino cats. Today was a pleasure. the 25 Channel cats were supposed to be 6-8 inches, they were 5-8 with 2 bigger more like 10". They were in great shape. I payed for 25 and got 34. The Albino cats were supposed to be 4-6 inches, they were actually 4-9 inches and looked great, healthy looking fish. I payed for 25 and got 27. The water was clean, did not smell, the truck was neet and the men were polite and helpful. I did not see any other fish to comment on but will say Farleys was (Good).


10/28/06 Souteast Pond Stocking truck.(Good) I picked up 9 Hybrid striped bass. I ordered 6 but they brought extra in case. The fish were supposed to be about 8 inches and were everybit of 8 inches. Not your typical big truck operation, a more personal operation in NC and surrounding area. Very consious of there fish and there health. My fish were checked by SEPS and were placed in my van for me. The fish were in good shape. Large Hybrid stripers do not travel well. All 9 were in good shape unfortuniltly I lost one maybe 2, no fault of SEPS. The fish just didnt take the trip to my house well and went belly up in the pond. I will use SouthEast Pond stockers again. (GOOD)


11/08/06 CANTRELL CREEK TROUT FARM (VeryGood) Although I did not have Chris deliver the fish with his stock truck I would recomend Cantrell for trout, either picked up like I did or delivered. The fish were in EXCELLENT shape, the price is right and he has all size rainbows and some browns. I payed for 40 and got 54 Rainbows ranging from 8-11 inches. Chris loaded the water into my bins, added salt and green magic powder, ice and then the fish. I put the areator on and off I went. Not before checking things out a little. If you want trout and your near the west part of NC, he is your guy. I got home 2 1/2 hrs, lost one little fish, the rest were as lively as when we put them in the bins. (VeryGood) here is his link http://www.stockrainbow.com/


02/23/07 Farley's Fish Farm truck, I called ahead looking for Albino's, still to early so I picked up Regular Channel cats today. Today was a pleasure again. The Channel cats were supposed to be 5-8 inches, they were 6-10". They were in great shape. The count was very good. The water was clean, did not smell, the truck was neet and the men were polite and helpful, again. Today I did see other fish types. I saw LMB that were in excellent shape, I saw RES, small but in excellent shape, I saw grass carp that also looked good. This is the kicker that made my day...mixed in with my channel cats was a 10 inch ALBINO.. Yaaaaa! (very good)


FALL OF 2009 + 2010 CANTRELL CREEK TROUT FARM (EXCELLENT) If you ever want trout to stock for the winter and near NC just call Cantrell. I got trout 2 yrs in a row, these times I got them off his truck. He pulled off a major highway where I met him. I brought a big barrel with a areator, his fish wernt big, they were HUGE and he was not stingy with the numbers. He did most everything with loading and even loaded the 2 bags of feed I ordered. Trout did great in the pond over the winter october - april 7 months of catchin and eatin trout... Great. Didnt get them this year and I missed it, next year I will get them again. Cantrell


3/16/2012 Farleys BUT it wasnt Farleys it was Arkansas. When I called it seemed like Farleys but it was bought out. Now for the fish report. I was needing some Catfish and Thought i grab some coppernose. The catfish had ick all over them, no lie little white spots all over them and very scrawny looking. I aclimated them just let them go hoping they worn infect my fish, i saw about 6 floaters in the last 2 days, I got 40 and got about 42. The coppernose were supposed to be 1-3 inches, absolutly none of them were 3 inches and I aclimated them and over the last 2 days at least 50 floaters. I ordered 75 and there was prob 100 in the bag. i called and the lady told me I aclimated them wrong.. haha What a disapointment from the real Farleys of a few years ago.


3/23/2012 Southland Fisheries (Good) Southland is out of SC near Columbia, there truck hits a good size area, there fish are good and the prices are good. They dont just load tons of fish on the truck, you call and order and they bring it. I got Catfish, not a big order just 150. They all look good, nice healthy looking cats 3-5 inches, exactly what was told to me. The count was very good nearly 200 and to top it off.... 1 ALBINO... Now why cant I get some of them??? I want like 100. I saw several differnt types of fish, the grass carp looked real good. the bluegills were typical little ones but they did look healthy and the water was not bad at all. I saw Koi, ahh not impressed and there overpriced for the quality. If you take a ride to there fishery, now your talking nice nice fish, I have got bigger bluegills, bigger cats and very big hybrid stripers, only one time the stripers were pretty small but overall southland either the truck or there farm is a good place to get fish.

There was one bad thing (no fault of Southland) I LOST $30 bucks!!!!! Prob fell out of my pocket who knows but 30 was and is gone!

Southland Fisheries

Joey, thanks for posting. I hope everyone reads this. I especially hope the fish sellers read it.

