Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations New Appreciation for Fish Haulers!

Just hauled 400 adult perch for myself and a few other pond owners and I've got to say I have a new found appreciation for people that haul fish for a living. Lots of things to worry about and considering how much water weighs it can be dangerous. I didn't get home until 12:30 AM so it was a long day!

How many gallons of water are we talkin', Cecil?

How did you calculate O2 needs for your regulator?

I fill my tank up to a preset mark of 27 inches which is the highest I can fill it and allow the fresh flow aerator to drawn up the water and splash it on the surface. That comes to 183.21 gallons. That's 1520.64 lbs. not counting the fish and the tank that weighs 400 lbs.!

I set the regulator at 50 psi and this allows the O2 to flow to three medical grade flowmeters (I think they are MFR615's that are pictured at this link: http://www.aquaticeco.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/product.detail/iid/9819/cid/2337

they in turn run to three oxygen "four point" stones that are spaced equally apart in a triangle that are siliconed to the floor of the tank. I also silicone connections to the stones to remove any sharp edges that could damage fish.

If I do use the pure oxygen I turn the knobs on the flowmeters to just barely bring a fizz to the surface with the ball indicators just off the bottom of the flowmeters. Of course I do check with a D.O meter right after I load the fish, just before I take off, and than about 20 minutes later. I don't want D.O. levels to drop below 6 mg/l and prefer higher levels.

But believe it or not I usually use the freshflow aerator to oxygenate the water and the oxygen tank is a backup.

Even with 160 lbs of perch in that tank which comes out to .87 lbs. per gallon, my D.O. never went below 11 mg/l probably in part due to the 42 degree water! Never used the oxygen!

No floaters at the end of the trip and hopefully there will not be any delayed morts although it's always possible to have a few.

I use salt at the recommended rate added to the "Sure Haul" additive which came out to 7.25 cups of salt for this amount of water.

Interesting. Tell me a little more about the salt and where you get it. Our Nebraska Game and Parks Commission has a huge fish display at the state fair every fall and I remember one year they got the wrong kind of salt and killed every fish. It might have had iodine in it. I don't remember for sure.

I'm heading to my bluegill reproduction pond right now. I'm going to dewater it and seine all of the reproduction from last year. I will give away the slowest growing 80% to a friend and the rest will go into my second lined pond for feeding. When these fish are sexually mature I will select the top 5%, which represent the top 1% overall and place these back into a reproduction pond. No telling what might happen after three or four more generations.

I use Morton table salt that I get from the local grocery store. I have been told the iodine could be bad for the fish so I purchase the one that says: This salt doe not contain iodine."

There is an addtive in some farm supply salts that prevents clumpping of the salt called sodium of prussate (sp?). I have been told this can be bad for fish also.

Selection for faster growth? Wish some of the fish farmers were dong that!

Bruce, yours is an extremely interesting project. Do you have plans to expand the gene pool or is this what you're trying to eliminate?

I'm trying to keep as much genetic diversity as I can possibly have. Even this morning I was arranging to get some additional adult bluegill to reproduce with my existing fish.

I was very succussful last night in my seining. We came up with twenty-four adults which were obviously the fish in the best condition and introduced them to a pond with no fish. We had ten males and fourteen females. The pond also has great bluegill spawning habitat so I'm hopeful I'll have some nice YOY fish in about four months.

plain old rock salt (sold as stock salt in feed stores or ice cream salt at the grocery) with no iodine is what I use.

Cecil,

I have located a source for 2 pound HSB but must find a way to move them about 140 miles to my ponds...is it foolish to consider doing this myself with some aerators and a tank? Is their such a thing as renting a fish hauler?

I would dearly love to get hold of these HSB. Appreciate any thoughts.

Overton's will "loan" you a tank if you buy fish from them. I don't know if they will rent them for other purposes. Here is a link:
http://www.overtonfisheries.com/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=267

No it is not foolish. I have my own hauling tank that I purchased for about $1000.00 and use it every year although as I said all the driving can be a pain. I couldn't raise the fish I raise without being able to pick them up with my hauling tank.

I mounted my tank to a trailer and as long as I have access to a pickup truck to pull it (wrecked my van pulling a load of stone) I have hauled fish up to 13 hours. I use a freshflow aerator with 0xygen that I rent from a welding supply as a back up.

You could also build your own tank out of marine plywood and coat it with resin.

If you want more specifics on the tank setup email me. It's not rocket science. If you lived closer I'd be glad to loan you my tank and trailer.

Svoberts and all,

Todd is loaning me the fish hauler tank so I'm in business. Should be quite an adventure...will try to get them early next week. Thanks.

