Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Bad day in the 903

Was checking my feeders throw this morning when I found a floater. Wasn't happy, but it wasn't a deal breaker til I went out in my tin boat to pull her out.

She was larger than I thought, and had a very distended stomach on one side. I put her in the boat and got the first good look, and that's when I got sad real quick. Turns out, she was right at 26 inches long, and I'm guesstimating around 11 pounds.



After the initial shock wore off, I decided to cut her open and see what was causing the distention.

I'll post the links, so you can look if you wish:

http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa447/FireIsHot14/stomachclosed800.jpg

http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa447/FireIsHot14/stomachopen800.jpg

Big girl's eyes were obviously bigger than her stomach. CNBG was 10" long, and caught sideways in her stomach.

So the good news is despite all my best efforts to screw my lake up, it seems to be doing well. Bad news is I lost big girl that showed no signs of ever being caught before.

I moaned and groaned until I remembered how many of you have lost multiple fish this year to the heat and drought. Suddenly, one fish lost didn't seem so bad.

That's a tough break Al. At least you know what happened, and you won't lie awake at night worrying over it. And, it looks like things are working well in your BOW.

Man, I hate that. Sure hate to lose a monster like that. Nothing you could do - just bad luck. Hopefully, you have others like that big girl...

Funny thing, we don't get to think of a 10" bluegill as forage up here in the north!

She was a hog!

(The breath mint would have caused her to explode)

Happy birthday Sunil. A breath mint probably wouldn't do it, but a good praline would have.

FerelsHot,

Sorry to hear this. If she's not decomposing and doesn't smell too bad maybe you can get a local taxidermist to mount her? I know I've skinned out fish that caused my nephew to run out of the shop ready to toss his cookies, so if it can be skinned intact it can be mounted. Once the skin dries (nothing inside perishable is used) the odor goes away and the fish skin is sealed anyway.

I've been there done that losing large fish. Sometimes they just die earlier than we expect.

I just mounted a large northern pike that was found floundering on the surface. I know of several cases like this and in most cases it's because they have a spiny rayed fish caught in their throat. This latest one did not, and I suspect since the lake is a coldwater lake and big pike like to hang deep, it was probably initially in deep water. My theory is for some reason it came to the surface too abruptly, which inflated it's swim bladder excessively and the fish could not go back down. This could be from being hooked and pulled up into shallow water (but got off the line), or it came up to fast after a rainbow trout. I've hooked rainbows in local lakes that shoot straight to the surface when hooked. It wouldn't be a stretch if they shoot to the surface when pursued by a northern pike.

Sorry I hope I didn't hijack your thread.

You do reliaze that the Nebraska state record LMB is only 10 lbs. 12 oz?

Very nice fish!

Cecil I have to admit I thought of that for a moment. Instead, I did something I never do. I drove her back to the spot I found her and tossed her back in.

I try to keep the fish cleanings out of my water, but didn't have the heart to throw her in the pasture.

I don't have a problem with that. Whatever you feel right doing is what works for you.

Winters too long? Ours is 14 lbs. 12 oz. I heard the pond ours came from is loaded with frogs.

Wow that's crazy. I wonder when a bass eats something that large how long before they get hungry again?

Must be.

I agree with Sunil. The problem is that you have a 26" bass that can eat a 10" CNBG? I wish my pond had that problem!

Ah, a Python aficionado! The Meaning of Life!

Not sure if it means anything but a lot of the trophy fish I mount as a taxidermist have empty stomachs. The theory is really big fish eat a large food item(s) and don't eat again until the food is digested. That may be part of the reason they are difficult to catch as they are off feed a good part of the time.

Aren't a lot of them caught during spawning when they are more protective than hungry?

The largest ones I have caught where in August and September.

My hook and line experience says Cecil is correct. I'm sure it's all related to metabolism slow downs, because mine sure has.

It also makes sense from a lake management view, because most of the smaller LMB I cull are caught constantly roaming the banks actively looking for food. All the larger fish seem to be hunkered down looking for the occasional big meal.

I know after a 14 oz ribeye I slow down too.

Part of the circle of life. How old do you think the LMB was ?

Because LMB are cold blooded they don't act like us (sleep after a big meal). Their metabolism is regulated by temp. That controls the rate of digestion as well as phsycial activity. In cold temps they slow down a lot , at optimum feeding temp they go wild eating (even to the extent of having a full stomach and a shad tail hanging out their mouth while looking for a next meal). When it gets to hot feeding slows and if temps go up much more they reach max lethal temp often in conjunction with a low DO problem.

ewest, I checked back, and the earliest LMB stocking was late 2001. I thought about that very thing over the last 2 days, and I'm guessing 2001 or 2002 was when this fish was stocked/spawned.

I know you're correct about the temperature range, with LMB being cold natured critters, but I have yet to catch one this size from my lake that had a full stomach. I've been fortunate enough to catch 3 or 4 LMB in this class at my place, and they all looked like they needed a meal. That's why Cecil's statement makes sense to me.

But, having spent some hot days at Lake Fork, the big girls are currently just ganged up 20' to 25' down, and are gorging themselves on yellow and white bass. A few I caught week before last could have literally sat upright on their own, and they were still biting.

Competition for food, hunger, or natural predator instincts? I'll just never figure it all out. It is fun to try though.

My initial thoughts on seeing the fish were 2. One it is an old fish and not now as good a hunter looking for the right size meal and misjudged (due to hunger/low energy level - risk/reward). Second the fish looks like a 12 that has shrunk due to not enough of the right size forage and misjudged (see head size wrt body size). Look at the fish and subtract the 10 in CNBG and it looks skinny but with no major muscle loss yet. Could be from spawning (losses up to 25% are not uncommon). I do not think that it is a young fast growing fish that just guessed wrong. It may have been young and fast growing sometime back.

You are right we will never understand all the "what makes them do what they do" questions. But most times it will be biological. Safety first , then O2, then food (except during the spawn) and reproduction/survival of the line (theirs) and then everything else. All of these come with exceptions but my approach is biology first – they are hard wired for that. Fun to try and test the theories as best we can.

Most likely what you said is all true. We started a very aggressive culling program last Fall after becoming concerned about other large fish we were catching.

Thanks for the input, and hopefully our lake will rebalance itself. We have taken lots of LMB out with no negative results.

One thing it proves without question is the lake will flat out grow large LMB. Tilapia should help as they will both get big enough and die when prime feeding time for LMB arrives.

Yes they will, oh yes they will. Tilapia are already huge, and I bought some Stubby Steve's just for them. First natural bait I've bought in 20 years, and I can't wait to try it out.

That sucks losing a monster like that. What is your forage base in the lake?

CNBG, and an annual dose of Tilapia. I think the main thing is though we take lot's of small LMB out yearly, and have a nice long growing season.