Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Newer pond questions

I have a .75 acres pond in my back yard that has been somewhat of a work in progress. It is kidney shaped with an 8' deep pool and a 10' deep pool with the center being about 5' deep. The first year we filled it (drought year) it didnt' hold water so we pumped it out and lined it with bentonite. I'm not sure if we stocked it that fall or not but I don't think we did.

Move forward to 2013. The pond is doing much better at holding water as I only have to run the pump about once every 2-3 weeks to maintain an "attractive" level. We stocked it with 1-2" bluegill and minnows in Spring. We didn't see any fish activity all summer so we added about 200 more in August. About that time we also started seeing our original bluegill congregating along the shore line and some were upwards of 6". An areator was added with a difuser in each deep pool.

2014 was a rough year for the pond. Spring rains over filled it several times and my dam failed, dropping the level of the pond by about 3-4' in a matter of minutes. To make matters worse a large amount of water ran through the pond for at least an additional 24 hours. To make it worse, after I was able to temporarily repair the dam it washed away again and it wasn't until mid to late July that we were able to repair it again, fill it, and try our luck at fishing. We caught nothing and believed our fish were all gone. We restocked with 300 bluegill and minnows last fall. I also added an automatic fish feeder.

2015 brought more heavy rains but the dam held this time when it overflowed. The water is muddy from the runoff but I know we have many 1-3" bluegill and tons of minnows. The reason I know we have bluegill is because I had to rescue them from some stagnant backwaters several weeks ago. We have also discovered that we have bullhead and about a month ago stocked it with 37 3-4" largemouth.

I still only see minnow activity around the shoreline. Never any signs of the bass or bluegill. I've been trapping 3-6" bullhead in a minnow trap for several weeks now to the tune of close to 200. When the fish feeder runs or I throw out feed the minnows go crazy but nothing else. This is how I first noticed the bullhead but the trapping has evidently reduced their numbers and I don't see them feeding on the surface any longer. I'm feeding "Trophy Fish Food" from Orschelns about 10 seconds twice a day but they will eat more and more if I provide it.

I'm not a pond expert and need to know what I'm doing wrong and what I'm doing right. I do have plans of doing some somewhat major dirt work to significantly reduce the amount of watershed that comes to the pond but that may not happen until fall and harvest is done.

That is a nice lookin BOW. Good for you for stickin with it. The only input I can provide is to keep targeting those Bullheads. Keep us updated please.

Good news! I spent some time on my dock a few evening the past week and am now seeing bluegill activity when the feeder runs or when I throw out food. They tend to be 3-5 inches long which makes me think they are the 1"ers that I stocked last August or September. This also leads me to believe that I probably have some 6-8 inchers lurking around as there were several dozen 3" bluegill I put in last summer as well.

I'm catching fewer bullhead in my trap than when I started so I've evidently put a dent in their population. I also found a school of 1/4" bullhead last week and was able to net about half of them out. Hopefully the bass take care of the rest.

I also was able to reduce fish populations significantly by trapping. In my case bullheads with both minnow traps and a regular fish trap, and GSF with minnow traps. Also angling with a very small jig along the shore line. This was in my old refurbished 1 acre pond where I left a small puddle of original water when I cleaned it out. Thus the source of the trash fish.

Once I got the numbers down to where I thought they would be manageable with predators I basically quit worrying about them. Still remains to be seen how that turns out.

If you get the BH #'s down to reasonable level and the predators control the recruitment, the remaining BH will get decent enough size to become fun to catch and they are not bad eating at all. Especially if you are giving them some supplemental feed so they grow well.

I also was able to net quit a lot of small BH from the shore line while they were still in protective schooling balls. Hopefully the LMB will take care of future babies.

snrub... what do you mean by a 'regular fish trap'? I'm searching for a certain trap and need some info or links to help me out. Fyke net?

There are instructions on the interweb to make your own 4-way fish trap. Very similar to the ones sold here:
http://www.castnetworld.com/baitfishtraps.html

fish trap

I believe this is the one I use. Only trap for larger than minnow size fish that I have experience with so don't know if it is best kind or not.

I ordered one. Thanks snrub. No shipping. I put in YP a few months ago, along with RES and GS. Really haven't seen anything since. Millions of FHM, so I'm assuming they are doing fine. Hopefully the trap will confirm.

