I never have. We swim in the pond a lot, and it just didn’t seem like a good idea. I dress a fair number of perch, and double bag the skins, bones, and guts. After a few days in August it still gets pretty ripe. I’ve thought about dumping them in the woods. I’m sure the coons would love them. Compost for the garden? I imagine this has been covered before. Sorry if my weak searching skills make this a repetitive post. Just seeing what other folks that swim in their ponds do. Thx Jeff
The garden approach has the best results, but I don't garden so back into the pond they go. I also don't swim in the pond regularly either. If swimming were to be planned in the near future I would avoid throwing remains in just to eliminate the possible encounter. The few turtles I have, and the raccoons, will make short work of any offal left in the waters. No to mention the benefits to the stocked fish and pond critters.
The only real concern I have is the dog bringing something smelly back to the house.
I throw mine out in the woods or along a drainage ditch for the coons, opossums or whatever can get a snack. I didn't think it would be good to put them back in the pond.
Lake of the Ozarks discourages the offal being put back into the waters, where as Truman Lake allows it. The difference being that Lake of the Ozarks has private properties all along the shore and has a large draw to those wishing to ski and swim. Truman lake is surrounded by Corp of Engineers property and is more of a hunter and fisherman's haven.
I believe that there is a benefit to returning the remains back to the water, but I certainly understand the mess it can create for blow-up raft loungers and the like.
Good question. When I filet fish at the pond's edge, I'm surrounded by our dozen layer hens, all trying their best to swipe the goods. They get the carcasses and quickly clean them up. I cut the skins into bite sized pieces. The birds particularly enjoy these treats.
The uneaten portions go back into shallow water. Next morning the skeletons are picked clean by the crayfish. If I were to shine a light onto the carcasses at night, I'd see big crays working over the remains.
My pond water is not overly fertile, so the small amount of nutrients returning to the water doesn't seem to be harming anything. I view the process as fish feeding.
Buried in the vegetable garden or fed to the chickens at my house.
I did learn that putting catfish heads in the garden is a bad idea. I stepped on one last summer and poked a hole in my foot. That was an unpleasant experience that I don't want to repeat so for now all catfish heads get bagged and tossed in the garbage.
Once I get the crayfish population established I won't hesitate to toss fish carcasses into the pond.
Thanks for all the feedback. We really swim almost every time we are there. This does remind me of a funny story. When I was in college my two brothers and I hunted bullfrogs one night. It was after 2 in the morning when we finished. (400 ac lake south of Kansas City). We dressed all the frogs, and put the heads in a burlap bag with rocks and threw it out off the dock. The next day the whole family was out there swimming. My sister and her 3 kids. Etc.. The bag must have come open, the tongues of the frogs inflated, and they started popping up everywhere. I’m glad my Dad couldn’t swim that fast..
Yes I do. I throw the remains of about 15,000 trout per year in my pond. Probably average 125 lbs per week all year round. Pretty sure if you have catfish in your pond there won't be an issue.
Holy crap! 15,000 trout. Those look like big trout too.. I’ve got a chest freezer up at the farm. I’m thinking freezing then dumping. Amazing how fast they can generate stink on a July weekend. Thx
My cousins own a commercial fish farm up the road to sell to restaurants and grocery stores. I’m guessing most of the trout are 16-19”. I probably go through 8000lbs a year. I’m hoping the HSB I stocked last fall takeover the feeding soon rather than the catfish.
In the past if we cleaned a large number of BG along with CC I would dump the remains in the pasture. The next day they would be gone. Coons and coyotes.
If we only had a dozen or so I would throw them off our cleaning station on the dock to the CC in my main pond.
After feeding off and on the last couple weeks and saw what my CC recruitment was, I think all the remains will go in the main pond this year to feed the CC. I always cut the tail and head off the BG so they are easy to consume by the larger CC. Will chop the CC carcasses up into bite size also, or I might throw them in the pasture.
I have fillet trained WE, HBCP, HSB, SMB and YP that congregate beneath the dock...they love chunk BG - including organs. Some of those fillet trained fish have gotta be pushing 150 WR...it's a blast and we're growing some remarkable individuals. Get them trained over the course of 4-6 weeks and they'll hit anything that drops off the dock.
On another note...last Fall I was going to launch my canoe after it's been sitting for several months - flip it over and see [and smell] a couple mouse nests - several scatter into the grass but one gets confused and decides to instead try to swim across the entire width of my main pond. It was late November and water temps are in the upper 40s but still several fish [HSB and SMB I suspect] are striking...eventually near the far shore something finally hammered him dun good. It was such a hoot I've considered collecting them in the outbuilding [infested with field mice] with the 5G bucket/peanut butter trap and feeding them to the fishery. Another part of me thinks it's a bit wrong, however. Feedback?
Ha! TJ, I’m not sure what my fish would do with a mouse. Be interesting to see for sure. My 4 yr old granddaughter found five or six dead mice that has crawled into my minnow trap over the winter, and never got out. They were mummified. I dumped them in the woods. I always have field mice under the row boat. My bird dog waits for me to move it, then moves in. One of these days I’ll find something my HSB will hit on, and I’ll actually see one. Maybe the mouse luer is what I need.
Since I've gotten my Black Soldier Fly Generator established all of my refuse will go in there to feed the larvae. Dropped a 3 ft water snake in the day I stocked it with larvae, and its completely gone after just a few days. Converted into protein and fat that will be fed to my fish as pupae.
I've figured out a way to reduce my overabundance of BG as well. Two cloverleaf traps will catch around 100 in short order. All of which will be transferred to the generator.
