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

I seen my BG on beds last year. I probably only seen maybe 12 or so beds, but there could of been more that was deeper that I couldn't see. I have yet to see any fry. I bought a small trap today to see if I could catch some. I just put a handful of Optimal in it and after a hour or so I didn't catch any so I left it in over night. Does anyone have any tips on how to catch some or other ways to figure out if they had a successful spawn?

I found these 2 in my trap today. The first two pictures are the same fish. The last one was a little bigger. I was really glad to see them, so I know they did spawn.

The water is still a little cold for good trap fishing. You should catch more when water reaches 65F+.

Thanks Bill, I'll try again when it warms up, just for fun. I at least answered my main concern, they did reproduce. What do you think is the best bait? Is there something better than using Optimal?

Experiment with different trap baits. Optimal should be a good bait. I like stale white bread for BG and minnows. I often use a mixture of baits. You can try cat and dog food. Report back with your best successful baits.

Thanks Bill, I'll try experimenting some when it warms up some. I just finished feeding and saw what might of been a few that are bigger than the ones I posted pictures of, coming up to feed. They was up and down really fast and my water is pretty muddy right now so hard to say for sure, could of been large FHM. My original stockers from last year look great, I plan to try to catch a few of them soon, as well,just to take a look.

I have found that a trap baited with pellets works well. Put it in, toss a couple of pellets around it and come back in about 30 minutes. If I wait any longer, I find that they have escaped.

Thanks Dave, I'll try that as well.

In my pond the bluegill fry tend to hug the shoreline in shallow water - we had a prettty mild winter and it looks like a lot of the fry survived.

My FHM are so thick and my water is so muddy, it is hard to tell what all I'm seeing. I thought a few of what I was seeing looked like BG,but until I trapped a few, I just wasn't sure. I plan to put some LMB in soon, so the FHM will probably start thinning out so it might get easier to tell.