Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Placing branches down for YP spawn

I strongly doubt you have experienced 90% mortality - I'm unclear on the reasons/details that lead you to this assumption. On my ponds, YP angling is most successful when they are shallow in Spring and Fall - but evening bite is also fairly reliable throughout the year including Summer and Winter. 1/32 oz jighead and small/medium FHM or crawler fished slowly on on or near bottom is a great method, as is a split shot 18" up from a octopus hook and FHM nose hooked if they are finicky. If your pond is full of forage, the YP are well fed and angling won't be as hot, but if you keep the bait in their zone, you should be catching YP this Spring.

I can go months without seeing YP hitting floating feed from June through September, then they're back at it in October like crazy. I can also go the same amount of time without catching a single YP. I've run the spectrum from assuming their population was wiped out due to poaching, GBH, Mink, predator fish, etc. - and they always reappear when I'm ready to give up. Once I bought my AquaVu mini cameras a couple years back it helped ease my concerns as I could see big YP routinely swimming around the dock - even though they weren't feeding on pellets and I wasn't sampling them through angling.

My advice is to take it easy - this is only year two since stocking, fisheries take time to establish and it takes patience and diligence to learn how to read your pond and fishery. Over the next few weekends try angling for YP using the tactics above or try something on your own - I would be very surprised if you start don't popping YP.

Yawzwaaa, PB gtg in 18 in Mizoo!!!

Is there a date for GTG yet? I need to let work know so I can take off. About dress code for the GTG....No speedos, right? !!!!!!

Sorry Billy, speedos are fine, just no pink uns.
Actually.... I believe a whole bunch of us would like ta converge at your Mutt pond.
Come on guys, chirp in on a gtg at Billys

Guys, I'm seriously hoping I've got more than 70 left.
However, I've thrown every color of jig, at every depth, I've floated worms at every depth, FHM at different depths, nets, all different times of days, the feeder ran at regular intervals right at sunrise and right at sunset. I've tried all of the above fishing techniques at different times of day.
I believe I've caught two additional YP since the 30 in two days. I did see a few hitting feed, but not more than 10 to 20 fish, which I suspected were YP. (I stopped the feeder when the water temp dropped below 50, and I have not started it up again.)

***If there are 1,100 to 1,300 additional YP in this pond, the July GTG will be epic!!
Speedos will be discouraged, but speedos would certainly be better than no speedos!

From previous posts from earlier in this thread, indicating that I should be seeing and or catching some YP, I'm not optimistic.. If YP are that difficult to track down and catch in a one acre pond, I'm going to have a difficult time getting grandkids very excited about fishing with Pops..

Edit, Rainman, I appreciate your response, I really do.

I'm in the same situation. I've put over 400 YP in a pond about 1/2 acre or so over the last 3 years. I had some recruitment the year before last but none I saw last year. I caught about 10 last fall in 2 days with the largest being 2 of them females about 12 inches long. I put them all back. I rarely catch one on anything the rest of the year. My pond stays pretty green and the visibility is generally less than 12 inches so that may be part of it. I've fished for them with worms and lures both deep and shallow with poor results. I have lots of FHM, especially small ones. I also have 25 SMB and 6 HSB which seem to keep BG recruitment down. My HBG are very aggressive and I'm trying to reduce their numbers whenever I have time to clean fish.

Apparently YP do not transfer well and have poor survival if water temperature is too warm maybe above 65F-70F. I've heard too many stories of YP dying after stocking when moved above 66F-70F. Be aware of this when stocking YP. I don't trust others to do my fish hauling, plus I want to pick up my YP as soon as they are collected from the grow out ponds. Sitting in a holding tank is very hard and stressful for ALL fish especially in the wrong temperature water. BG & CC are very "touchy" when handled in cold water. IMO and experience, some fish species 'prefer' to be moved in cold water (40F-55F-YP,WE,NP,trout), some prefer cool water(55F-60F,YP,SMB,GSH,FHM), some warmer(70+) water (BG,LMB,CC,HSB,tilapia). Prefer means fewest latent deaths after stocking.

