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Fungus, eh? I never made the connection. I thought their furriness was an asset to cold weather survival. There goes my marketing strategy.


"Forget pounds and ounces, I'm figuring displacement!"

If we accept that: MBG(+)FGSF(=)HBG(F1)
And we surmise that: BG(>)HBG(F1) while GSF(<)HBG(F1)
Would it hold true that: HBG(F1)(+)AM500(x)q.d.(=)1.5lbGRWT?
PB answer: It depends.
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IIRC Scott says he's seen his toad tadpoles get hammered by his LMB - not sure about his BF tadpoles. The enzyme or pheromone excreted by tadpoles making them distasteful to predators makes sense - how else could a tadpole ever make it adulthood otherwise? They are slow and defenseless. I wish my fish could make a meal of them - my WRs would be through the roof. I think Tony should perform some scientific research and taste test them...hey, it's for the advancement of the forum!


Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. ~ Henry David Thoreau

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Maybe my fish are just weird.

I've put literally 100's of Bullfrog Tadpoles in my pond and have only heard one or at the most two adults in the past 5-6 years. Are they growing to adulthood then the LMB eating them? Thoughts?


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Scott, same here...I have tens of thousands of tadpoles, but I'd say fewer than 100 adult bullfrogs. I know bullfrogs get hammered by mink, coons, herons, snakes, owls, hawks, and in your case, LMB and CC. My suspicion is they lose the pheromone once they become frogs and become a forage option for a host of animals.


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Originally Posted By: teehjaeh57
I think Tony should perform some scientific research and taste test them...hey, it's for the advancement of the forum!


laugh I would love to see photos of the 'taste test'....

[img:left][/img]

Last edited by DrLuke; 07/02/15 01:02 PM.

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For those having trouble getting frogs, how much cover (emergent plants) do you have on your pond edges?

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Originally Posted By: teehjaeh57
IIRC Scott says he's seen his toad tadpoles get hammered by his LMB - not sure about his BF tadpoles. The enzyme or pheromone excreted by tadpoles making them distasteful to predators makes sense - how else could a tadpole ever make it adulthood otherwise? They are slow and defenseless. I wish my fish could make a meal of them - my WRs would be through the roof. I think Tony should perform some scientific research and taste test them...hey, it's for the advancement of the forum!


Forget the worm in the tequila...next season's maple syrup will feature a tadpole in a few select bottles, intended for close acquaintances.


"Forget pounds and ounces, I'm figuring displacement!"

If we accept that: MBG(+)FGSF(=)HBG(F1)
And we surmise that: BG(>)HBG(F1) while GSF(<)HBG(F1)
Would it hold true that: HBG(F1)(+)AM500(x)q.d.(=)1.5lbGRWT?
PB answer: It depends.
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I'm still saving the syrup for the first brisk morning of Fall 2015...the seals are so nice, I feel bad breaking them.


Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. ~ Henry David Thoreau

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The other evening while out in the pouring rain checking on things for flood problems, I found two very large bullfrogs. They were both about the size of salad plates. When the jumped ungracefully into the pond to escape me, it sounded like a child belly-flopping into the pond! I have never seen a bull frog that big, and two in one night!

Like many of you I have thousands of tadpoles, and now many have legs and are dense around the pond edges. If I could get $5 a pop, I could take the summer off!

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Weird how things like bullfrogs run in cycles. On a similar, but non-pond related note, this has been the best raspberry year I can ever remember.


"Forget pounds and ounces, I'm figuring displacement!"

If we accept that: MBG(+)FGSF(=)HBG(F1)
And we surmise that: BG(>)HBG(F1) while GSF(<)HBG(F1)
Would it hold true that: HBG(F1)(+)AM500(x)q.d.(=)1.5lbGRWT?
PB answer: It depends.
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Originally Posted By: sprkplug
Weird how things like bullfrogs run in cycles. On a similar, but non-pond related note, this has been the best raspberry year I can ever remember.