I figured the real newbies like myself might like this. Its tough in the begining. You dont know where to get fish, you dont know who is good. I have been going a little nuts with buying fish but it will soon stop. I am going to a more local truck tomarrow for six, 6-10" inch hybrid stripers just six or 7. He said he had coppernose a month agos 3-5 inchers but sold them out like hot cakes. I will see his truck tomarrow and add it to the post.

I would call Ar. Stockers and let them know. I mentioned earlier that I called and got their delivery schedule, and got fresh fish. I'm sure they would like to know you are not satisfied.

BM, Agreed. However, I figure they knew that the fish had been there too long.

A little bit about me. I could be a PIA when it comes to getting what I want, there is a but. I know what I want and I call a few times prior to make sure things are right. Situations were told of existing bass in my pond etc, the fact I needed bigger fish etc. I asked all of them where my stop was on the route etc. My fish were ordered, it wasnt like I just showed up. All things considered is the reason I will not call. I am new to ponding, but not new to life so to speak. I know when someone just gave me the buisness and when someone actually took the time and care about what was being sold to me. The truck that is coming tomarrow called me just before to tell me they loaded my Hybrid stripers and will be there, short and sweet. To me there company is already on a good road with me. Told me there around 8 inches or a little more. A unexpected call for the few fish I ordered.

No doubt, Joey, you should be P.O.ed. AR. Pond Stockers should be called out for this. BUYER BEWARE!

Anyones truck could have a batch of bad fish or maybe your the last stop or whatever the reasoning might be but the bottom line is if that was the case they need to let people know or just not sell the fish. I only got fish one time from these trucks, one experiance is not enough to get mad over. Everyone who gets fish off the truck should give a little post here for the new person who dont know yet where the good places are.

10/28/06 Souteast Pond Stocking truck.(Good) I picked up 9 Hybrid striped bass. I ordered 6 but they brought extra in case. The fish were supposed to be about 8 inches and were everybit of 8 inches. Not your typical big truck operation, a more personal operation in NC and surrounding area. Very consious of there fish and there health. My fish were checked by SEPS and were placed in my van for me. The fish were in good shape. Large Hybrid stripers do not travel well. All 9 were in good shape unfortuniltly I lost one maybe 2, no fault of SEPS. The fish just didnt take the trip to my house well and went belly up in the pond. I will use SouthEast Pond stockers again. (GOOD) I added them to the original post.

Just wondering if these are the dead ones, or why they were being handled? Looks like the bottom one is definitely dead.

The bottom one is one of the dead ones. The top pic was a alive fish. I wanted to get a quick pic of one. That fish swam off fine. The other fish that didnt make it I worked with for a long while but... 7 made it. I knew bigger stripers are tough to transport.

I talked to a fish supplier last week and he told me the hsb are so delicate that basically if you touch them they will die. Is this a fairly accurate statement?

That is a very inaccurate statement. They're much hardier in transportation than crappie or trout. I've raised, moved and transported tens of thousands and they do just fine as long as you keep the oxygen levels adequate and keep the water temps between 60 and 70 degrees F. Like any fish, if you over handle them, or deprive them of oxygen they will die, but the statement that "if you touch them they will die" is an exaggeration.

I even brought one thousand 5.5-6 inchers back on a 13 hour drive from south of Little Rock, AR without losing a single fish. Amazing what pure O2 will do. These fish started out with good handling procedure in Arkansas. If they are kept at the hatchery in super high densities and seined into a massive ball of writhing fish, that are spining each other with their dorsal fins then you've got another story.

I got some Hybrids from SouthLand in the begining of early spring. He had bigger fish like 10 - 12 inchers and he also had 6 inchers. I asked for the bigger fish. They were easily 4 times the price of the 4-6 inchers but he told me the bigger ones dont take well to transporting. I took the little ones. This guy said the same thing but was willing to try it for me with the 8 inchers. I brought a tank because they would have tore the bags to shreds. I did not have any problems with the littler fish a few months ago. I did catch a Hybrid in the dead of summer and that guy died almost instantly. Supposedly the catching one in high heat is fatal most times. Is this true also?

I think we can find the thread one that one. It's been discussed pretty good before. I think Meadowlark and George have some excellent observations on this one.

Yes, it's true that HSB stress more and more as water temperatures rise. Long drawn out fight + warm water = tired and stressed fish.

The title is something like "HSB in Hot Summer Temps"; I'm too whooped right now to search.

It's probably a "George" thread. He's started some awesome HSB stuff.

Try this one + links.

http://www.pondboss.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=20;t=002918

Joey,

As you know, their aren't any absolutes in ponds...what happpens in your pond doesn't necessarily happen the same in my pond. I have found that the mortality rate for HSB caught over three pounds in my ponds in dead of summer is 100%.

