Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Overstocked

Hello, new forum member here that could use help! Last summer I stocked my two year old 1/4 acre pond in the north east with 300 BG and 30 CC fingerlings (adding 10 LMB) this summer.

Problem: I bought 1500 BG and 300 CC for my friends birthday present to stock his older “unstocked”2 acre pond. Before I put them in, I sent my 16 year old son out there to make sure it was “safe”. He came back to tell me its full of pickerel. Meanwhile all his fish had arrived and I deemed it not ok to put them in the pickerel pond. Not having a better option I threw them in my 1/4 acre pond with the idea that I could grow them for a year so as they might be big enough to survive the pickerel.

My friend is not open to the idea of killing off the pickerel with Rotenone.

My little pond is 12’ deep with irregular shape and depth with boulders. Question is: how the hell do I catch all my friends fish to put in to his pond this summer (or next, depending on how much they’ve grown)?
Any ideas greatly appreciated.thanks!

These are chain pickerel? How in the world did only chain pickerel get in his pond? Were they stocked purposely?

If the pickerel are surviving then what other fish are in there that they are eating? Are there LMB in there or other predators? Bluegill or hybrids?

Any known CC or other catfish in your friend's pond?

Do you get any sense of how many pickerel?

also you need to think about vegetation or safe refuge in shallows or around structure. If there is plenty of refuge then the BG at 1500 stockers can hold their own against pickerel and some will survive, grow up, and spawn and soon there will be too many BG.

From all the people on this forum who wished they had NOT stocked CC, I would say in a 2 acre pond 30 CC would be plenty (assuming they had a good chance to survive) Soon they will find ways to reproduce and you will truly have a CC problem unless you are dedicated to catching and keeping them. They would not have a natural predator in that pond except human angling and removing.

The pickerel are not as voracious and destructive of a predator as LMB or CC and I wouldn't kill them off either. They are a neat fish, very desirable by some pond-meisters for their unique position as a selective predator with a limited gape size potential and built in limit to how much and what they eat.

Thanks for the pickerel info. Someone a long time ago must have dropped them off into there and I think they survive off frogs, their own fry and whatever else falls in. I’m almost positive there’s nothing else and the fact that there doesn’t seem to be much growth in the existing pickerel makes me think there isn’t much to eat in there. Nothing over 10”-11”. Cool fish I agree.

My big problem is how to catch the fish out of my pond to put in my friends pond or I will have an overpopulation problem. Fish trap? Netting? Shock treatment?

Catching them one at a time hook and line doesn’t sound effective. Any ideas?

Wire fish traps will catch some of the BG but probably few if any CC unless you are lucky. With the right type and size of trap you could catch around 30-50 BG per day fished 2/day in each trap. Bait it with day old bread or dry pet food. Look into buying or building clover leaf, cylinder, figure 8, or Z trap on Youtube. Once the BG and CC get to 5-6" you should be able to with worms, small hook under a small or slender bobber catch out 20-35 BG-CC per hour. When you decide you have an overpopulation problem you may have to resort to a rotenone renovation.

Trap examples
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLyhZ0x1dx0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52qMDXo1dhg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_QJaktCrYw

Z Trap
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NlNgv6ztt4

Mike talked me into trying a Z trap last spring. I own 4 now. Setting side by side with a baited trap, the Z trap will still have more fish and less crawdads. Don't know what it is but the Z trap out-produced the cloverleaf trap every time I used them.

Cool. Much appreciated. Looks like the Z Trap is the winner!

That's been my experience with the above listed traps. There could be some merit to having a baited trap if conditions are such that fish are reacting more out of hunger than curiosity..
Wish I could explain how the Z trap works but it sure fills with fish easily. Good luck!