Pond Boss Forums FISH & FISHING Sunfish-Including Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass Attempt at Smallmouth Production for my own use

I will have to hold off for a picture of one of the larger ones as I need to find a battery for the camera. I'm sure there's one here but the wife is in Germany for a month with some of her students so I'll have to wait to ask her where! She's techno geek of the family.

So, with the late spawn in the main pond, do you think the fish that were transplanted held off and the spawning behavior that was seen is actually them trying to pull off a spawn?

Could be. Keep a look out for black fry in Fritz's pond. Make sure you get a good count as I'll be charging extra for them! Just kidding of course!

I'd like to ask Cody if he knows how old the fish in the above picture is, and if that bulging abdomen is still it's yolk sack. Considering they just appeared about three days ago I'm thinking they can't be more than a week old so spawning couldn't have been that long ago. But the again Cody would know how long they stay on the nest until they scatter and I could be way off on this.

I've only observed one probable nest in the big pond and the male that apparently made the nest was able to find some stone and gravel. Perhaps they held off until they could find suitable substrate? I've had females that seemed to be absorbing their egg die, and was told by someone at BPS it's a probably they deal with on female smallmouth.

Hopefully Cody can give us his expertise on the subject.

Bill are you there?


BTW I have moved close to 200 of the above to the hatchery pond now. 30 the first trip, about 80 the seond, and 80 the third. Unless they scatter soon I think I can scoop up that many more and will try. Cha Ching! $$$

On another note Scott, in the future I may be able to collect all the spawn I need from the big pond by placing a screen around the nest once I observe fry as in Piper's textbook and as per Cody's advice. Then move them to the hatchery pond and not deal with broodfish.

This could be more easily done in the big pond as I can set up beds on more flat bottom. Another advantage is a higher success rate by filling and fertilizing the fry pond at the latest possible time ensuring temps more conducive to phytoplankton.

Scott,

I got this off of Michigan's DNR site:

The eggs, which are larger than those of the largemouth bass, hatch in 2 to 3 days. Then the newly hatched light-colored fry drop down into the bottom of the gravel nest for three or more days.

By the time the fry work their way out of the gravel on the ninth or tenth day, they are very dark in color. Under the watchful eye of the male, they swim in a dense dark cloud over the nest for a few days, then begin to disperse.

http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10364_18958-45689--,00.html

If my math is right the above may have hatched as much as 3 weeks ago?

You said you saw what appeared to spawning activity on Fritz's pond at least a week ago?

Middle of last week he saw SMB chasing other fish off of the gravel areas. The RES are bedding on the remaining areas. I'll look in the pond tomorrow since I'll be there.

Scott,

I think it's entirely possible they were still spawning. As we all know not all fish of the same species spawn entirely at once. If they'd probably go extinct just like 99 percent of the others species on this planet have.

Now if there was a female that was still fecund vs. just a male on a bed may be another question.

Cecil, I didn't make it to the pond to look today, even tho I was less than 100' from it. An easy day turned into the day from hell. Ever try to get a trailer tire back seated on the rim and inflated when there's about 20,000# of wood in the trailer (only half loaded) and you don't have tools or a jack that is strong enough to lift the trailer without unloading it? Then, once it's seated and inflated, you hear air hissing out and realize that it went flat because a good sized nail went thru the tread....

Uncouple trailer, drive truck to nearest town to get a plug kit, etc., etc. An 8 hr day turned into a 17 hr day.......

I haven't done that yet Scot but I've been in some dousies!