Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Raising Forage and Bait Cast Netting Forage Fish

I have the ability to cast/dip net forage fish from a river that feeds lake erie. Just a few questions, as I see ungodly amounts of bait on my sonar when I fish the river:

1. can I use this as a supplemental source of forage fish for my pond?
2. I'm not 100% sure what I'm seeing on the sonar but I know they could be emerald shiners or shad or something else completely...
3. introduction of disease? can they forage be treated before introduction? I used to treat new coral and fish with iodine before introducing to my aquarium.

I would do a test throw and catch and report back with pictures to identify the forage first...there is, I'm assuming, a possibility to introduce an unwanted fish...so I would hand sort them before putting them in my pond when complete.

would love it if you caught some forage in your cast net and posted pictures!

I hear you might be able to net ghost shrimp (PK shrimp) by netting the shallow vegetation with a fine mesh net. That would be cool to see if you can score on that count as well.

THe forage you are seeing in near shore Lk Erie is likely a mixture of several species such as gizzard shad, alewife, emerald shiner, spottail shiner, plus miscellaneous fish swimming with the main school. Each trip and the season can change what species is dominant at the time of collection. A big caution is to not collect when zebra and quagga mussels are reproducing. The microscopic reproductive velagers are planktonic in the water and can be transferred to your pond. VHS virus is also a concern. At a minimum I would dip-rinse all fish transferred. A Quarantine salt treatment is added insurance.
"That’s key because microscopic mussel larvae known as velagers may tag along in that water. You could have a thimble full of water in the bottom of your boat and it could have these in it,”

http://research.noaa.gov/InDepth/Feature...s-Food-Web.aspx

http://www.great-lakes.net/envt/flora-fauna/invasive/images/quagga_lg.jpg

http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2017/02/22/zebra-quagga-mussels-great-lakes/98242180/

thanks bill ... seems like a high risk high reward situations, but I think that risk is pretty scary....

Bill

Just a rehash this question. How would you go about doing a rinse and then a salt dip?

My plan was to hand transfer them from the cast net into a container on my boat then move them to my house where I would hand sort them into a separate container.

I would then hand sort those into A bucket for a quick rinse

Into a brine rinse tank for five minutes

Then transfer into one more rinse tank and into the pond.

Do you think this would be sufficient or would this be overkill

How I generally do it with risky water such as LkErie. I get 3 containers (buckets) with receiving pond water. Catch some of the fish in a dip net allow water to drain. Add net with fish in 1st container. Lift and allow to drain. Repeat process in 2nd and 3rd bucket. Add final water drained fish to pond or a 5 minute brine rinse. I generally do not use salt water unless I suspect parasites. You could use a brine water in the boat live well which is very good health wise technique for holding & hauling fish. Add salt (non-iodine) 0.67 oz per gallon of water or 1 ounce per 2 gallon water also works.
Zebra mussels spawn between 57F-60F. Eggs develop best at 68-71F. Try to collect your fish for transfer prior to 57F.

Good info again bill. Thanks. I would collect at 50deg or lower and storage tank on boat would have brine.

Would the river have less of a change to get the quagga and zebras than the main lake?

Likely hood of river getting zebra mussels will depend on how dense the mussels are colonized in the river. Only a survey of submerged objects in each place would provide an indication of how many mussels are present per square yard to release eggs. I suspect the chance of fertile Z.mussel eggs is about equal in river and lake.

Don't plan on a brine solution to kill mussel eggs nor velagers (immature planktonic form). Z.mussels are tolerant of and can thrive in salty water.

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Here are the fish I caught today

thanks for the pictures! Can you help identify them? ARe they all the same type of fish?

Yea it seemed the shiners were like a spotfin shiner. Not 100% sure.

The other looked to be a creek chub.

This was out of a Lake Erie tributary river. Rocky river.

All the shiners were spotfins. I did not see a chub in the pictures.