100+ that, can't imagine how many black raspberries and red raspberries we have this year, picking daily and can't keep up.

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Yeah I caught one, one day on my pond I couldn't believe it. Caughtit on a floating worm!!

My worm hit the water and I saw this hugh wake from about 20 feet away coming at it and I thought oh man this has got to be a big bass!! Ha,ha right. Caught a 17.5 inch Bully from nose to toe. Thing was a beast!! Best fight I had all day!! smile


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My wife tells the story of a large bull frog that lived near a garden pond in her yard. One day she found it dead with a bird in its mouth (also dead).

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When we bought this property and moved here in fall of 2009, we noticed hundreds if not thousands of bullfrog tadpoles in our pond, but heard no adults. The next spring after ice out, we could see dozens of larger tadpoles, the size that begin to change into frogs come summer. We were expecting lots of big frogs to eat. Nothing doing-we have 1 bullfrog presently. The tadpoles all disappeared before they became adults. We've never seen another tadpole since the summer of 2010. I'd like to understand what happened. Shoreline cover has always included some cattails and bulrushes. Underwater vegetation was non existent the first 2 years. Now, there's lots of elodea and some sago is moving in. What happened to the frogs is a mystery to me.

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I have huge amounts of bullfrogs and other kinds and have never put any frogs or tadpoles in the pond. What I noticed is when my pond was new I didn't have frogs. Then when I had the heavy infestation of Eurasian Milfoil they just showed up and loved to sit on top of the milfoil that was on top of the water. When the GC denuded my pond of vegetation the frogs mostly disappeared and came back when I reintroduced vegetation. They go where the food is and vegetation has lots of bugs. My dog Dolly catches several a day just to play with. The turtles and frogs coexist well together.

One of the best things about frogs is the tadpoles eat algae.



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When we gig bull frogs we always check the stomach contents when cleaning them. It's amazing what they will eat. We've found that there favorite meal is small bullfrogs. We have also found water snakes, baby painted turtles, rats, fish including a 9" Redfin pike, bugs and birds. If it fits it's gone. But the fact that they eat there young may explain the lack of young frogs.

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I noticed my snake population in the pond has grown and at the same time my Bullfrog population has gone down. So I reduced my snake population yesterday evening. Removed 4 snakes from the pond. I have seen another black one, if I see him again, I will remove him.

Tracy

Last edited by TGW1; 07/03/15 08:20 AM. Reason: correction

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Originally Posted By: Cray
When we gig bull frogs we always check the stomach contents when cleaning them. It's amazing what they will eat. We've found that there favorite meal is small bullfrogs. We have also found water snakes, baby painted turtles, rats, fish including a 9" Redfin pike, bugs and birds. If it fits it's gone. But the fact that they eat there young may explain the lack of young frogs.


I've found many of the same things you mention. They are voracious and highly predatory. Back when I was bass fishing a lot, I would catch them fairly regularly on topwater jerkbaits.

If they could achieve a bigger top-end size, it might not be safe for your terrier to visit the pond alone.


"Forget pounds and ounces, I'm figuring displacement!"

If we accept that: MBG(+)FGSF(=)HBG(F1)
And we surmise that: BG(>)HBG(F1) while GSF(<)HBG(F1)
Would it hold true that: HBG(F1)(+)AM500(x)q.d.(=)1.5lbGRWT?
PB answer: It depends.
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Was out fishing yesterday and it was like a biblical plague of baby frogs. Looked like the ground was rolling ahead of me. If I had a mind to I could net thousands of them. I might try fishing with them.

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In my nearly 68 years on this earth, I've seen almost no downsides to having any kind of frogs or toads where I fish and garden.

I wasn't too fond of the "giant bufo toads" we had in Hawaii that would hide during the day in my cucumber patches. I'd think I was grabbing a cucumber, and it would be one of those critters. They secreted a nasty substance that was supposedly a poison. I'd just wash my hands good after grabbing one. The hippies of the 70s would lick them to get a psychedelic high. I never tried that.

