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#495197 08/22/18 07:14 PM
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This is not a thread about the thicker lower section of a tree that happens to be in a pond, however, I suppose, it could be, but it is not intended to be, just yet.

I just wanted to start a thread of some observations that I make while tending the pond. I wish I would have started this "diary" of non-specific topics the day that I began the process of refurbishing the ole'water hole. At any rate, please share as I go if you care to, otherwise enjoy my rambling.


Fish on!,
Noel
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The first observation that I would like to enter is something that I saw today...A little background...

I bucket stocked crawdads from the creek behind the house all last summer. Some I trapped, some I caught with a net. All in all, I estimate that I put in about 300 crawdads (I stopped counting around 200). There were a few that where stocked that were about 4" long from tip of tail to tip of nose, but most were 1 to 2" long.

Today, I witnessed a few of those crawdads "coming out" to collect small feed pellets as they drifted towards shore. These guys were about 4 to 5 inches long and, at one point, two of them were fighting over the right to collect pellets from the large stone under the drain pipe. They were collecting the Optimal starter #4 pellets as fast as they could and stuffing them in their mouth just as fast. I hope the growth rates of the fish and crawdads due to the fish food rubs off on the deer around here!

Who would have thought that crawdads would feed train? I'll be looking for them more often and even throwing some feed closer to the shore just for them.


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Feed Trained Crawdads.jpg

Fish on!,
Noel
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Originally Posted By: Quarter Acre
The first observation that I would like to enter is something that I saw today...A little background...

I bucket stocked crawdads from the creek behind the house all last summer. Some I trapped, some I caught with a net. All in all, I estimate that I put in about 300 crawdads (I stopped counting around 200). There were a few that where stocked that were about 4" long from tip of tail to tip of nose, but most were 1 to 2" long.

Today, I witnessed a few of those crawdads "coming out" to collect small feed pellets as they drifted towards shore. These guys were about 4 to 5 inches long and, at one point, two of them were fighting over the right to collect pellets from the large stone under the drain pipe. They were collecting the Optimal starter #4 pellets as fast as they could and stuffing them in their mouth just as fast. I hope the growth rates of the fish and crawdads due to the fish food rubs off on the deer around here!

Who would have thought that crawdads would feed train? I'll be looking for them more often and even throwing some feed closer to the shore just for them.



You should get a mini lobster trap and put it on That rock. Would make a cool pic.

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Q A, I did start a log from the first day they started digging my 2 acre pond. It has been soooo helpful to look back on any given day over the last 4 years!!! When I first stocked and transported my 4 inch pure Florida feed trained lmb I only had 2 dead fish in the bag. I actually even retained those two fish and put them in my freezer!! I dated the freezer bag and is fun to just look back at the size I started with. As you prob. know I have caught 3 1/2 pounders that are only 16 inch long!! Rw of around 155%. These fish were only 2 years old. Keeping accurate records is one of the best tools you can have. I document every time I see a duck,bullfrogs,otters,gbh,water levels and temps,algea blooms, spawning dates,how much feed,and record every inch of rain we get. I know exactly when and how many fish I stocked and at what cost. It has all proven very valuable. Good luck with yours. Oh, and of course I have pictures of everything possible and video if I can. It is amazing what you will forget from just one year ago without logging it down.


Dear Alcohol, We had a deal where you would make me funnier, smarter, and a better dancer... I saw the video... We need to talk.
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I should also log that I broke the Pond Record for HSB yesterday too. The previous record was the first one caught and documented here...

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=38025&Number=494998#Post494998

Yesterday's HSB was 12 inches long and weighed just over 1 pound. A second one was caught just under 1 pound. These HSB are in the neighborhood of 1.14 relative weight. Sure wish I had taken some time at stocking to weigh some of the young fish last April. I was too worried about getting them in the pond without casualties.

Side note: The 3-5" HBG are now 4 -6" long and typically weigh close to 1/4 pound.


Fish on!,
Noel
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I saw this bee yesterday whose legs are heavily weighted down with pollen. Ragweed, Golden Rod, Black/Brown Eyed Susans, Ox-Eyes, and Arrow Head are now in full bloom. I have never come across a bee that is all black like this. It was very tolerant of me only being 5 inches or so from him trying to take pictures. I got it in flight and if you look closely you can see the blur of the wings. Anybody now what kind of bee this is?

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Bee.jpg
Last edited by Quarter Acre; 08/27/18 02:20 PM.

Fish on!,
Noel
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A very busy bee!

Could be a Mason Bee.


