I seen at least 4 schools of fry today with 2 of them being pretty big. They're about 1/2" long and staying on top of the water. This is the first time I've seen fry like these in my pond so I'm thinking LMB fry since this is their first time to spawn. The only other thing that would of spawned for the first time this year is YP. What do you guys think?
I seen a ball similar to this in mine last year. They were in a tighter ball but they were smaller at the time also. My guess is your are right and LMB but im no expert by no means.
A quick dip of like a swimming pool skimmer net will catch 3 or 4 for you to inspect. That is how I finally determined my first spawn of lmb. You could actually see lateral lines to be sure they were not bluegill. BUT...every one I netted when released back in did not appear they were going to live so I net very few.
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.
I seen a ball similar to this in mine last year. They were in a tighter ball but they were smaller at the time also. My guess is your are right and LMB but im no expert by no means.
Rusto Thanks for posting my pictures!
In person the balls looked tighter but I think they would spread a little and then tighten back up as the ball moved around so maybe I snapped the pictures as they was spreading. Also the balls were bigger than what shows in the pictures, especially the picture of the smaller ball.
Pretty neat. I think I would have to chunk a cast net at them. According to Lusk, 90% of them will be eaten.
I hope you're right. As excited as I am to hopefully have LMB fry,I only had a few minutes yesterday and only walked down one side of the pond. Even if only 10% of what I seen yesterday made it, that is a lot of fish!
A quick dip of like a swimming pool skimmer net will catch 3 or 4 for you to inspect. That is how I finally determined my first spawn of lmb. You could actually see lateral lines to be sure they were not bluegill. BUT...every one I netted when released back in did not appear they were going to live so I net very few.
I do have a pool net I can take over and I probably need to take a magnifying glass 🔍 as well, with my eyes. Lol!
Excerpt from Robert Crais' "The Monkey's Raincoat:" "She took another microscopic bite of her sandwich, then pushed it away. Maybe she absorbed nutrients from her surroundings."
I've been meaning to update this for a while now. I never got to net any of the fry. My doctor changed my blood pressure medication around on me at the time and I was all out of wack at the time, (and he still doesn't have it right). By the time he got me leveled off enough to try and scoop some up, I didn't see anymore balls. I haven't seen any in a while, but probably about 6 weeks ago or so I started seeing see some LMB fingerlings around the bank with the largest one I saw being around 2". I only saw a few at a time here and there and haven't seen any in over a week, so not sure how many made it. But I haven't seen but 1 of my larger original stockers in a long time either. I have one that always hits the BG when I feed. At least I know for sure that they did spawn.
Bob, I hope your doctor manages to get your BP meds levelled out!
My brother's doc recently upped his BP meds and the "balancing act" now has a much smaller margin for error. I have seen him almost black out twice on the golf course when he was just a little dehydrated.
That is fine on the golf course when you have several buddies around, but is a much worse deal if you are dangling over the water while working alone at your pond.
Hopefully, you have family helpers when you are out working (or playing) at the pond. Stay safe, and good luck on your getting your blood pressure back inside of both edges of your healthy range!
Thanks FishinRod, I had my knee replaced last October and at 6 months it was healing real slow (still is) and was staying swollen more than the surgeon felt was normal from a knee surgery. He told me to see my primary doctor and see what he thought. He felt it was one of my 2 blood pressure meds and took me off one of them and put me on what he called a water pill. That helped a lot with the swelling but my blood pressure went up and I got bad headaches so he added a 3rd med. 2 days later I could hardly stand, then it got a little better everyday for a while but was still pretty bad. He took me off the new 3rd one and put me back on a small dose of the original one he dropped along with the water pill and it is controlling my blood pressure great but I still get dizzy when I bend down and come back up. I think it is getting a little better but if it doesn't get much better he will have to try something else.
After me just saying I hadn't seen but one of me original stockers ar a time in a long time, I seen 2 of them at the same time today. That made me feel a little better.
Is it normal to not see many or any LMB fingerlings when they're only a few months old?
Bob After the initial sightings of balls of them they disperse and I hardly see them till they get 3-5” long. That’s how they do in my pond. Couple days ago caught one on a crappy jig and a big one removed it from the jig before I could get it out of the water
I was having FA getting out of hand really bad back when I was seeing the balls and soon as my blood pressure was stable enough I started treating it. I did a great job (better than I thought I would) of getting rid of it, but then I started thinking I shouldn't of done so good and left some for cover.
Today while adding some FHM to the main pond that I trapped and netted from my sediment/forage pond, I saw at least 2 LMB fingerlings. I put them in at the inlet area of the pond, where I have some stumps and small brush piles. I always see FHM and BG fry/fingerlings in the area and thought that I might see the LMB fingerlings in that area. The first one was was probably close to 4" and I either seen that one a few times or another one around the same size. The other one was probably well over 4". They looked good and plump, and was hitting the newly stocked and dazed FHM.
I seen the largest one yet yesterday. I was surprised, it had to be near 7". I had just seen one that was about 4" and was looking down the bank and spotted the big one and was like wow! Then of course the wife called me on the phone and it scared it off when I answered it so I didn't get to see it very long. I need to learn to turn the ringer off when I go to the pond. LOL! I think one of the reasons I have a hard time seeing them is my BG follow me when I walk around the pond trying to get more food, and scare them off. I also seen 4 of my original stockers at the same time the other day. The weather is starting to cool down some so maybe they are getting more active.