Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Property Projects & Construction What did you do at your pond today?

Stocked 300+/- 3-4" Golden shiners from Anderson's.. Had to bust a hole in the ice to get'em in but they seem to acclimate fine!
Would have been nice to have done it a bit earlier but there in!

Cleaned the fountain pump to remove, hopefully, the last of the FA for this season and measured the water temp @ 46 degrees. It's dropping fast now that the overnight temps are getting into the teens with a thin layer of ice covering the surface this morning except where the fountain is.

Yesterday I was able to finish construction of my 8x12 well house and as soon as it was finished, I disconnected the aeration pump from the air line, plugged the end to prevent trash getting into the line and stored the pump in the well house. Next spring, the plan is to extend the air line to the well house and keep the pump housed in there.

I'm on the road heading home with SMB in the back seat, this is a supplemental stocking to replace fish I lost this summer in a fish kill.

Home now and adjusting water temps. All 81 SMB made the trip home fine, fish are in the 5-6" size range.

Good news on the SMB making it Shorty. That is a nice size to stock.

Gave my main pond fish about half normal amount of feed today. Drove around the pond in the UTV and saw some wakes coming toward me so figured they were hungry. Ate all I threw to them.

At my get together Highflyer brought me a laser temperature gun so I checked the surface temperature and it was 47. Was surprised to see the fish feeding with the temperature that low but I suspect it is warmer deeper because the fish came from the deep.

When the surface temperature was 50 the fish were still very actively feeding.

I usually cut back on the rate sometime in early November and quit feeding altogether around the first of December. Around then the deeper water has gotten to about 50 degrees and the fish no longer act very interested. I only feed now as long as the fish act interested and eat well. That means I skip some days.

Snrub, I was down in your neighborhood to pick up my fish in south central KS, almost a 5 hour drive back to my place. My pond is half covered with ice right now with surface temps sitting at 40 degrees. I did see GSH hitting the surface while releasing the SMB.

May I ask where you purchased your smb?? I also buy fish near the Wichita area.

Hartley's just west of Wichita, I had to wait a week or two for them to run a seine. I was originally going to run down on Thursday but had to reschedule, North Central KS had a winter weather advisory in effect that afternoon.

Thanks Shorty, that's where I got my original stock of SMB, RES..
I wanted to see if Harbin just east of Wichita maybe had some again.
Thanks!

Shorty you were down to my latitude but still a long ways away. Mapquest says 3.5 hours from my place to Kingman, Ks. I'm only 4 miles from Missouri.

I see just a little skim of ice on your pond.

I stocked my SMB early December last year from Hartleys.

Reminds me of a time years ago, when my girlfriend and I were staying overnight at a friend's hunting cabin. During the night, she was rudely awakened by screams (similar to that of a little girl) after I had semi-consciously reached under the bed with my foot to retrieve one of my flip flops and inadvertently pulled out a long snakeskin which had been shed.

BTW, that's a good lookin' pup, Zep!

Had a friend unfold the mattress on the top bunks at camp. About the third one a big rat snake flipped out around his neck. Snake was ok but the guy almost had the big one. Fifteen mins later he still had a very high heart rate.

That would be it for me. I'd still be there on the floor. lol

A family get together at FIL lake home when we saw a snake go down the hallway toward the three bedrooms. The women put us to work looking for that snake. never did find it. Another time same place we entered the place and I went to turn on the tv. I saw what I thought was a fake toy snake on top of the tv until I saw it flick it tongue. I'm gone

Removed ten small LMB today, also caught three too big to keep. Largest around 3.5 to 4 lbs.

Saw repeated big topwater explosions near the dock. Tossed in my lure & nearly had the rod ripped out of my hands by a berserk HSB. Couldn't believe my eyes when I got him in & he was just 15 inches!!!

I had been wanting to do another trap survey so I loaded some dry dog food in a bottle and did three separate soaks of my cloverleaf trap in different spots. Each run was only about 15 minutes at approximately 5 foot deep. The first sample resulted in nine 1.5" BG, the second only one about the same size and the third had one 2" GSF, one BG around 3" and seven more 1.5" BG. I guess all my bigger fish are hanging out in deeper water or suspended out in the middle. Feeding has been way off since this last cold snap, even tho the surface temp is still 66*.

Fed a little today because it was warm and sunny and saw some fish coming toward me. Fish went after the feed well considering how cold the water is. Even saw one 12" CC come to the surface for pellets.

Water is exceptionally clear and I was amazed to see so many 1.5-2" BG. I had no idea there would be so many late spawn that size.

Pulled the paddle boat out of the water before it gets frozen in.

I had the same thought about all the 1.5" BG I've seen and trapped. I did notice a couple of males tending nests toward the end of Sept but had no idea there would be that many survive that spawn.

And the minnows!! Oh my lord!!

The YOY predators should get fed well through the winter with all the late fall spawn of the BG.

I honestly believe that why my bigger fish have quit coming to the pellets. There's so much forage for everyone they've pretty much quit the feed all together. Between the yoy and minnows there's plenty protein to go around right now.

Caught three fish. In about an hours time in freezing weather. I don't have much experience cold water fishing so thought I would try a little. Bite was extremely slow but at least I didn't get skunked.

Fishing started very slowly with air temps in upper 40s & overcast conditions. After an hour of nothing, the sun came out, air temps warmed into the lower 50s, and the fish turned on!

Culled 20 LMB, threw back five too big to keep. Largest near 4 lbs, great fun to catch! Eight year old son of a friend was in the boat and caught several LMB, including one of the bigguns.

Headed in around 4:15pm when we saw schooling fish near the dock exploding on something, likely small BG. A few casts later, we identified the fish as HSB. Adult angler caught two nice ones, then the kid hung a big one on his little rod & reel and the fight was on!

Amazingly, the line didn't break, the reel didn't jam, and the rod (barely) withstood immense pressure. Got a few pics of him next to the 5 lb fish, he & his parents are delighted!

I'll try to download a couple of the pics here. This is the best reason for all the work & investment: To thrill a child and give them a lasting appreciation of creation.

PS Bald eagle sighting, too. Three Canada geese and three unwanted water turkeys.

Great day!

What a great day, anthropic! Thanks for sharing.