Great information Bill... I am curious about the nuances of harvesting. Is there a past article on this in Pond Boss or is this something that may need to be covered in a future article? Hint, hint...
We talk about human harvesting which is very controlled for the most part. The occasional hook mortality or something of that nature, although not technically a harvest, does remove a fish from the pond. You can control what species of fish, what size, what condition, etc of the fish you remove.
Other living creatures also harvest fish from our ponds. Herons, ospreys, otters and other fish... Few people want herons, ospreys or otters taking fish from their ponds, particularly otters who can rally clean a pond out. But what I am curious about is the use of fish to do the work for you. I enjoy eating fish, but may not want to eat enough fish to eat all the fish that need to be removed for one's goals for their pond. Can you rely on other fish to do the work for you?
Obviously bass remove a lot of panfish from a pond, without bass in a pond, BG and other panfish will almost surely stunt and be a mess. There has been a substantial debate over using esox species as a control over bass and other species in the pond. Can these esox species replace humans who don't wish to harvest and eat bass or panfish, or are the results so unreliable for the most part that a pond owner will just have to find friends who want fish to eat to reach their goals? Or do you just toss the harvested fish into the outflow of the dam and send them on their way to the local river?
