Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding Feeders - I know - asked many times

FishinRod, years ago, I did a little bow fishing but don't have the gear anymore. I learned about the refraction and aiming but these GC will show just for a split second then back under so just as I'm on one, it's gone. That's how I missed. If conditions allowed me to see into the water better, I could probably do better. Due to vision problems, all my rifles have scopes and I'm so close, I went with the handgun. Might be better with a red dot for this work.

10X - By my recommendation the one acre would to start off with just 3 GC young ones and if a couple old ones were present then 2 new GC. Note many people that don't like my suggestions think I don't know anything.

Watch the plants density then in the 2nd or 3rd yr add the 3rd new GC. As I noted prior, it is much better to have some weeds present as habitat and FA control than a denuded pond that usually results in FA problems because GC basically do not eat FA. Also when all the weeds are gone the GC resort to becoming pellet hogs and rooting in the bottom for invertebrates. The kill shot of the GC I noted above was taken out with a 12 gauge. For close range use, one does not have to be real accurate with a shotgun. . Borrow a shotgun or rent one from a pawn shop if you don't have one is my suggestion.

Bill, I am happy to go with your suggestions. I had a weed/FA issue and here in NY we have to get a permit and send photos, etc. to get the GC. They tell you how many you should have - in my case they said 12! Being a bit pricey, I remember that I didn't get that many but can't remember how many I did get. I know I did have 4 older ones from many years ago already in the pond but they weren't eating much.

As for the shotgun, well, I could have gone that route, I was trying to be "slick" about it with my grandson. I'm retired from building custom LRP rifles and have plenty of other choices. I just wasn't expecting the GC to be hard to get at close range. I'll send out my grandson with a 410 or 20ga. He'll have fun.

Of note, in past years we have had a lot of FA but this year none. The GC have been snipping off my lily pads this year too.

I put my fishing boat in the water - quite a sight seeing my brother and I on the pond fishing in a 17ft boat - in order to use my graph and FFS and there are no weeds at all anywhere. I used to clean all the cattails from the edges as well but have started leaving a small patch. I do have a lot of old trees pushed in along about a third of the shore, several trees/brush I tied to cinder blocks on the ice and let fall in for cover as well as some homemade PVC cover here and there.

I do have aeration and of course, now the feeder. Fish are very healthy. We add a few hundred crayfish we catch through the summer in a local creek. I have started FHM in a little pond out back that I plan to trap and feed into the larger pond now and then. Overall, the pond has been great. If I let the weeds grow a bit, my grandson won't like swimming in it as much but.....he likes to fish and since I home school him, the pond has been a learning experience in management - this is just another chapter.

10x,

I knew that I was not capable of effectively sniping carp with a revolver!

Who knew that shooting in real world situations was much more difficult than shooting in movies? (Hint: all of us!)

I posted another (crazy) possibility for you in the "Evaluating and adjusting fish populations" sub-forum. You might check that post in a few days and see if any of our experts have posted some workable solutions for you.

It does sound like your pond is certainly "over-grazed" at this point. Good luck on your carp culling program!

10X If and whenever some weeds return get some good close pictures of them and we can advise as to best deal with them so swimming is possible and enough weeds are present to compete with minimizing the filamentous algae. IMO the more and more GC that are removed the harder it will be to get close to them if and when they return to feed on pellets at the surface.