Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Bugs, Frogs, Eggs, Fry and lots ofTurtles!

Since i have been feeding my catfish I have been seen more and more turtles. Two weeks ago there were two. Last week there were five. Yesterday there were 12-14 turtles chowing down on catfish feed. I have started feeding the catfish only once a day in the AM and taking a break one or two days a week as Boss Lusk recommends! In the evening at dusk I have been trying to get my CNBG to feed with little success. I wrote that off as being too much forage in my pond. I have more bugs, minnows, tiny frogs and fry than I have ever seen in any body of water. The pond has a glob of eggs stuck to every dead grass stalk in the creek. A thousand bugs to the square foot. Every step I take on the bank I see minnows, frogs and fry swim away. Each night I throw a few hands full of the small pellets to see if I can see CNBG. All I have seen is turtles. Last night I had enough and brought my 22 LR with me. I shot two turtles and never saw another turtle. Thirty minutes later I started seeing CNBG and I guess tilapia feeding on the small pellets. Does anyone think the turtles were scaring the CNBG off of the pellets? Do the tilapia adults and fry look white in stained water?

This has been a great learning experience and lots of fun!!

PFF,

I haven't seen any tendencies for the CNBG to be scared of the presence of turtles at feeding time. In my pond, it is the opposite, i.e. the turtles kind of hang back and pick up left overs and don't venture into the melee of feeding.

I have noticed variations in Tilapia color from pond to pond on my place.

Great fun is there to be had in just observation. For me personally, observation is almost as much fun as fishing itself...and a far better learning tool. I can and often do spend hours just observing what is going on... that which can be seen with our eyes. Amazing things take place in our ponds, drama is played out every minute, fun is there to be had. Thanks for mentioning it.

I have a whopper of a snapping turtle that comes around when I broadcast (hand feed) my fish.I just let him eat as he comes up near the bank and eats what falls in proximity of the weeds and bank. I just can't bring myself to dispatch his/her old butt...guess I'm getting softhearted in my old age.
Muskrats are a different story, I been popping them when I can, after dropping a Snapper mower wheel in one of their burrows.

I thought 2 turtles were fine, 5 I started grumbling but when I counted 12 I started making plans to thin them out.

I have thousands of white fry in my pond. About 4 weeks ago I stocked CNBG, fatheads, tilapia and catfish. There is a chance of some other species coming when the creek flooded. Does anyone have any idea what species the white fry might be? I tried to take photos but they did not turn out. They are 1/4 to 1/2 inch and very quick swimmers.

PondsForFun, turtles are a huge group of animals so it is almost impossible to say anything definite unless we know what species or type of turtle you are talking about.

I have deliberately added western painted turtles and spiny shoftshell turtles to our lake. When painted turtles start to take bait or pellets, I catch them and release them into a different watershed so they won't return. I like having them but remove the individuals that become pests.

I had the same experience as you did ponds for fun. I started out having only a few turtles and then it seemed like hundreds. What bothered me the most was they were competing directly with my fish for the pellets. I bought a turtle trap from dunns fish farm and in the past few months have caught hundreds of the critters. In the spring I would catch as many as twenty in a week. Even after catching and "letting go" all these turtles there are still as many as twenty that I can count at feeding time. I had a stringer of fish the other day tied to the bank and after fishing on the other side of the pond came back to see my fish had been eaten half alive by the turtles. Some of the fish were still alive with big hunks bit out of them. I put the fish remains in the trap and caught a ton of turtles. I don't like turtles.