Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Got my rainbows in!

Our local hatchery has a program that allows you to purchase RBT from them in April. It's done around now because water temps are most likely to be pretty close (cold) in all our waters here around now. Used some 50 gallon heavy totes with lids and some industrial strength trash cans in the back of two pickups to haul the 200, 8-10 inch trout the 25 miles or so to my place. Everybody looks healthy and happy. Temps finally warming up enough to create a bit of a midge hatch. Buds are swelling and getting ready to break into leaves. Ruffed grouse drumming, turkeys gobbling... Love this time of year!

Hollywood, now how cool is all that
Will you feed or will u go natural
Never heard Grouse drumming here in the south But the Bob Whites whistle in the early morning or late evening is nice to hear
I agree this is a nice time of the year

Tracy

Tracy,
I will feed them, it's cool to watch the frenzy!
We don't have bob whites... They look like pretty interesting little guys! A grouse drumming sounds just like an old tractor starting up. Thump....thump...thump..thump thumpthumpthumpthump. The males find an old log in the woods and do this to attract a mate. They are beautiful birds. And incredibly good eats. You get about .05 of a second to shoot when they flush though. It's easy to go through a bunch of shells and have nothing to show for it. They humble many good wing shots!

instinct shooting for Bobs will get u more. I always wanted to do a grouse hunt or two but never found the time. now I am no longer able to make those big walks I used to enjoy so much. And that sucks. As much as I like and enjoy my ponds, Nothing is more enjoyable than a walk through the land behind some good pointing dogs. Would you know what dogs work best when hunting grouse? I am thinking Britney spaniels or other type of close working dogs. What u think

Tracy

Cool on the rainbows. Are the bald eagles still hanging around or did they move on? Or have you put lines across the pond?

So your ponds are such that you get holdover through the summer? That's awesome!

Yep, they do quite well. Haven't been seeing the Eagles so I'm hoping they've found more consistent feeding grounds. Though I have three 500' spools of 1/4 bright yellow line ready to string up if they show up regularly again. Going to put clips on the ends so I can take them down when I'm there then clip back up. This pond is RBT/YP . I'm hoping it works out and the RBT keep it from becoming a stunted YP mess. If I see it heading that way I plan to add SMB to get balance back. Doubt they can reproduce in this pond. Warmest surface temp in this one I've seen is 78 degrees.

Tracy,
Any close working dog can be a good grouse dog. Many guys like Brittany. Many dogs are reluctant to pick up or hold a grouse in their mouth for a retrieve for some reason. I'm heading back to SD for pheasant in November... Always a blast!

A buddy of mine just sent me this pic. He and his daughter stopped this morning to set up her blind for next weekends youth turkey season opener. On the way out I asked her if she'd like to try for a few trout. She educated seven or eight of the new comers. I kept hoping she'd tie into one of the good hold overs, some are 18" or so... But just lil guys today.