4 acre pond 32 ft deep within East Texas (Livingston) timber ranch. Filled (to the top of an almost finished dam) by Hurricane Harvey 9/17. Stocked with FHM, CNBG, RES 10/17. Added 35lbs RSC 3/18. 400 N LMB fingerlings 6/18
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Hard to tell just how big that critter is. If its larger, like the size of a bubble bee, we have a lot of those around here. They're wood borer bees. They chew holes in dead timber/lumber and lay their eggs inside, fill the hole with pollen, then seal it up. Whatever they use to plug the hole dries like concrete. They're pretty docile, and I dont think I've ever heard of them stinging unless you actually grab one. Some people call them "news bees", because they'll hover in your face like they're trying to tell you something. We see them from solid black, like yours, to having a single yellow band across the top of the abdomen. I've seen them all over the SE US, but more so the further south you go.

If it isn't that large, tho, I have no clue.


.10 surface acre pond, 10.5 foot deep. SW LA. The epitome of a mutt pond. BG, LMB, GSF, RES, BH, Warmouth, Longear Sunfish, Gambusia,Mud Minnows, Crappie, and now shiners!!...I subscribe!!
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Well, I admit, I did not give any size reference. It is actually about the size of a honey bee. We have the wood borer bees around here and I can see the resemblance even though the wood borers in the old barn have some yellow to them even though slight. They will be the finial demise of the barn if I don't tear it down first. This guy by the pond was all dark. pretty much black.

I will image search the mason bee and see what comes of that.


Fish on!,
Noel
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You got that right about wood borers, Noel. They will reak pure havok on a barn, porch, or anything made of wood for that matter.

They make a real neat popping sound when you hit them with a tennis racket!!


.10 surface acre pond, 10.5 foot deep. SW LA. The epitome of a mutt pond. BG, LMB, GSF, RES, BH, Warmouth, Longear Sunfish, Gambusia,Mud Minnows, Crappie, and now shiners!!...I subscribe!!
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Perhaps a mason bee?

https://mason.bees.supply/

Carpenter bees look quite a bit stockier, but share the glossy black abdomen. Mason bees naturally nest in hollow weed stems, but are commercially kept in "straws".

Last edited by RAH; 08/27/18 05:47 AM.
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With a little "looking around" on the net, I think that a Mason Bee is a strong possibility. You know that there is a hobby that revolves around catering to the Mason Bees?

Anyhow, the feed trained crawdads are coming on strong. I fed yesterday and counted 8 crawdads of size combing the shoreline rocks and plants for the pellets. About as quick as I counted the eight some would disappear while another would appear somewhere else. There's a bunch of those buggars doing really well. The ones I see are 4 to 5 inches long which is big for my neck of the woods.

Do you think that crawdads will cut down rather big arrowhead stems? I am seeing quite a few felled stalks.


Fish on!,
Noel
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Great observations on the crawdads. Mine love the leftover pellets too. When I saw your pics/story about their feeding habits, I had to share this pic from earlier this summer at my pond. Hunger has a way of getting anyone into trouble..... this guy is no exception. 1st one I ever got with a hook/worm!

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20180720_170929.jpg

J Waters
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BG, HBG, RES, LMB, YP
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Nice Catch DW! It's been a long time ago, but my Grandpa would take me fishing for crawdads in the road ditches out in Kansas.

I wish I would have photo captured a brief moment the other day between a common brown water snake a crawdad. It was feeding time and the crawdad managed to move in nose to nose with this snake (actually touching). I think it is evidence that the pond inhabitants are "fat and happy". The snake did not move and once the crawdad realized what he was doing...backwards into the water and he was gone.


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Noel
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Now, I have to one up myself. I saw a different snake of the same kind tonight actually get run off by a crawdad during feeding time. The snake was sitting on the rocks, mostly in the water, while a crawdad crawls up mostly out of the water and starts pinching at the snakes head. The snake flinches and abruptly turns about face and slithers into the depths. I did get some video of the crawdads crawling nearby and slightly on the snake, but did not get the actual confrontation.

It's pretty cool what you can witness if you just stop for 20 minutes and look around!


Fish on!,
Noel
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When my pond first filled up, I saw a few small crawfish, but haven't seen one since Hurricane Harvey flooded the place. I didn't have much in the way of hiding places for them back then, tho. They're everywhere down here, so maybe they'll come back on their own, or they may just stay in the clay till after dark and I just dont see them. Come spring, I'll probably go drag a net in the ditches and drop of few in the pond.


.10 surface acre pond, 10.5 foot deep. SW LA. The epitome of a mutt pond. BG, LMB, GSF, RES, BH, Warmouth, Longear Sunfish, Gambusia,Mud Minnows, Crappie, and now shiners!!...I subscribe!!
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Mike, dragging the ditches and pot holes is how I got mine started in the pond. In the early spring it was pretty easy to drag up a thousand 1/4" to 1" crays and transport them to the pond. I did it thinking I could feed the res and maybe they would grow to feed the lmb. Today I have an established population in the pond after moving about 2500 of the small crays into the pond in the first two years. I did run into a problem by doing that. The craws will dine on the plants in the pond and its been pretty hard to get the desirable plants going. It might be better to get some good plants going before introducing the craws.

