Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Fish poachers

I'm trying to laugh but just can't. Been texting with GW. He understands now why I am furious. It's not just a stock tank for cattle. Have to get evidence though.

Just misdemeanors though if they are legal....

Even misdemeanors will cost them $$. And if there are other problems with them they could be on the hook for those. Here when caught they run them for wants/warrants and if anything else pops up, they are given free transportation.

Closed the gate as the GW pulled up. We had a good 30+ min discussion about lots of topics. He has worked many cases where CC have been fished out. I should've been a GW.

I am speculating that the GW did not tell you to Shoot, Shovel, and Shut Up?

Good luck, I hope you manage to get rid of your poachers. I suspect with the pond fished out they will quit coming.

However, in 2-3 years when you have a good supply of big catfish they will go back to poaching your pond.

Constant vigilance!

It's good that you met him, and hopefully he can do something about it.

I'd call a company that stocks fish and have them make a delivery of baitfish. The people might see the truck make a delivery and think "Oh boy, more fish for me!" and make more appearances, allowing more chances of catching them. .

I am plus one on multiple cameras pointing at the crappiest cheapest camera you can find as a decoy, but make it difficult to remove so that they will be occupied for a slightly longer period of time with a couple cameras with cell service pointed at them from a different vantage point, keeping in mind that night time pictures with black flash do not take the best pictures in the world, along with a sign, in spanish or otherwise that they are being recorded off site.
I just purchased some cuddelink cameras that have an actual strobe flash that is very apparent after dark but they take full flash pictures after dark, and then they send the picture to another camera, you dont even have to have cell service, you can have the home camera hidden to the point where they cant find it and it will have all the pictures on it. and with the flash they will know they will be seen on the camera. hang them in a high elevation so they would have to have some kind of climbing ladder to get to them, they would take multiple pictures before they could get to them, all recorded on another camera.
The fed catfish are like fish in a barrel as far as catching them, I am catching mine as easily as ever close to the feeding area. without a doubt they can clean a pond out quickly.
It could be some fun tho to think of ways to mess with them, I can imagine the frustration tho. Good Luck, keep us posted.

Good info, gehajake!

My poachers came in through the creek bottomland on our property. There is no cell coverage down there. I didn't know that the technology had advanced such that I could send pictures to a "home" camera hidden on higher ground.

I have also purchased two different cameras with invisible black flashes - that were dimly (but clearly) visible to me while testing in a dark room. They were in the $100-$150 price range, but I would have to pull my records to see the brand names.

Are there "true" invisible flash cameras available at reasonable prices? Any brand/model recommendations?

FishinRod,
Plus one on what gehajake said. I also have the Cuddeback Cuddelink system for security. The home camera is the only one that has to be in a location to get a cell signal(in my cabin). The other Cuddelink cameras do not use cellular to get pics back to the home camera. They use a rf signal to transmit the images to the home camera. I have not run an update in a while since we installed a 2x4 1/4 thick steel gate 16 foot wide with a Medeco lock. This has stopped my problems considering there is only one way in and out. I have the g models with black flash elevated and no one has seemed to bother them over the past 2 years. I will tell you that the images transmitted to the home camera sd card are 5 megapixel and the ones in the remote cameras are I think 24 megapixel for even crisper pictures. I do recommend them as long as you have one spot on your property where you do get a good cell signal for the home camera. I hope this helps!

The cuddelink cameras are not cheap but I really like mine, I have a couple at the entrance with full flash that send pics to a more obscure camera in a place hidden from sight,, lets just say, with the flash, at night they will definitely know they are under surveillance, people tend to get pretty nervous when flash bulbs are going off around them when they are trespassing. deer however dont seem to mind the flash at all.

Thanks again, Pond Bossers!

I have some giant cottonwoods on higher ground where they surround my tiny dragline ponds. I am pretty sure I can find a spot that has cell coverage AND can receive a good signal from the creek bottoms.

Spy Point cameras work great if you have adequate cell service. Poachers cannot delete the pictures as they are sent to your cell phone immediately after taking them. You can then share the image with your game warden. Done.