Bill, I'm glad you posted this information. When my fish were delivered there were 100s of dead ones in the holding tanks. Apparently water was introduced into the tanks from a water source other than a pond. The fish kill was immediate. The offending water was flushed immediately. We tried to count dead fish, and estimate what percentage of the remaining fish were still alive. I have been curious since last April, when the 1,200+ perch were stocked if they survived. I have had very little luck with any technique in finding them. Very few ever came to the feeder. I did have a few weeks when the feeder was down, but I started it the day that the fish were stocked. Since then, I do not think I've seen more than 20 or 30 hitting the feed.
I found a few dead fish after stocking, but not many. The GSH survived stocking, I know that for sure. They immediately were caught in the nylon netting used for the grass mats. That's another story though.
I'm sure the water in my pond was cool enough in April, that it did not shock the fish, but I'm not sure they survived the water mishap the night before, when so many were killed.
Jeff

Considering the high stress of the stocker fish it is surprising that any survived despite them swimming away. Chemical and temperature shock stress are difficult for most all fish to overcome in the long term. They can swim away but survival is usually very poor.

Most YP sink as they die. My pond of YP is old enough that I loose numerous old big YP each year. I rarely see dead ones floating. Also others with perch in my area rarely see dead perch unless the fish had eaten food or pellets that cause gas, bloating, and then floating. IMO dead YP with empty stomachs rarely float. YP almost always rest idle on the bottom at night, thus I don't think they have as much air bladder buoyancy as many other fish.

I would talk to your YP supplier to see if they won't replace the YP at cost or a significant discount. Try to get two sizes 2"-4" and 5"-6" to have fish to make up for a poor year class that you are likely to get in 2016.

Thank you. This has been an eye opening few days..

Bill, I am the one that supplied the YP.

The fish were in great shape the night before delivery. I wanted to ensure fresh water while I slept that night, so at a client's place I was delivering the same YP batch Setterguy got, I went there to use well water to freshen the holding tanks. What I didn't know, was that the well water he had was filled with hydrogen sulfide gas. I'd foolishly lowered the tanks after checking that temps were good, and I smelled the sulfur smell too. What I didn't expect was how heavy the concentration was. The YP instantly got hit hard, but after cranking up the O2 to a rolling boil to gas off the Hydrogen Sulfide, the YP started coming back to life.

It was a given that several were going to die in a few days, and the Setterguy's pond was stocked with a couple hundred "extras" as well as charged for a couple hundred less than originally ordered. Still, if we can do a survey, He'll get whatever fish numbers and sizes he'd like this spring.

It's not the first time fish got killed, and it won't be the last, but as many know and have seen, I'll always make it right.

I still believe the vast majority of the 1400+ stocked, survived. I expected about 1000-1100 to survive. A survey sampling is needed to prevent an overstocking.

Rainman,
I wish you were in my neighborhood. I'd buy my fish from you in a heartbeat. It's pretty obvious that you're a stand up guy. And that's a precious commodity in business sometimes these days. Best of luck to all... Setterguy, I hope you get to announce a big gtg bash!

This thread went from "should I pull branches to prevent too many YP". To "Where did all my YP go?"
Rainman, once again, thank you for your post. Hopefully we can determine if there are any still in there. I wish I was a better angler. Those 30 YP I caught in two days last fall, were the only YP I've ever caught.
Hollywood, Rainman has been very fair to deal with. He's since sold me additional fish, and has treated my pond with alum. He's a great guy.
Once again, I really, really hope those fish survived! My grandson would like to catch something this summer. Starting over isn't my goal..

Ponds teach us many things, if we're paying attention. Patience is not one of my strongest traits. But... I'm learning it...

I would not be discouraged just yet. If the perch were in the pond when treated with alum there is a good reason they are not eating or hitting your bait.

Even if your PH is right your dissolved salts or electrical conductivity can be very very high. The water is like milk in away. It will not burn you or kill you but can strip paint off a table.

I am no expert on fish but when I treated my pond with alum and lime the fish disappeared for weeks. I could not keep a minnow trap in the pond with out it completely rotting to dust but my PH was 7.5.

Sulfur in water is very acidic as well as alum. I don't know how fast it would react with the fish's blood chemistry but it could take some time to flush the system.