Rats...the link is dead, the academy site is down. Is there another web page with picture or a google image link you can send me Setter Guy or snrub? I ordered one style and I'd like to try other styles as well. I'm looking to trap larger than minnow size and would like to experiment with different baits.

Just go to the Academy Web site, search for fish traps, and it is the Kajun Krabtraps medium fish trap.

I've caught a number of medium sized bullhead and a few larger GSF, although I think if the GSF are left long they get back out.

It has some wire ends at the entrances that can be bent to somewhat customize the size of the opening.

I tried this:
http://www.academy.com/shop/browse/SearchDisplay?categoryId=&searchTerm=Fish+trap

Could be the same link, but it's working for me.

Thanks to both you helped with these links. I can see the trap now. unique design! What does the listing mean when it says the trap features a 'panfish attractant' Is that the side port access, is that where you put a panfish in there as 'bait'?

No idea. I haven't received mine yet, nor did I check that out. I went to the other link provided above for a trap. I'm sure it's a better trap, but just the shipping on that trap was about equal to the total cost of this trap. (Free shipping on orders above $25)
I don't anticipate using this trap all that often. I just want to monitor fish growth for a while. My fish are so new/young/small, that it can't catch them yet.

The trap has a cage situated in the middle of the trap with a trap door where a person can put bait. The mesh is pretty big so fish food will not stay in without putting it in a mesh bag. I have stuffed fish food in a bag and also dead fish or fish cleanings in this containment as attractant for BH. The area of this bait container is about the size of a can of peas. It has a bungie strap that holds the lid closed that works well.

I don't have enough experience with fish traps for larger fish to know if this is a good trap or not. But I have caught a number of medium sized bullheads with it. It is not for big fish at all, but will catch 4-5" BG, 5-6" GSF, Bh up to 10 or 12", etc. That is what I wanted it for.

If a person was trying to trap larger fish, it is not big enough.

It is well constructed and quality built. I did have a snapping turtle make a pretty good bend in some of the lid to the bait container trying to get in to the fish guts that were inside. But is straightened right out and back in the water it went.

Thanks snrub, that real life experience is very valuable to others on this forum.

I bought a 'pop up' style mesh trap (cheap chinese junk) and will play around with that in my pond and in a lake I'm going to next week. We'll see how it goes.

snrub,

Have you been able to catch any BG in that thing? If so, what did you bait with? I have tried a few different baits with no luck in my trap.

Aqua Max is a dependable bait for BG in my minnow traps - but only if I check them on the hour. If I allow them to sit overnight all I trap are tadpoles and crayfish. I assume the BG are agile enough to escape the trap - so I advise checking them every 45-60 min.

The old pond I used it in only had a low population at the time I was trying to remove BH and GSF, and I don't recall specifically if I got BG in it or not.

Memory is fuzzy as it was last year, but I think I had it in my main pond once and caught BG. No reason it shouldn't. I catch smaller BG in minnow traps regularly, so BG readily go into baited traps.

That is a good question though, and I do have a sediment pond that should have some CNBG I stocked last fall the right size. Might try sampling that pond with the trap when I get home in a couple days.

Been on a month long motorcycle trip to the east coast, up through Canada over the top of Lake Superior to Winnipeg, and now in Iowa on the home path. Looking forward to seeing my fish again. Grandson and daughter have been feeding them while gone.

I don't feed AQM and I've tried bread and dog/cat chow to no avail. They didn't even eat the bait and leave.

Feedback on my new 'el-cheaop' fish net. So far, so good. It definitely is cheaply built. The fabric mesh is very light duty. A large fish thrashing could damage it easily, but catching panfish, minnows, crayfish, it should be fine.

There is a handy zippered opening near the bottom to make it easy to get the fish out. Online reviews suggest the zipper is flimsy and will fall off. Sure to form, mine fell off on the 2nd use. I'll probably close the opening with safety pin or rig up some other velcro closure etc.

The trap has a neat design with openings from all sides. It also has a handy bait bag that hangs from the top. I put small floating fish feed pellets in there and they stayed in the mesh bag nicely. It seemed to be a pretty good fish attractant as well.

the first few times I put it in for 45-60 min at a time. The first time I caught 3 perch, the 2nd time 3 more perch and a large GSH.