As a kid I used tadpoles for bass bait underneath the cranberry bogs along the south edge of the 80-acre lake on my uncle's farm. The tadpoles produced monster bass (for Northern Wisconsin) in June and early July. I think they were probably leopard frog tadpoles.

I mostly have bullfrogs throughout the summer on my bass/bluegill/CC/HSB pond. Just not very many.

The only downside was one big bull frog I named "Heart Attack." He was rather large and lived in the high grass on the north side of the pond. I'd get with about step of him, and he'd let out a croak, noisily spring several feet into the water, and nearly give me a heart attack.

One day, after he did that, I'd moved about 20-30 feet away from where he resided - after he'd done his act. I saw and heard all kinds of commotion in that area. A big bass had jumped into the grass and grabbed him, and then the bass flopped its way back into the water. That was the last of my friend "Heart Attack".

That pond has a limited number of smaller bullfrogs. Near sunset I regularly hear bass going up into the grass to grab them. (I keep about 12- to 18-inch wide swath of taller grass all the way around that pond for critter habitat. When I weed whack, I don't trim it less than about 8-12 inches).

I have a grow-out pond that is filled with RES and FHMs this summer. It is really filled with bull frogs. One is especially big. I've named him "B.P." for B.P Richfield from the old TV comic series "Dinosaurs".



Now and then, something goes in there and cleans out a number of the bullfrogs. My RES and FHM population also takes a toll. I'm thinking it is probably some kind of snakes. I just never see them.

My put-and-take HBG/HSB/CC pond has a few tadpoles, but virtually no frogs, but the settling pond that feeds that pond is loaded with bullfrogs and green frogs. Right now the settling pond is a slimy algae mess, but the frogs seem to like it.

I have toad houses made from old flower pots in the north shadows around the house. Most stay occupied. I figure thee toads eat a lot of bugs. I water the houses a couple of times a week with a hose.

In any case, I love having the frogs and toads around.

Snakes -- not so much.

Ken


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Originally Posted By: sprkplug
We're experiencing what, on the surface anyways, appears to be an excellent bullfrog year. There are thousands of large, legged BF tadpoles, and the adults are here in numbers that I haven't seen in years. I expect the herons to arrive in force, any day.


Tony,

Same here in Northern Indiana, but not just bullfrogs.

Haven't had many visits by herons this year. When I do I just fire a bottle rocket toward them.

Last edited by Cecil Baird1; 08/27/15 02:14 PM.

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Lots of medium sized bullfrogs this spring and lots of tadpoles. Lots of FA mats for them to hide in.

Big bullfrogs would hop across the top of the FA mats.

Raked the FA mats out of the pond and lots of frogs hopped back in from it.

Left and was gone a month. Came back and the FA is almost all gone, water has a nice planktonic algae bloom, and very few frogs.

When I removed the FA, either the LMB and/or GBH did away with the frogs or the frogs moved to the creek behind the pond. I think the FA was their protection and when I got rid of the FA the frogs became part of the food chain. Sad to see all the large bullfrogs gone.

But the pond looks nice now.


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Here's one that found it's way into our fish trap. We have a dozen or so that are this size and many more that are smaller. Kids love going around the pond counting frogs.



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yesterday @ the pond I was seeing something come up to the surface and take a breath and then dive straight back towards the bottom of the pond. This was taking place in 6 foot or deeper water. My first thoughts were the fish were piping for air, but I watched more closely and discovered they were big tadpoles, about 3" in length and over an inch around in size. It would happen so fast it was hard to take a good look. I am pretty sure they were bull frog tadpoles and if so, I will have a lot of bull frogs. has anyone else ever seen this, it was first for me.

Tracy

Last edited by TGW1; 08/14/15 07:35 AM. Reason: sp

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See it quite a bit!


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