Pat....next winter I am trying the "fishing line experiment" Filippo in Italy used to ward off the water turkey....I've already bought a huge spool of line....it's kind of crazy in an almost 4 acre pond....but it's also crazy losing thousands of dollars in fish to the water turkey. I'll report back how it works in conjunction with the reflective tape next winter.
I think it was a silver Bass Pro Shad, SG. Retrieve was only a couple of feet deep at steady medium speed. Best luck was around my dock with two feeders nearby, LMB and HSB come around both for feed and CNBG that are feeding. Late afternoon/evening seem to be prime times, less activity in the morning.
70 HSB put in 1 year ago, about 10 per acre. We've even caught some on dark jigworms meant for LMB and CNBG, maybe they are hungry since don't have any TSH. Great fighters, if they jumped nobody would care about LMB.
Thank you sir. Not sure if any of mine survived, but I keep hoping and trying.
12 yr old pond, 1 ac, 15' deep. RES, YP, GS, FHM (no longer), HBG (decreasing), SMB, and HSB (only two have been seen in 5 yrs) I think that's about all I should put in my little pond. Otter attack in 2023.
At my place I use most any minnow/shad looking soft bait with a single hook jig head. You can cast it and swim it back or drag it slowly across the ponds bottom. Swimming it just fast enough to where it does not lay still on the ponds bottom. Or you can drop shot the same type of bait and or Carolina rig it. All of the above have caught some up to 5+ lbs. A sassy shad or the Power bait minnow works and so does soft plastic cigar shaped paddle tail swim baits. My largest came off a 1/2oz double willow leaf spinner bait. But my favorite way is to catch them with a fly rod using some poor/sad looking shad type fly that I made lol. Keep chunking, if they survived you should catch one. From everything I have read about your pond setter, I would suspect at least half of the stocking survived. Best of luck to you Or maybe add some more to your pond this spring or fall.
Last edited by TGW1; 05/07/1901:08 PM.
Do not judge me by the politicians in my City, State or Federal Government.
Anyone tried Big Bite baits 5” cane thumper with Owner brand 3/0 flashy swimmer. Have caught and released 10# plus LMB and lots of all sizes . They can’t resist
Nope.... it’s called a Cane Thumper 5” color is watermelon red ghost. I can’t post pix but if you will pm me your email or I can text a picture of the package
Mine must have all died. I’ve tried everything with zero success. Maybe it is time to try something else.. WE might be the answer. If I can find some. After my explosion of HBG, I’m a little leery about adding anything.
12 yr old pond, 1 ac, 15' deep. RES, YP, GS, FHM (no longer), HBG (decreasing), SMB, and HSB (only two have been seen in 5 yrs) I think that's about all I should put in my little pond. Otter attack in 2023.
My recent success has been with a topwater popper kinda thing in my pond. I was watching it and noticed lots of stuff happening on the surface and bingo it worked. (that's on LMB) good luck Dave
The last few days when feeding, I've been seeing that a few of the larger FHM that come up to feed, have their spawning colors. If I had never seen pictures of them with their spawning colors, I would of thought there was a new minnow in my pond.
The last 3-4 days I have noticed more lmb on the beds than ever. Even though I have also seen my first pod of lmb fry too. My lmb were late to the beds last year too compared to everyone else it seems. As long as they spawn I don't care. by the way we just got another 1 1/2 inch of rain in the last 30 minutes. I just hope it doesn't flush my fry over the spillway!!
Dear Alcohol, We had a deal where you would make me funnier, smarter, and a better dancer... I saw the video... We need to talk.
Pat, she wouldn't budge. I've been thinking all day about a patty melt with grilled jalapenos. No burns are as nice as that hot flattop melted cheese stuck to the roof of my mouth.
Was doing some maintenance (aka clearing some FA) when I found this at the edge of the pond. I think this is one of the SMB that the previous owner said was in the pond & I have seen a couple of them swimming about in the last week as well as one today.
Wasn't there the other day and have got plenty of BG and other YOY that don't seem stressed so not sure what happened here. I do have a GBH that visits but no visible signs of injury so I don't think that's it.
Maybe just old age?
Anyway, I pulled it out and put it around the other side of the pond for the other wildlife to have. It'll most likely be gone tomorrow.
I did start up aeration last week and it's been running 3 hours a day for the past several days after a ramp up so perhaps it's tied to that - though I've got no noticeable odors and everyone else seems happy.
It seems this time of year presents some challenges in identifying possible mortality of fish. The occurrences seem to escalate somewhat as well. Some could be due to age accompanied with stress from spawning. Rising water temps adding to a change in water chemistry and bacterial growth.
I find a couple floaters a week sometimes and have seen a couple swimming lately with what aquarium folk call "Ick" on their dorsal fins as well as some dead that have reddish blotchy sores on their sides.
Not sure what causes it, or how to prevent it on a pond scale. Hopefully, this occurence was due to a combination of age and post spawn stress.
.10 surface acre pond, 10.5 foot deep. SW LA. The epitome of a mutt pond. BG, LMB, GSF, RES, BH, Warmouth, Longear Sunfish, Gambusia,Mud Minnows, Crappie, and now shiners!!...I subscribe!!
That sure is a handsome RES, Shorty. Is it full blooded or does it have a bit of BG in it? I ask because of the more pronounced vertical barring on it's side.
.10 surface acre pond, 10.5 foot deep. SW LA. The epitome of a mutt pond. BG, LMB, GSF, RES, BH, Warmouth, Longear Sunfish, Gambusia,Mud Minnows, Crappie, and now shiners!!...I subscribe!!
Or maybe add some more to your pond this spring or fall. 
