10 month update after stocking small pond - All is well with regard to catching fish for fun, entertainment, and dog training. The goal all along was to have a trophy "bream" pond for my kids and me.
Catching Fish - The "go to" bait is a 1/16" Pink and green Roostertail for artificial or Gulp artificial worms (can catch tons on the same 3/4" piece.) Also i often use a dry fly ( it looks just like a hairy Optimal pellet
and slay em'.
Water Level - Unfortunately I've determined that my water level will never be more than about 5' deep, as I have a leak obviously somewhere. After a huge rain it rises, then within a week it's back to where it stays most of the time. Given the low water level, the surface area is much smaller than i anticipated it'd be. I did get a dozer in the fall and create a 100 yard berm in the field that funnels massive amounts of runoff into the pond....which gives a nice temporary water rise after a big rain, only for it to go down again.
Stocking - as noted, on 6/22/19 I stocked 300 BG and 100 RES to start. The BG were supposed to have been HBG...but i got the switcharoo (actually a mistake by the driver, and i didn't know any better). Once i determine the error, on 8/22/19 i added in 300 HGB. IN Fall 2018 I added about 15 3-4" mutts taken from a neighbors farm pond. Since that time i've been catching, trapping, netting all the BG i can and have been removing them from the pond. ALso on 8/22/19 i added 21 4-6" HSB. Shortly after adding those HSB, we caught one about a week later on a worm....and, since that time have NOT seen one. I added a few SMB last fall - not sure if they made it or not, but added 2 more 2 weeks ago. Total luck and would never happen again, but literally the next day i went out and the first case to the left of the pier I caught a SMB...as as we ooh'd and ahh'd let it go and still grinnin' ear to ear threw the second cast to right of the pier and caught another SMB. I'm guessing both were what i'd tossed in the previous day given their size - and both were extremely poor/skinny looking. Also about a month ago i added one 14" channel cat and a 8" LMB in hopes of helping me control the excessive BG (and to hopefully get a bonus bite every now and then)
Feeding - i feed about a 10oz cup full by hand daily of Optimal. When riding up the pond in the Ranger, I can literally see wakes from all sides racing to the pier. A handful is literally gone in 2 seconds...if the entire cup was scattered out evenly it is all 100% gone in 1 minute.
Grass - i still have a total grass/weed cover on the bottom. As water level decreases and it gets hotter, i'd expect it to grow. I have 3 grass carp in there now, but no way they could control it.
Questions -
1. BG - Should i continued to catch and remove ALL the BG i can ? Occasionally we catch a 6" chunky BG and my 10yo has a hard time removing it due to the size
. two decent sized BG are in attached pix.
2. HSB - as noted, since adding them in August, we've not seen or caught one since. I have only seen one dead, and that was the next day after stocking...and have never seen any fish eating birds handing around. I'd LOVE to know IF/WHERE they are. Any thoughts? I've thrown a cast net all around it multiple times and have never a HSB! (nor have i caught a RES for that matter)
3. Bullfrog Tadpoles - I have LOADS of them....i can put out a small 2' minnow trap, and the next day have 25-30 3" bullfrog tadpoles in it. is this good, bad, indifferent?? ALso to note, over the past 2 weeks there are thousands of tiny 1/2" black ( assume a new hatch of bullfrog tadpoles?) all the way around the edge of pond. Will the BG/HBG ( of HSB, or LMB ?) that are in there ( if they are still?) eat the tiny new 1/2" tadpoles?
4. Feeding - given that my fish devour the pellets when thrown in, it seems rather obvious that I'm not feeding enough...however, most of them are little fatties. Should i feed more, or make them "live" a little on their own and no be so dependant on pellets?
5. The largest fish in the pond now are from the mutts ( i suppose) that i put in Fall18, considering most of the have big "yellow bellies", unlike any of the BG or HBG that i stoked. ALso as seen in one of the pics attached, some have yellowish/orangish edges around their fins...these are very easy to spot in the water, and are alway present at feeding time - are the fattest and have big mouths. Any harm in leaving them in the pond of should they be removed? I'm pretty sure (?) 2 of the pix attached are those fish. The HBG stocked in Aug 19 I'd not think would be that big by now.
6. Grass i expect to grow - should i add baby crawfish to work on the grass, or more carp?
Attached are a few recent pix.
