Pond Boss Forums FISH & FISHING Fly Fishing & Other Fish Species EURYHALINE POND UPDATE

Nope he had one but took it out.

The plan is to keep them out, its only a half acre pond so I dont want to have to manage them. A Teeneager put a small one in and I finally got it out. It had grown a good bit. I thought about just leaving it in as one big bass would be nice to have. But I feared the additional assitance of someone that thought they would add another one, We all know what happens then.....

The plan is to grow enough food to support a limited amount of predators that can get pretty large....I do not have to wory about them reproducing and over populating, I just have to worry about growing enough food to feed them.

A little update from the weekend...

Fished some for the tarpon, hooked it and after a few jumps it cut the line with its gill plate. It jumped multiple times after and finally threw the lure across the pond....


I fished in the St Johns river Friday night and got a Mangrove Snapper and a Flounder of legal angling size limits, So I kept them...debating on if they should go in the pond or the hot grease.

The sail Fin mollies I bucket stocked seem to be really doing well also...

Nice, do you have any flounder or mangroves in there now?

Yep, one flounder in it I know of Flounder run is starting soon in the river so ill hope to get a few flounder in the pond soon.

Maybe one of these days you can finally land that tarpon!

This is such a cool put and take pond!

Actually the pond is coming along nicely, I did notice the YOY 2-3 inch CNBG seemed pretty thin with kinda big eyes. I am not sure what to do to provide more natural food. The pond does get pelleted feed but not on a fixed daily schedual. I am wonding if I still have to many small minnows (GAMS) that migh be competing for food with them.?

Im still trying to get the last two GC out as they have been eating the lilly pads I have tried to get started and the eel grass has not spread beyond the plant cages. Maybe I need to put more plant cages for bugs and things to feed the litte guys?

I'd work on cleaning out the GC. CNBG are very prolific... There is a good chance you have way too many CNBG and there isn't much you can do to help them out. CNBG don't make the best food source for any of your salty predators and you don't have many of those predators anyways. You may need to manually thin some out.

What's your Secchi reading? How much of a bloom do you get?

Thanks CJBS2003,
Lots of babies but not actually that many adults. You are right, I am very suprized at how many babies for how few adults I have. I am going to add a feeder I think and add more predators. I noticed the snapper taking the CNBG out. I have cleaned redfish and jack crevelle with pinfish in the belly, CNBG are similar in structure and spines so maybe they will thin them out, If I can ever catch any big enough to keep to stock. So I guess my plan will be to get my predators stocked and evaluate the CNBG situation after a little time. Maybe after I get more predators stocked see what I have as far as CNBG next summer and come up with a plan.

the pond is pretty steril I think, Before the koi it was gin clear with no bloom ever, just lots of FA during hot summer.

A Little clay is stirred up now and I have noticed a slight tint of green. I think due to fish load increasing.

I considered a little fertizer for the bottom up food chain but wasn't sure about that one.......

If I start feeding more regular with an automatic feeder will that increase natural nutrient load from fish eating more?

If you start feeding, there's no reason to think about adding fertilizer. The feed will do that for you. I think an automated feeder will really jump start the pond.

I would remove those koi. They're just taking up biomass that should be filled by the predators you need to stock.

I released another predator in the pond today..

JACK CREVALLE
http://www.igfa.org/species/147-jack-crevalle.aspx?CommonName=147-jack-crevalle.aspx

I uploaded a video of the release,

Bobby, again I'm impressed with your project. I agree with CJ, Koi are nasty!! That Jack is real nice but able to attain 50+ lbs is something that makes me wonder. Maybe take it out when it gets up around 15-18 lbs or do you think it will not attain a large size because of limited space? Keep these reports coming, they are so cool.

I hope he doesn't get too spooked. Jack Crevalle are very much a schooling species. Without buddies, he may not be happy... Need to catch him a few buddies!

CJ,
I have actually given that some thought. I also seem to catch lots of lone wolf single fish in creeks etc that seem to be out feeding alone. I have seen single fish hanging around spring heads too. I will see how it does and adjust if it seems needed. As BOB-O Mentioned the size, I am concerned about having enough food in the pond. So ill start with adding one and see how it goes.

I have a feeling I will start seeing it feeding on pellets as it is not uncommon for jacks to learn to feed around marina's etc that dump food.

I might one day have to start tossing LM pellets?

I Still have not gotten an auto feeder a but friend that lives adjacent to pond has been hand feeding Purina game fish chow on a simi regular basis for me. . I think thats why I have started seeing the tarpon and the snapper showing up during feeding sessions. they are starting to figure it out.

Great update as always!

It would be awesome to see a pellet feeding video -- I want to see the tarpon

Bocomo,
here is the link to the short video I posted in july that shows the tarpon very briefly. You can see it slash in the screen twice going after someting.


visibility was bad this weekend so I could not see to much. I am thinking the CNBG had a lot of spwaning activity with the recent full moon.

Yep, I saw him at 0:53!

I am hoping to source a few predators this weekend, My goal is a few speckled sea trout, couple southern flounder and a refish or two. I will get a video of the release and post If I am lucky.

specked trout can live in pure fresh water??? How long will it take to acclimate to fresh?

From my reading yes they can. It was done once in texas on a larger scale but was discontinued, seemed the ones stocked survived until fishout out and or died naturally from the reading I have done on it. I have been taking about about 4-6 hours of adding fresh water. I probably should take longer but have had good luck so far. The Spec seatrout is the most Questionable one I am attempting though....

Good luck; I think that will be quite a challege but I think it would add to your already awesome pond.