Last edited by TGW1; 08/28/18 06:21 AM.

Do not judge me by the politicians in my City, State or Federal Government.


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I don't typically care for overdone "One Upmanship", but I guess it's alright since I am one up'ing my own stories (and without exaggeration to boot).

So, the crawdads are continuing to amaze me. The first photo is for reference. Notice that the circled crawdad is about 15 feet from shore and in about 6 feet of water. I had just fed the fish and thrown some pellets close to the banks for the craws. I don't typically feed on this side of the dock, but just started feeding a little bit on this side just for the craws.



I have no idea how this guy got out this far into the pond in only a few moments after the feed was thrown, but there he is...



Happy as a crawdad can be...



I gave him a few extra pellets for the effort and eventually he released from the arrowhead stem and disappeared.

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01.jpg 02.jpg 03.jpg

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Noel
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Great camera work Quarter Acre. Surprised a predator did not get him.
















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Surprises me that you have craws freely moving about. Here they are almost all snug in their holes...


7ac 2015 CNBG RES FHM 2016 TP FLMB 2017 NLMB GSH L 2018 TP & 70 HSB PK 2019 TP RBT 2020 TFS TP 25 HSB 250 F1,L,RBT -206 2021 TFS TP GSH L,-312 2022 GSH TP CR TFS RBT -234, 2023 BG TP TFS NLMB, -160




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The only fish in the pond that could mouth him would be 1 pound HSB and they tend to hang out in deeper water and away from the dock. I doubt that there will be as many crawdads next year as the FHM's diminish and the game fish get larger.


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Noel
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Originally Posted By: TGW1
Mike, dragging the ditches and pot holes is how I got mine started in the pond. In the early spring it was pretty easy to drag up a thousand 1/4" to 1" crays and transport them to the pond. I did it thinking I could feed the res and maybe they would grow to feed the lmb. Today I have an established population in the pond after moving about 2500 of the small crays into the pond in the first two years. I did run into a problem by doing that. The craws will dine on the plants in the pond and its been pretty hard to get the desirable plants going. It might be better to get some good plants going before introducing the craws.


I've considered that QA. As it is, the only grasses I have in the water is some water willow, one clump of a cattail looking plant, some rush and one clump of something that looks kind of like an arrowhead, only it has a single spear type blade on the end of each stalk. Everything else is growing from the shoreline out into the water. Not sure what it is either. But it is creating some decent shading right against the shoreline.

I do have some FA, not a lot, but if they want to eat it, they can have it!!!


.10 surface acre pond, 10.5 foot deep. SW LA. The epitome of a mutt pond. BG, LMB, GSF, RES, BH, Warmouth, Longear Sunfish, Gambusia,Mud Minnows, Crappie, and now shiners!!...I subscribe!!
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I thought I was seeing some odd looking minnows at feeding time lately. Last night I got a better look at the odd fellows and it turns out that they are YOY from the HBG (or RES). I only saw a few, they were about 2 inches long, the same as most of the FHM's that surface for feed, but they were more laterally compressed and deep with some darker colorings.

Now, I'm wondering what to do about it if anything. I still have tons of FHM's. I am feeding the HBG and HSB about 1/2 to 1 pound a day and do not believe that the YOY are important to the health of the pond this year. I'll try to trap some this week and see what they are. If they are HBG, they may go to the creek. If they are RES, I think they can stay as my fish have a lot of black spot grubs.


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Noel
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Well, a close friend came to visit last week and now has the pond HSB record. After 4-1/2 months of being in the pond, it is now 1.3 pounds and about 13 inches long. It went in between 4 and 6 inches long.



I managed to beat my old HBG record, not by much, but its mine anyhow. (I'll have to get the HSB record back real soon too.) The HBG record is now 0.28 pounds at just over 6 inches long...



I'm a happy pondmeister!

Attached Images
Hoff Record HSB.jpg Sept HSB Record.jpg

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Noel
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Wow.. You actually caught a HSB! Mine are extremely elusive. Have been in since October of 2015. None have ever been caught. Mind sharing your technique for actually getting one on a hook?
Thx
Jeff


9 yr old pond, 1 ac, 15' deep.
RES, YP, GS, FHM (no longer), HBG (going away), SMB, and HSB (only one seen in 5 yrs) Restocked HSB (2020) Have seen one of these.
I think that's about all I should put in my little pond.
Otter attack in 2023
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