I'm not at all sure, but I also suspect some non-angling HSB mortality happened this summer in my ponds simply due to the combination of extreme heat, drought( no fresh water inflow), and artificial feeding. I have found some fish heads recently of very large HSB which indicates to me that I've lost some of my largest fish....by the way, the pond I speak of is fully aerated, has 20 foot depths, and is about 4 acres.

The Texas private water(ponds) record for HSB is only a little over 5 pounds. There may very well be a reason for that and in my case, I may have experienced it. Perhaps your water quality conditions won't deterioriate such as ours did this summer, but if they do, you may find that the larger HSB are very vulnerable, more so than any other fish I have.

Thanks Meadow,

I felt good about my HSB this summer, the pond is spring fed so my guess is the water near the thermocline is cooler. I feel I did not loose any fish due to natural heat. BTW I lost 3 of the HSB I just stocked I found another one. I wont ever stock HSB that big again, it will be winter or early spring with 4 or 5 inchers. I did not have any areation this year and am hopeing that putting areation dont harm my cooler water fish like HSB. I have read and read about Areation and its mostly positive except it mixes all the cool water with the warm therefore the fish that strive in the cooler water might not do so well or may die. This is what I read and it makes sence. I ordered the compressor I will use to build my areator system it will be 1.5 CFM its a Gast, ordered it from the surplus store in Cal. After I get it I will be asking about parts to use to make something. Diffusers, tubing size, clogging etc.

Joey, my apologies for straying from your “Fish truck Report” topic to “survivability of HSB in small ponds due to summer stress, and “fighting to their death” subject – which has been discussed at length in other posts.

I’ll delete my posts and you might want to to review ewest previous reference:
http://www.pondboss.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=7;t=000330

11/08/06 CANTRELL CREEK TROUT FARM (VeryGood) Although I did not have Chris deliver the fish with his stock truck I would recomend Cantrell for trout, either picked up like I did or delivered. The fish were in EXCELLENT shape, the price is right and he has all size rainbows and some browns. I payed for 40 and got 54 Rainbows ranging from 8-11 inches. Chris loaded the water into my bins, added salt and green magic powder, ice and then the fish. I put the areator on and off I went. Not before checking things out a little. If you want trout and your near the west part of NC, he is your guy. I got home 2 1/2 hrs, lost one little fish, the rest were as lively as when we put them in the bins. (VeryGood) here is his link http://www.stockrainbow.com/

Added to original post.

Bought Dad 300 Redears from Dunn's (truck service to Greenville TX) to try in his 3 ac. pond in hopes of them being resilent to poaching activity. The truck was scheduled for between 9 & 10 am and arrived at 9:30am. He kinda got into the swing of it and bought an additional 24 lbs of FH, 40 BG, and 40 CC. He thought the 1" to 2" RES looked like bass snacks and the FH would keep the predators occupied, at least intially. The guy from Dunn's threw in a 10" Koi which I hear is a valuable fish. Anyhow, Dad spent several hours releasing all the fish. All of 'em swam away except those from the last bag had perhaps 25 FH and 1 RES to expire. Dad told Dunn's the pond was 15 min. away and two hours was just too long for the fish to stay bagged. With me in California, Dad living in Dallas, and the pond being an hour's drive, Dunn's was doable. They took the order, accepted a credit payment, sent me an e-mail as to the delivery schedule, and make good on it. (good service/fish)

02/23/07 Farley's Fish Farm truck, I called ahead looking for Albino's, still to early so I picked up Regular Channel cats today. Today was a pleasure again. The Channel cats were supposed to be 5-8 inches, they were 6-10". They were in great shape. The count was very good. The water was clean, did not smell, the truck was neet and the men were polite and helpful, again. Today I did see other fish types. I saw LMB that were in excellent shape, I saw RES, small but in excellent shape, I saw grass carp that also looked good. This is the kicker that made my day...mixed in with my channel cats was a 10 inch ALBINO.. Yaaaaa! (Very good) Here's there link http://www.farleysfishfarm.com/index.html

Added to original post.

FALL OF 2009 + 2010 CANTRELL CREEK TROUT FARM (EXCELLENT) If you ever want trout to stock for the winter and near NC just call Cantrell. I got trout 2 yrs in a row, these times I got them off his truck. He pulled off a major highway where I met him. I brought a big barrel with a areator, his fish wernt big, they were HUGE and he was not stingy with the numbers. He did most everything with loading and even loaded the 2 bags of feed I ordered. Trout did great in the pond over the winter october - april 7 months of catchin and eatin trout... Great. Didnt get them this year and I missed it, next year I will get them again.