so i started a new job in december of last year (2010), and have lost track of keeping up with you guys on the progress of my dad's pond. Ice fishing coming (i hope) which made me think to re-connect, so I thought I would post it up here, just as a way to say thanks, and to get your guys' opinions.
Bass...this one, i think it is the same one i have caught twice. Once on a hot dog and once on a rubber crawfish. This was the crawfish day, late may 2011.
Definitely not skinny. Now, of course this is not representative of all the fish we catch now, this is the trophy. The new mythical lake beast, now that onezey, the one-eyed pike has been found floating. I think i will name this one Walt, in honor of the first PB'er who came posting to my aid.
Here's a pic from a january ice fishing trip i did in 2011 that is much more representative of what we find in the pond now.
Not a lunker by any means, but at least the bellies are bigger than the heads, a great change from the past when all we would catch were skeletors. Now, if we do catch a small LMB, it's under 10" and has bite marks perpendicularly to its lateral line. Which brings me to the pike situation.
So..as the story goes, in Jan 2010 we caught our first pike in the pond, which was a complete and total surprise, since my dad has been living here since 05 or 06 and there weren't any pike to be seen in those years. Apparently, a goofball neighbor had a friend in the local parks dept, and convinced this guy to dump some pike in the lake in Nov 2009. The neighbor reported that there were 30, only after we confronted him telling him it was against the rules of the HOA to stock fish, before which he had said two other numbers, 115 and 75. So far we have removed 45 pike between the 3-4 households that are keeping track.
here's the first one we ever caught, jan 2010 with my friend nathan in what passes for a beard (beards are a requirement for the annual ice fishing extravaganza..the first person to show without one does the polar bear swim)
here they were in jan 2011
This year in the spring i caught one at 27", and my dad swears he has seen one off his dock that is over 30".
So....thoughts? this year, if there is ice, i want to sink some more xmas trees, but we'll see if there are any left for me to sink by the time it freezes over.
Mainly i'd like to ask...what do you guys think? do you thinkt he pike will be breeding now? how long until i know if they have (meaning, how long until they get to 15" like that first one we caught, big enough to want a shiner)?
Does that ice bass look healthy to you? an obvious improvement from the years of 07-08, doesnt look like skeletor.
There are still tons of crappie, but the big BG have slowed down, and actually we are catching a much more varied bunch now. One thing that scares me is that there seem to be more crappie.
The warmouth and rock bass have all but dissapeared. I Haven't seen one of either since fall 2010.
edit:
that ice bass is actually one of the smaller ones. I don't remember correctly but he may have been removed.