Think back to when you caught the 30 if there was a weather event like high winds, heavy rain that could have flushed or diluted the pond water and temp.

Cheers Don.

The alum treatment was the previous fall/winter, before the fish were stocked (April)
Trying to think back on the "hot" days of fishing. Not sure if there was anything unique about those days. I'll be trying to catch them again soon. I'll try minnows again for sure, but I tried FHM many times after those good days. Nothing happening. I did catch some small HBG that I had added on my own mid summer. No YP.
I work continually on being patient. These YP were stocked almost ten months ago. I haven't seen too many since then. Last fall as the feeder went off, maybe 20 YP would be taking feed. It was never more than that. From April to October when I shut the feeder down. I caught the 30 in September. Then I had even fewer fish show up when the feeder went off. Just FHM by the millions.

Reminder.. We are talking about 1,400 YP in a one acre pond. Clouds of FHM swimming everywhere. Less than 30 fish rising to feeder. Feed floating to shore from 4 seconds of run time on the feeder. No evidence anywhere that these fish exist. The original stocking was 1,000 small YP and 100 larger (5") YP. To my untrained and inexperienced eye, I think the larger fish had some survivors. The ones I caught were all pretty good sized.
Wish I'd not have kept them..
http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll280...4D33447EDD6.jpg

Temp is down to 40 degrees at the surface. 15' from the bank.
No ribbons, but at 40, I'm thinking its early. Supposed to be in the 60s this weekend.
No FHM around the floating pallets.
I did scare a pair of ducks off, not sure what they were, hoping for woodies.
Also scared two big gobblers out of nearby trees. I like them hanging around.
Lots of evidence of coons, deer, and fox. (Tracks)
Leak continues, slow and steady. Moved the branches for ribbons out a bit as water has dropped an inch or two.

If there are 1000 perch in a one acre pond near spawning time, it should be easy to catch YP. YP pre and post spawn are very hungry, aggressive, and easy to catch on most any type of bait. Yellow perch are said to be one of the easiest panfish to catch assuming the fish can see the bait, due to cloudy water, and it is not middle of summer during hot weather. In my experience YP become even easier than simple to catch when they are fed pellets since the perch always 'hang out' near the feeding area. Thus I tend to agree with SetterG that few YP are still present.

I caught the 30 this fall in the feeding area. Then They just stopped.
I'll try again Sunday. Going to warm up here quite a bit.

I would wait to fish them until after spawn. My thinking is, if the numbers are indeed limited, I would want to avoid any stress on the ones left until they spawned. There is always a risk when doing C&R to a fish.

I am not a pro.....Just my 1 cent

Makes sense. I'm sort of in a wait mode. If I don't get any ribbons,, well, I'm just not going to think about that. Ha!

After three days in the high 60s and lie 70s, I thought the temp might be up. Was at the pond yesterday. Water temp is up to 43. Clarity seems to have improved in spite of the wind, to close to three feet.
No YP ribbons yet on the branches. Lots and lots of tadpoles. Noticed a few dead frogs. Maybe they came out of hibernation too early, with the warm temps.
I did see my first huge school of FHM, swimming along the dam. Later, I grabbed some optima feed, and tossed in a handful.. No takers. Moved the branches in a bit, as the water level has dropped a bit. No measurable moisture since 1/1/16. Water level has dropped 14.25". Surrounding ponds have only dropped on average about 8". I'll be putting soilfloc down soon. Supposed to have rain every day next week.
Jeff

IMO the YP will not lay eggs until the water temperature stabilizes near 47F-50F. Keep the ends of your tree-shrub branches at the bottom of the water visibility range so you see all of the first egg ribbons. Take, record, and report the surface water temperature when you see the first egg ribbon.

Don't expect very many of your species of fish to actively feed at the surface until the water reaches 50F-55F. A few may take a little feed at 45-50F.

Bill, I appreciate your input on this thread... Good stuff!
My brookies are loving this weather, had some this past weekend nosing up on the soft ice to take the pellets that were hung up in the slush. Love watching these guys!

Thanks Bill.
We have more days in the upper 60s & 70s next week. Hopefully we will have stable temps above 47+.
Branches are out, and submerged. I adjust them weekly for proper depth.