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Nice RES. By Shorty's observations of the fin length in relation to the urogenital opening, looks like a female.


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Originally Posted By: snrub
Nice RES. By Shorty's observations of the fin length in relation to the urogenital opening, looks like a female.


I was thinking male based on the urogenital opening and the brighter colored ear tab. Pelvic fin length seems to vary a little bit between individuals and quite a bit based on body condition. Pelvic fin length is possible indicator of male and female RES, but I would not consider it a very reliable one on its own. When sexing RES look at the whole picture, eartab, urogenital opening, pelvic fin length, and see if everything lines up as male or female like it should.



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Reading this thread makes me feel lucky that all I've been "blessed" with is LMB in a HSB pond (that we may have stocked with LMB anyway), and gambusia and emerald shiners in another of our ponds.

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Well finally I was able to catch one of 40 SMB that were planted in the fall of 2014. They look to be doing well.

0.90 lbs




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Congrats! Nice SMB.

Glad to hear things are progressing for you and it is always nice to see someone with an old interesting thread come back and update it to see what has happened.

If you catch any more of the GSF/RES hybrids I sure would be interested to see pictures of those. I think I have been getting a few in my sediment pond but it is hard to tell if they are BG/GSF or RES/GSF because the small hybrids I have been catching in minnow traps (with widened openings to about 2") are small enough it is impossible for me to tell. There is something about the looks that makes me think RES/GSF but may just be wishful thinking. I would like to see more pics that are certain RES/GSF where your pond never had any stocked BG.

Last edited by snrub; 05/09/16 03:00 PM.

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Congrats huntmaster. Adding SMB is a goal of mine at some point too. Can you share where the SMB came from and how you fed them? Did they find natural forage? Crayfish? How did you finally catch one?

Also any tips on how you caught the BH? I may have to target that 'unwanted' specie next.

Did you figure out how the other fish got in your 'contaminated hole'?

The SMB are finding something good to eat over there! Maybe the YP?

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Originally Posted By: snrub
If you catch any more of the GSF/RES hybrids I sure would be interested to see pictures of those. I would like to see more pics that are certain RES/GSF where your pond never had any stocked BG.


I will certainly keep posting pics as we go along. The kids have caught a couple 10"+ perch and several GSF, but not sure if they caught any hybrids. We will get plenty of fishing in this summer, so I'm sure we will catch several for pics.


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Originally Posted By: canyoncreek
Can you share where the SMB came from? I got them from Laggis Fish Farm

Did they find natural forage? Crayfish? I have crayfish, GSH and had FHM, but I suspect they have been consumed by now.

How did you finally catch one? Worm and bobber

Also any tips on how you caught the BH? Just worm and bobbers

Did you figure out how the other fish got in your 'contaminated hole'? No, haven't really worried about it much now. Short of killing everything, there isn't much I can do and the kids enjoy catching the GSF, so all is not lost.

The SMB are finding something good to eat over there! Maybe the YP? Possibly, but they have loads of shiners, had FHM and the small GSF are probably being consumed as well


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It's been some time since I've updated this thread and figured I'd bump it back up with a report on how the fishery is doing. I have been feeding pretty steady this year after slacking off a bit last year. The fish seem to be responding to the feed and are starting to get back on a cycle.

We have been catching YP of all sizes on a pretty regular basis. I have given the kids a slot limit of 8-10" perch to keep for the dinner plate and the rest go back for later.





A weight of one of the better YP caught this spring




He has turned into a fishing fool!


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Last edited by Huntmaster; 06/12/18 10:47 AM. Reason: added pics and info

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We've haven't really targeted any of the SMB, but I wanted to try catching one this weekend to get a weight and check on the progress of their growth. After a few casts, I was greeted by a good solid strike and pulled in a 2.62lb SMB. Pretty fun fight!



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Last edited by Huntmaster; 06/12/18 10:44 AM.

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We still have a bunch of GSF in the pond, but we have been doing a decent job of eliminating them as the boy is big enough now to get the big trap in and out of the water on his own. It has been his daily ritual after school to come home and check the traps to see how many he has caught. He is doing a pretty good job of ID'ing the GSF/RES crosses and getting them back in the pond and then culling the pure GSF. He also has a ball playing with and releasing the several crayfish that usually end up in the trap.

We always seems to catch a bunch of the GSF that are about the size you see in the trap, but rarely catch anything bigger. We've caught a few that were big enough to filet, so I know some are getting bigger. Where do they go?



