I moved the corral to shallower water because fish were escaping. When a good rain would happen the frame would float up about a foot which I believe was pulling the net up off the bottom. When the big fish would get out I would find 2 - 3 inch panfish inside the netting. If they could get in the others could get out.
When I moved it I waded in and checked the depth more carefully so as not to repeat the problem. I caught one WM that evening and added it to the corral. The next morning there was only 1/2 of it left. It was in good shape when I put it in so I think something killed it. My guess is turtles.
I added netting to the top in two pieces to form a cover. The piece on the deep end of the frame is fastened all around. The section that's close to the bank is attached on only one side so I can open it to add fish. Hopefully I won't lose more fish to predation or flooding now.
I observed something interesting when I moved the corral. Before I had added any fish or fish pellets a large number of fingerlings had congregated inside the netting. This seems to indicate the the corral itself is good structure for small fish. It's almost as if they sense that larger fish can't access the area.
Here's an idea which may or may not have value to a pond boss. You could set up a small netted area like my fish corral which uses deer netting with 5/8 inch mesh. Then feed these small fish heavily until they grow large enough that they can't fit through the mesh. Then you would have feed trained fish which can be easily moved or harvested. It would probably be best to have some traditional fish structure inside the netting to encourage the small fish to stay in.
I don't know what value there would be in doing that, but I think it would work.
Yeah, I know I could just put up blocking nets, or build fish cages, but that would be boring because discovering something new would be unlikely.
