I had hoped for a better reason to revisit this thread. I haven’t posted much since this initial post, but I’ve been checking in, reading and learning.
A brief history is as follows. Two years ago we stocked our 1 acre pond in the U.P. with close to 300 HBG’s. Previous to this the pond only contained minnows, frogs, and turtles. Average depth is 12’ to 14’ with Alder brush and Lilly pads around 80% of the bank. Last year they were doing well with average lengths of 6” to 8”, and spawning well with many fry of different sizes. We failed to introduce a predator species, but that was scheduled for this year. We felt that with an acre to work with we could wait. As late as last October decent sized, growing HBG’s were being caught. The initial group was fed floating pellets, but little if any pellets last summer. They survived through the first winter with approximately 18” of ice forming.
No one fished for them until about a month ago. There are no HBG’s to be found! Anywhere in the pond. We fished every day, all over the pond. We netted hundreds of minnows and never found HBG fry. While feeding pellets not only fish, but turtles became trained to feed. Including several good sized Snappers that we never knew were there.
As far as we can tell the pond has returned to it’s state prior to introducing HBG’s. Minnows, turtles, and all are still present.
I can see the Snappers taking some, but not all. Even if something like an Otter is present, there is too much cover to get them all. A public lake a few miles away had a sizable BG die-off supposedly due to greater than normal ice cover. Again, I can see a high percentage, but not all.
I was all set to show some bragging pics this year. Instead, I’m asking for any thoughts.
rick
Last edited by rick-No. VA/U.P. of MI; 08/16/08 12:56 PM.