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Last edited by Huntmaster; 06/12/18 11:01 AM.

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A couple other observations and comments.

Didn't catch a bullhead last summer that I remember and haven't caught one this year yet either.

Also, thought my shiners had been gobbled up since the kids hadn't caught one this year yet, but they caught two of them Sunday.

I do have a few LMB in the pond as the kids caught one this weekend on a worm. I clipped one of it's fins to see how many we are catching over the summer. My boy is now starting to like fishing for bass, so I'll let him try reeling a few of them in.

I haven't got my aeration system in the pond yet, but that is the next thing as it took me awhile to get the dock in the water as well. The dock is in now though.

I haven't seen or caught any baby bass in the pond, so not sure if mine are reproducing or not. I now need to start the maintenance stage of managing the pond so I can keep this fishery moving forward.


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Huntmaster, thanks for taking the time to come back and update us on how things are going. It is encouraging to hear that your MI pond is thriving and despite some curves in the road things are still interesting and rewarding.

You should update your signature line to add the other species you now have and hopefully don't have (You now have LMB and SMB and GSF, hybrids, crayfish, and hopefully no bullhead anymore smile

Your pond is deep enough that aeration in summer time is a good idea and we are getting towards those water temps. I too have to hook my aerator up as we get into the hot muggies this weekend.

I love your trap. Do you bait it or how do the fish find their way in it every day?

How many SMB did you stock?

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Sounds like some great progress on your fishery.

Do you ever catch any RES fingerlings in your trap? I like that big trap.


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Originally Posted By: canyoncreek

I love your trap. Do you bait it or how do the fish find their way in it every day?

How many SMB did you stock?


My Uncle built it a few years ago when he wanted to move some LMB from one of our lakes to another that got froze out. It works pretty good.

We also use a couple of the small minnow traps depending on how much we are home.

No bait in the trap, just throw it in the water and the sunfish come in. I'm guessing they like the structure, but never had to bait it. Only catch a few other random fish, but always habe GSF in there.

I stocked 40 SMB in 2014 if I remember right.


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Originally Posted By: snrub
Sounds like some great progress on your fishery.

Do you ever catch any RES fingerlings in your trap? I like that big trap.


We do catch some that look pure RES and some crosses, but 95% are small GSF. We throw any of the crosses and pure ones back in the pond.


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I have found that GSF are very good at going in traps. I usually bait mine but it sounds like they go in anyway in your experience.

If I put a minnow trap in my forage pond that is not supposed to have GSF (but does have some - I remove all I can) I will get a disproportionate number of GSF compared to RES. But if I throw a cast net I will rarely get a GSF but get lots of RES fingerlings.

If I determined my fish population based on the trap results I would think I had mostly GSF. Yet if I use a cast net it shows I have a vast higher proportion of RES compared to GSF (thank goodness!)

I think the RES stumble into the trap by accident mostly. The GSF seem to go in on purpose. Just different nature/habit of different species of fish.

Last night I caught about three dozen RES with the cast net that ranged from 2" to 3+". I identified two GSF and one potential hybrid out of the catch. If I remember will put a trap out and see what I get but my past experience is I will get several GSF and few RES.

Last edited by snrub; 06/13/18 09:46 AM.

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I too have an infestation of BH. I was wondering if I should quit feeding so my BG would be hungrier and eat more of the little ones in the black clouds? I stocked bass last December, but I have no idea if any survived to help me control the BH. I have been trapping the adult BH and throwing them out. I got their numbers down to where they don't come and eat the feed anymore.

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Perch are still going strong and so are the GSF. Catching a bunch in the trap still.

Struggling to catch many bass. Think we need to mix up our tactics a bit. Boy had a good one on yesterday, but he rigged the pole himself and doesn't really know how to tie a knot on the swivel and it came untied. He was bummed because he has still not caught one bass on our pond ever... His buddies all have caught one, but he is struggling. Oh well, he isn't deterred and keeps after it.



That brings me to the next question. Should I look at any stocking plans in the near future based on what we've discovered so far in the ponds life. I haven't caught any SMB fingerlings in any traps or fishing, but have caught some young LMB while fishing.

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Originally Posted By: Huntmaster
Boy had a good one on yesterday, but he rigged the pole himself and doesn't really know how to tie a knot on the swivel and it came untied.


This will help.

https://www.netknots.com/fishing_knots

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