I like turtles in the pond. Watched one laying eggs, now that's cool. Missed part of the ceremony, sure would like to know how the dig that round bell bottom hole
I hung into a huge turtle last weekend at the local state park. Biggest thing I have ever had on a fishing pole. At one point he came up and gave me the evil eye. His head was easily 4 to 5 inches across. I was fishing from shore and had 12 pound test with the drag set perfect. HE PLAYED ME for a while and then decided to spool me. He acted like I wasn't even there! Now I know how a mosquito must feel when they are nonchalantly swatted!
Last edited by Bill D.; 06/25/1507:21 AM. Reason: Typo
I am having a great time feeding the fish their snack every evening. When I walk up to the pond I see fish coming from everywhere when they see me. Looks like a mini wave pool as the CC come in. Think I may start heading down there in the morning with my first cup of Joe in hand to toss a few pellets. Great way to start the day I'm thinking. My thought is I need to feed more areas but would like some inputs on that. I tossed a few handfuls in previously unfed areas tonight and right away SF came up to feed.
Bill, when it's calm I always feed em right off the end of the pier. If there's an E wind I feed from the E side and watch em follow the pellets as they drift across the pond. Whenever there's a wind I feed with my back to it and don't wing it out too far. I've checked the down wind shore several times and it appears very few pellets complete the journey.
Do nature a favor, spay/neuter your pets and any weird friends or relatives.
Thanks for the tip Bob. Works great! Seems the CC don't care where I throw the food in. They are near the surface waiting for me when I go down in the evening to feed. As soon as I throw the first handful of pellets they come swimming at full speed from every corner of the pond. I still don't see that many SF coming to feed now but I think it may be I just can't see them since the CC are making such a ruckus.
CC are pretty piggish. I have a few that I believe hitchhiked in with FHM yrs ago. I shot one and have caught several. I believe I hooked one last Fri when Fatih and company were here but snapped my line. My minnows always get to the food first, then the HSB and then YP. The CC are spotty but they just cruise up and suck em down. The HSB an YP are very splashy. Always feed by hand and always enjoy it.
Do nature a favor, spay/neuter your pets and any weird friends or relatives.
CC are pretty piggish. I have a few that I believe hitchhiked in with FHM yrs ago. I shot one and have caught several. I believe I hooked one last Fri when Fatih and company were here but snapped my line. My minnows always get to the food first, then the HSB and then YP. The CC are spotty but they just cruise up and suck em down. The HSB an YP are very splashy. Always feed by hand and always enjoy it.
The HSB surprised me at how much they eat. Just put them in this past may at about 2 and 1/2 pounds each. Only put in 6 and they seem to have staked out their feeding area near the shore in about 2 feet of water. I expected them to feed in deeper water. They do splash a lot and don't seem to mind my being a few feet from them. I'd like to try to get them to eat from my hand but there is one huge snapping turtle that comes to eat pellets right in front of me and I don't want him latching onto my fingers.
I am having a great time feeding the fish their snack every evening. When I walk up to the pond I see fish coming from everywhere when they see me. Looks like a mini wave pool as the CC come in. Think I may start heading down there in the morning with my first cup of Joe in hand to toss a few pellets. Great way to start the day I'm thinking. My thought is I need to feed more areas but would like some inputs on that. I tossed a few handfuls in previously unfed areas tonight and right away SF came up to feed.
This is my opinion only and is unsubstanciated by research or facts. So take it for what it costs you.
I think if a person is feeding for trophys then concentrating the feeding position will let the most aggressive fish get most of the feed and benefit from the competition of the other fish.
If a person is feeding for overall general growth of the fish population, including the forage fish that feed the larger fish, I think feeding over a broader area (I feed all along the shore line and spread the feeding area out) will result in a more general growth of the general fish population instead of the feed benefiting a smaller more targeted big fish group. Also adding a small portion (maybe up to 30%) of feed that sinks allows some of the more timid fish to reach the feed. At least that has been my observation.
Nothing backing up this opinion other than my observations.
Forgive my spelling for the next few weeks. I can't for the life of me figure out how to make the spell checker show me corrected spelling on this Tab.
I don't have a feeder (unless my grandson counts, he is feeding the fish while wife and I are on the road), but if I did I would set the feeder in the best location, then hand feed other areas of the pond.
On my 3 acre pond 3 feeding positions are generally recommended. Three TH feeders don't come cheap! Then there is the old 1 acre pond, forage pond and sediment pond currently acting as a forage grow out pond. That is 6 feeders!
Talked about getting a feeder and wife discouraged it. Said I enjoy hand feeding the fish so much, it would diminish my enjoyment.
Interesting development to me, although, I am sure a lot of you guys have seen this before.
Lately, my YP have been feeding heavily on minnows in a small cove in the pond. Today I walked down and found a semi dry 7 inch YP about 6 inches up on the bank tangled in some Red Fescue. It apparently chased a minnow just a bit too hard and ended up beaching itself. Does this happen often??
I've only had YP a couple years and haven't seen one beach himself but I suppose they could. I did have a SMB beach himself chasing a frog out of the water but he flopped around and got back in.
I think that's probably what happend in this case. He just got hung up in the fescue. I've seen FHM jump up on the bank to avoid a predator and then flop back but, I don't think there is anything big enough in my pond yet that can chase/eat a 7 inch YP.
Second photo is of the CC my youngest son, Daniel, and my niece caught to get the harvest started. The fish averaged 2.2 pounds. I consider perfect size for CC harvesting of 2 to 3 pounds so these guys were right in the slot.
First photo is a 8 1/4 inch HBG (Thanks for the ID help Cecil). I really like the white fins and fin tips. This one was returned to the pond.
I agree on the 2-3# being an ideal size for the CC. We have been harvesting ones mostly in the 1.5-2# range and the two pounder have a nice amount of meat. I figure we need to get started this year and get some of them out so we are not overloaded in trying to catch them all next year. By next year ours ought to be perfect size.
That is a pretty hybrid. The white fin tips really stand out.
I agree on the 2-3# being an ideal size for the CC. We have been harvesting ones mostly in the 1.5-2# range and the two pounder have a nice amount of meat. I figure we need to get started this year and get some of them out so we are not overloaded in trying to catch them all next year. By next year ours ought to be perfect size.
Ours have been ranging from 1 lb 10 oz to 3 lbs. It was really nice to see no yellow or red meat on the fillets; all snow white meat. I suspect that has to do with supplemental feeding grain based pellets along with the natural food.