Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat nesting in the danger zone

My RES are nesting less than 2' from shore in only about a foot of water, Now that the water is clearing up from the rains you can clearly see 8-10 beds. If the heron shows up on that side this week I would think they would be easy prey.

I assume they are RES but cant ID for sure, I know there not cc or carp and the only think left would be the HBG and I didnt think they would spawn.

I am trying to maybe set up a barrier on that side of the pond with maybe that bunched up deer netting strung out along the bank edge but I am worried that the other critters will get tangled in it also.

How far and deep will Herons walk or wade out into the water?

I have GAZILLIONS of fhm right now from 1/2 to 1"long, You cant look into the water and not see a tiny fish. Looks like this fall I will be stocking some sort of bass

From my experience, they will wade as deep as their legs will let them.

trials, I think that the HBG will make nests and try to spawn, and I also think that they can successfully spawn. I beleive the reason they are not liked as much as a forage fish is that they don't produce a huge amount of off-spring, and maybe that the offspring are heavily sexed on way or the other. Someone correct me if needed.

You should be able to see the red-edged gill flap to know if it's a redear. Again someone correct me if needed.

If the spawning beds are shallow enough to see the fish, you should be able to see the red ear tabs - whether the water is clearer like ewest's or kind of cloudy like mine. See here for examples.

FWIW my RES were on those shallow nests for like 3 weeks, and I don't THINK I lost any to the local GBH. Certainly my redeared friends Bob, Ted, Phil, and Yellow 032 made it through spawning AOK.

How long to they hang on nest? I was there this morning and there was no sign of any of them only bird tracks around the edge of the pond. the more I think about it I think they may have been HBG just because of the color of the fins that I could see. I piled up junk around the edge but I think the heron may have waded out then walked around it. Will the fish beat a path out of there when danger is near or will they stay to protect the nest?

If it's a spawning male Lepomis actually on nest, it seems to take a great deal to drive them off.