This was pretty exciting because I haven't seen my perch since stocking this spring. I thought they might be eating pellets but if they are, I can't make them out as they are quick and their back is brown/black, hard to make out any stripes as they come in and disappear. Or, it is likely the may be waiting for pellets to sink and then eating them from the bottom.

The trap was put in at the same spot where I hand feed the fish when my night schedule allows. I tried a few more times with the trap and each time got 1-3 nice perch. Most were 5-6" and looked healthy and like they had put on weight since stocking them this spring.

The GSH was a nice catch too as I can finally get a good look at my adult GSH and see that they have really 'porked out' getting fatter and bigger as they actively eat the pellets. I can tell them by their gold flash as they come up to take the pellets.

The real goal was to catch my RES to see their size (no luck on that yet)or to see if any of my LCS survived. I have never seen any LCS so I wonder how they hide so well or maybe they didn't make it?

So far the tilapia are smart enough to stay out of the trap.

No crayfish yet either but I bet the crayfish would prefer a dead chopped up minnow or fish carcase rather than fish pellets.

I find this trap so far much easier to use and much more effective than my metal minnow trap (probably the black PVC coating on the metal makes it too visible) Also the mesh trap has a green mesh which is less visible in the water and also has several larger 'sleeves' that are the openings for fish to get in.

If I'm very cautious in putting it in and pulling it out I hope it will serve me well for a while. It comes with its own carrying case and is easily collapsible. I fully expect that it will dry rot if not dried out and carefully stored. You need to be cautious with tugging it in and out but even if it lasts me a season, I'll be happy that the price was right ($10 give or take).

Many places carry them, amazon, ebay, here is one site with good pictures. I got one called 'Ohuhu' on ebay, $15, shipped from New York with it arriving 2 days after purchase.

fish trap example

You have probably already tried these things, but in case you haven't:

If you have predators in the pond, the minnows likely will be hugging the bank for protection (assuming you do not have a lot of weed cover for them within the pond). Try putting the trap so the thickest center portion is just barely covered with water. Really shallow near the shore.

Keep the trap parallel to the shore line. Minnows move along the shore line as they feed. If the trap is not oriented with the openings in line with the way they are swimming, they are less likely to go in.

I've had variable success with traps. Some time periods catching very few FHM, other times catching lots of them. But not catching any over a period of time, that is new to me.

Defective minnows?????

I took a similar trip a few years ago on my bike. Great riding up in Maine, across NH, and VT, then up into Canada and around Superior. May do that again one of these days when I can take more time. (Sorry for the thread hijack.)

On Friday evening my 9 year old son and I went out with worms and hooks for the first time this summer. In his first cast he pulled in this 12" bullhead. He grinned ear to ear! We caught three other like it and a dozen or so 6" ones that we fed to the cats. He was determined that we eat the big ones so we filleted them and fried they up. They did taste good.

I spent another hour fishing Saturday evening and caught ten or so small ones and tried again this evening for several hours and reeled in 8 small ones. I have no idea how many bullhead my pond may have in it but it does seem like I'm making some progress. Is it possible that the 4 big ones were the only big ones in there? Probably 3 years old?

Got the trap out just to see. Threw it in the pond and went back to the shed for some feed to bait it. Pulled it out and had 1 3" BG in it. Baited it and checked it 50 minutes later, had 4 BG from 3-4". Had some smaller ones but they fell out through the mesh as I pulled it in. Repeated the test and pulled out 7 more BG from 3-4.5". Left it over night with bait and the next day the bait was gone and no fish.

So I think if a person wants to catch BG, need to check it in 30 minutes to an hour. My guess is they find their way back out pretty quickly once the feed is gone.

Edit: Bait was fish food pellets wrapped in a 9" piece of brown paper (like grocery sack paper) then double wrapped in another piece of paper. If a person does not have a mesh bag to put the feed in, I have found wrapping it in paper in a couple layers will work. As the feed and paper soaks up it opens up enough to act as an attractant. Drop the paper ball of feed in the feed container in the middle of the trap.

I used to use paint strainer bags. And then, I noticed some of my Wifes mesh socks. Put some pellets in and tie the top. Yesterday I salvaged a pair of panty hose that my Wife tossed. That stuff works great.