Meadowlark,

Good for you! Isn't it amazing how valuble this site is? One of the reasons I tell folks in the aquaculture field it's a good idea to come to aquaculture meetings is the contacts you make and how valuable they can be down the road.

My wife informed me about a month ago that I could no longer purchase fish due to the amount of money I had already spent. I therefore decided to catch and transport fish from another pond I owned. My friend and I were able to seine about a thousand bluegill and transport them to the other pond with success. I was surprised that we only caught one large bass. I don't know if this was due to comerants or poaching. However I do know that there were at least two of the birds on the pond for a while this winter and this was a small one acre pond.

Cecil and all,

After getting a survey done on my pond I decided to cancel the fish hauling trip. Until I am able to control the poaching problem I have, it just makes no sense to me to add more expensive fish that the locals can place on their dinner tables.

The culture in East Texas comes from a "living off the land" background and a belief that everything that moves or swims on the land is fair game. I was once one of those in my teen age days, sadly to say.

Of course, not everyone is that way, and many have learned that maybe shooting the last buffalo wasn't the smartest thing to do. So, until I can get 24/7 watch on my ponds, I'm not going to provide the locals with easy gourmet dining.

Meadowlark, I also was one of those that grew up shooting anything that moved. It wasn't just me but everyone that I grew up with. I used to go out and shoot jack rabbits and let them lay to rot. I've talked to lots of people where I grew up and they haven't seen a jack rabbit for years. Hopefully, we all can learn.

Norm,

What do you do about poachers? I talked to the manager of the fish farm to explain why I wasn't going to buy the HSB due to poaching and he told me all the troubles they were having. Makes my problem pale in comparison....and he is trying to make a living off his fish business and people are stealing him blind.

He told me that the Police told him that if he caught someone in the act, he could not use a gun or weapon to restrain the person until the police arrived. The poachers know that, so they just run away to fight another day.

I tried cameras for a while and that seemed to work...I'm thinking now of a wholesale assault using cameras, steel traps, and unexpected visits.

It is a sad commentary.

Meadowlark, I've been reading about your shocking survey and your thoughts about the impact of poachers. Not that it makes you feel any better, but I've been sadly lamenting for you.

Within in the next two weeks or so, I'll be getting around (50) SMB in the 2-3lb. each range. These fish will probably cost me around $15 to $20+ bucks a piece. While I have not canceled my fish order, the thought of a poacher taking one or several of these beautiful fish is tearing me up inside.

Perhaps it's time to lobby for more stringent laws against poachers.

I feel for you guys. As far as I know I have not had anyone tresspassers and I'm right on a major highway. However my front pond is not visible from the highway, and I have a policeman behind me and very good neighbors who mostly don't fish. The one that does fish is a very well mannered, and is more than happy to come over and fish out a few bass for orders if I ask him.

That said, I gave up turning in game violators on public property as it doesn't seem like the conservations officers really care. I usually have to wait for a call back for up to three days and as common sense would tell you that is too late. One of the local C.O.'s hangs out at a local archery shop.

Here's something that will almost make you unpatriotic. As you know in the U.S. if a trespasser gets hurt or injured on your property you are liable even if he is committing a crime. Not so in Europe. If that happens that the criminal's problem not yours. They laugh at us (half my family is European) and can't for the life of them figure out how the property owner being liable makes any sense whatsoever.

What ever happened in this country to make the victim the one that is liable?

Treat them like horse thiefs.
With the laws today, if you put up an electric fence, they will sue you.

Sunil,

I appreciate your comments and know what you must be feeling also.

Its a real "pisser"...you try to make your pond the best it can be, and when you are successful the locals discover how great the fishing is in your pond and...then you have it, poacher city.

I've been thinking about surveillance cameras with live internet feed...but hey I'm 2 hours away. There just isn't a good answer. The fellow I mentioned above at the HSB fish farm says they just raise their prices to compensate for their losses to poachers...that is really comforting.

You know, I haven't seen any bass activity this year. Haven't caught one and haven't seen one feed. Maybe they aren't just hook shy. I also am an hour and a half; 70 miles away. Maybe I'm not the one making them hook shy.

All this discussion makes me really glad my pond is
a) not visible from the road
b) not visible from the subdivision next door
c) 200 yards from the house
d) 100 yards from my shooting range, frequently used by myself, my wife's sheriff's deputy nephew, and his partner.

Meadowlark, we had an ATV stolen one time but not fish that I know of. We have high berms around the lake so it isn't visible from any direction. Some locals know about it but they also know that we use it for groups of kids, handicapped and elderly. Everyone also knows that it is strictly catch and release. It seems that everyone respects that and watches out for us.

Norm, I also remember using Jack Rabbits, sparrows, etc. for target practice. Now, unless it is a real pest or problem, I don't kill anyhting I don't eat.