Early this year I added 20 Female LMB to my 1/4 acre trout pond - for the summer action and entertainment. I don't have a lot of LMB experience, but it has been a treat to see how differently these fish behave - as compared to trout.
This evening I saw something crazy. (In the pic below you'll see a patch of cattails that I left in my pond - all pond edges are lined with weed barrier and field stone down to about 4 feet except this patch of cattails.)
I was working on some pond edge improvements (across from the cattails where you see the blue sun screen in the pic below) when I took a break to 'ponder the pond.'
Suddenly I heard a quick staccato wap-wap-wap-wap-wap, and I saw a bass jump out of the water and flicking its tail literally bounce on top of the water for about 25 feet then dive instantly to the bottom. Before I could wrap my feeble mind around what could cause a top predator to act like a 2 inch shiner, a bigger bass did the same. Shot out of the cattails wap-wap-wap-wap-wap and just flicked across the water. That fish did not want to be in that pond. Thirty feet later in the middle it dove and disappeared.
Flummoxed, I stood silently considering what I'd seen when an otter (might have been a mink - looked to be about 30 inches long) popped out of the cattails and loped across a patch of grass to disappear in the undergrowth of the woods. That sucker had been there the whole time I was working. I moved to about 20 feet of the cattails when that otter's kit (I assume because it was somewhat smaller at about 20 inches in length) jumped out of the cattails, one-hopped the rocky edge and dove into the water without even a splash. Ten seconds later it popped out of the pond - didn't even have to climb - and loped into the underbrush as well. I saw no fish in their mouths.
Wow. What a rush. My friend recommends that these predators die of sudden-onset lead poisoning or equivalent. But I really don't mind. I have Blue Herons that are frequent visitors and the trout seem to do okay.
What is the experience of the group in quantifying loss? The pond has (had?) about 180 trout - last year's already reaching about 18 inches. Plus the 20 LMB females. And TONS of shiner minnows (very fun to see the LMB attack them on the surface!)
So two questions. First, does your experience with the otter presence mean more fish loss than say 25%? Second, has anybody every seen LMB act like baitfish and pop out of the water like shiners being chased to the surface by Stripers?
Bass are a great addition to the pond, btw. Their summer activity is a delight.
