Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron?

I think this SMB will survive as it hit a crank bait today. I found another SMB two weeks ago roughly the same size that did not with similar marks on one side. I am a little surprised that the GBH visiting my pond is targeting SMB in the 13-1/2" size range.

Thry target anything that show up at there feet

I'd say yes. Any marks on the opposite side of the fish?

I had them kill a RBT 2 years ago that was 17" long.

If you find more fish damaged like that I'd say keep them for the frying pan..

Esshup, no marks on the other side of the fish.

I have seen worse damage on a fish heal up over time.

Herons are such a nuisance here they have changed the way they dig ponds. The bank is dug straight down to a "shelf" 2 or 3 feet below. The shelf is 5 or so feet wide clear around the pond and then drops straight down to deeper water. When at full pool, the shelf has from 2 to 6 inches of water on it. If you plant tall shallow water plants on the shelf, there should be no where for the herons to stand to hunt fish and the water in the pond is deep enough to keep the plants from spreading out too far. Mine just filled last year and I'm trying to decide which plants to plant. I have no idea why herons are still protected. They sure are not in short supply.

Then we can rule out an Osprey. I think GBH.

I would just think wounded fish would be more prone to diseases and such.. and fish with holes through them make better sandwiches rather than thinking damn my pond is infested with this disease could it of been that fish I threw back in with the holes through it..

Just a thought. .

Open sores might make them more prone to infection but they can heal up quite well given time. At my dad's old pond we had a 14-1/2" LMB that got hit hard with a boat prop one year, it sliced a 1" X 3" chunk of skin off it's side. I caught that fish at least five times while it was healing up, it was skinny and looked horrible for several months and I was very tempted to put it out of it's misery. The following year I caught that same fish one more time and it was super healthy, all it had left was 1 centimeter x 1 centimeter scar on it's side and it had grown to 16".

I don't doubt they can heal.. Ive seen some badly mangled fish still alive.. I just don't know if the risk is worth it.. I have no problem throwing a fish on the bank though most people can't do that..

Not risky at all IMO, if the fish dies then it's nutrients are recycled back into the food chain.

In order to survive a significant injury a fish has to become a highly motivated and successful eating machine, this highly aggressive eating pattern will likely be carried forward once it has healed completely.

In the short term an injured fish won't grow as it heals, but it is likely to make up some of that growth once it has. All that is needed is a good forage base and time. It would not surprise me to catch this very same SMB again in the next four weeks, if I do I will post pictures here showing how it is healing. I suspect that four weeks from now you won't be able to see where the GBH hit it.

Here is another one I caught today, marks on both sides this time. Not sure if this was a heron or a cormorant but think it was the heron again as I haven't seen any cormorants yet.

My wag is a heron.

Caught a 6" BG last week out of our pond with a strike mark that looked just like that. One side.

We have regular GBH visits when I'm not around. They go to the old pond when anyone is home or moving around. Have realized one shows up right at dark that may have been missing it being there.

Also have had cormorants on and off also. Only singles so far. Hope they don't decide to bring their buddies back.

Definitely a heron. Seen it many times before I put up my staked lines. Electric would be fun if someone would film it and share it with us. I hear herons do an great break dance when they make contact with electricity. LOL

Agree... #*@&# heron. They've killed or ate more fish out of my pond in the last 5 years than the winters got. I hate finding dead large fish on the banks with the gouges or "hole" right between the eyes. I won't shoot them but they don't like bottle rockets .

Man alive!!!

A heron attacking my SMB....and it's on!!!!!!!!!

Generally, I like herons, but I love smallies more.

Shorty, your second picture with more of a 'slash' is what I've seen more of.

I had 2 or 3 GBH that were daily visitors to my 2 acre pond along with about 30-40 geese. I put in one of the fake alligator heads about a month ago. I have not seen a GBH since and the geese numbers dropped to 3.

So far 2 herons down on my pond this year (+/- 5 last year). I have nothing against wildlife unless it has no negative impact on my pond. Herons have. Well, one has to give up and I don't see any reason why that one should be me.
By the way, you can never know how much herons visit your pond daily. I thought that my pond usually was visited by 1 or sometimes 2 herons. One down but still coming. OK, another down and still coming. After killing those 5 obviously one had left because his visits were rare.

If you think about killing them but are afraid from shooting because of neighbours or so, I can give you some advice.

And my dogs look at them like they're tree stumps. Then the heron hears me open the sliding glass door and bolts .

We have one that visits nightly, after almost dark. I always thought they went to roost by the time this one comes in. Easy early evening snack I guess before retiring.

I don't mind them getting a fish now and then. But the fish I saw floated up to the bank today really made me sad. To be fair, I can not say for sure the GBH got it. Looks like a resident snapping turtle took a big bite out, but that could have been before or after the fishes death.

Do 12" snapping turtles actively attack 9" fish? I thought they were mostly scavengers. My guess is the GBH stabbed and killed this fish and the turtle started the clean up process.

The irksome part is this is by far the biggest fish to come out of my pond. Biggest BG caught to date is 6.5" and this RES measured 9". Both opercular tabs were gone but the coloration looked right to me for a RES and the gill raker's were very short.

Wouldn't you know it. The fish I have the least of in the pond and wanted to increase, and something (besides me and a fishing line) gets one of the biggest and best.

I guess the good news of the situation is, I now know I've raised at least one 9" RES in a little over a year from stocking 3" fish.

Doubtful a snapper caught the fish. He probably came along and took advantage of the situation after it was killed by the GBH.

Forgive me if I forget but was there a reason you can't put up staked lines to keep the GBH out? Was your pond too big? If so have you considered staking out areas where is he is most likely to get in?

I.e., last year I just staked out an area of shoreline my bluegills bed off of.

Another concern about GBH's, other than just needlessly killing larger fish is they are parasite vectors. All they have to do is stand over the water and the parasites will drop out of their mouths.

GBH's are just doing what comes natural and as you can see he's giving a turtle something to eat. However I can't tolerate it in my ponds due to niche market I supply, make sure they can't feed in my ponds, and have to move on somewhere else.

You're smarter than the bird. You don't have to take this!

looks like a crappie to me...check out those eyes.

Sprkplug, you beat me to it. snrub, are there any crappie in the pond? The coloration, body shape and eyes/remaining gill flap looks like a crappie to me.