Omaha, just as a minor (and hopefully insignificant) correction, TJ found me, the same way you all introduce yourselves and welcome us newcomers to PB and for that I’m very grateful!
And, as I was originally just looking for insight on cage-culture (thank you Cecil), I really didn’t want to go here but due to "inquiring" minds I will try to simplify things for those showing interest. My apologies if anyone finds this offensive.
I rent this place, moved here in April of last year and not knowing if I will be here one year or maybe 10 I’m just excited as heck that I have a pond! A pond that’s been neglected, weed-choked, blanketed in DW and just shy of ugly, yet with great potential because it is in-fact A POND
I discovered PB in May, started cleaning up the pond with a fish(ing) goal of LMB and BG. LMB for me, BG for the kids. I then have a complete fish-kill in June, so after the Fluridone treatment cleared up my pond, my son and I start fishing area lakes & ponds for BG as I had already invested enough ($700 for Fluridone and nearly $2k into aeration, etc.) into a property I don’t own. Why buy them from the local supplier? Heck, I can get BG from the local lakes and ponds, and gives me a good reason to go! 2 or 3 of us fishing at 30-45 per day, sounds like productive fun! I didn’t know then that there are many species of BG/Sunfish, some of which I might not want in my pond. I thought they were all just Bluegill. I’m a bass fisherman, what do I know?
A local PB’r who had been offering help and advice, as so many of you had (and do), and knew of my fish-kill and starting over, graciously says if you can bring me a cage I’ll start collecting BG, very possibly to save me from the mistake of transferring species from area lakes/ponds that I really didn’t want in MY pond. I graciously accepted.
He says they’re Condello Strain BG. He explained the genetics and how they came about. So, I’m thinking Ok, cool! Were they all CSBG? I have no idea if he has other species of BG or if they’re all CSBG, or whether they’re male, female, etc., I guess he’s the one who could answer that. I still have a hard time distinguishing between BG, HBG, CNBG, RES, GSF, etc., let alone CSBG which I know now are obviously not going to be found at the local lakes or a buddy’s pond.
I built a cage, we deployed the cage, the cast-net went out, we separated the tadpoles and the BG went in.
I then put together (adding aeration) a 100 gal Rubbermaid stock tank, drove back out to get them around the 1st week of October and we guessed about 175-200 went in the tank. It was getting late, there wasn’t room in my pickup for the cage too (nor did I even think about caging them) so off I went to introduce them to their new home and in the pond they went. This is where some of you may cringe as I had just stocked 100 6-8” LMB and 100 6-8” HSB just 30 days before on September 1st, let alone the 20 or so LMB at 10-14" and the two 3 1/2 lb'ers lurking around in there too. Yep, all of which I put in there
In hindsight, my stocking plan was so terribly backwards, lol.
Personally, I had a great time out there with TJ and his friend, we fished for and netted BG and I learned how to tie on a pellet-fly (?) to wrestle one of his fighting Wipers.
Respectfully, this account is of course from my perspective, a newbie/first-timer certainly knowing more now than I did then and,
Still learning
PS - Hopefully I’ve addressed the concerns and curiosities for those interested. For those not interested, sorry to bore you with all the details. The pics below give you an idea of how far I've come with this pond, and not without the help of the folks on PB
PB rocks
