Among many other things I'm trying to get caught up on... I've been placing traps in my "Fun" pond to get small gills, etc..
In 2 weeks, I have caught 1 fish-a small YP and 10-20 craws a day-nothing else. Been trapping everyday for a bout 3 years and never have the traps been null n void of life like this. We caught a very few fish through the ice, maybe 8-10 SMB and only 2 YP..
Seems like I'm missing a lot of fish..
Not a single dead fish noted.

Is the water to cold to drag or throw a net?

Uh oh, not liking that (potential) news.

I don't believe you are in prime cormorant or otter territory.

Does the "Fun" pond have aeration?

The BG/HBG/RES/YP here have been crushing pellets for the last two weeks, but I've only trapped a dozen or so in that time,
with only one of that dozen being a YP. I haven't checked water temps yet, but I'd guess low 40°s.

Kenny drop an camera and look for morts? Bill says 95% morts sink - that's been my experience, too.

Surface temp was up to 53 yesterday, Not a single fish in any Z-traps.
Talked to our region 1 supervisor yesterday on the way down to pick up Sauger males and he feels strongly that something would have floated shortly after ice-off.. I usually find 2-3 BG, maybe a YP every spring but not this year.
May turn the pond into SMB only for Reproduction and forget about the "fun" part.

I think too much... I'm wondering if the rate of transfer of forage minnows to said pond has created a situation where the fish are sucking in minnows with little other effort or activity???????
I will stop that and maybe set a couple of fykes after WAE spawn is completed. (Plan A)

It sounds like mine.

Birds cleaned me out a couple of years ago. I restocked and strung lines across the pond to restart. Everything was fine. Then, I wound up in the hospital for, I believe, either 20 or 24 days. Got out and had to learn to walk again. No muscle tone. Wasn’t allowed to ride a 4 wheeler. After about 4 to 6 months, they turned me loose and I went to the pond.

The water level had dropped and the birds had gotten under the lines again. I bought more fish. This has been a long recovery time and, at 80 yoa, I’ll never be 100% of what I was. We haven’t had rain in a heckuva long time and are 6 ft low. Hogs or something came through and busted some of the lines. And, the birds came again.

I’m going to restock; essentially start over again, but still need rain. Recent rains raised the water level about 2.5. feet but still need a lot more. I will, this time, get some lazy grandsons to cut and haul a bunch of cedars and install them for fish protection. That way, fish will have sanctuary at any water level.

The lines work well but are maintenance bound due to lack of rain.

I figure the birds are disappointed that I haven’t restocked yet.

I suspect the d*mn birds and otters probably have their own online forums with directions to the best stocked ponds for their dining experiences!

Caught a single GSH today about 11"..

That’s a hoss! How did you catch it? I think I have some coming to a light on the pier over the water but not sure if they were shiners or lake chub suckers

My next step is cutting down about a dozen or so cedar trees, dragging them to the water, and putting them in with the base weighted. Actually, I’m going to direct my grandson and his buddy how to do that.

I gotta do something about protecting fish from cormorants.

Then, some fatheads followed a couple of weeks later by bluegills.

This will be my third time to start over.

See next issue of PB mag on cormorant predation.

Thanks for the "heads up" ewest!

The cormorant (and other bird predation) threads seem to draw a lot of responses and views on the forum.

Had a dead-calm evening tonight. feeder went off 30 before sundown and actually had some takers.. GSH are active, a few big BG and something blew up on a shiner or something on an opposite corner from my dock-thinking SMB so maybe not as bad as I thought.
Have caught 2 GSH now, nothing else-besides craws. Really surprised at no YP..

Eric, I know how to do it but, due to some pretty nasty surgery, didn’t get to maintain the lines that I put over the pond. I couldn’t and wasn’t allowed to walk the 100 yards. By then, pigs, deer, etc had bumped into the lines and broken them. That let the birds get back in.

In the next couple of weeks, I’ll be installing a bunch of cedar trees for the fish to get in. Then start over again.

Know you can Dave. Make those grandkids work. PB article is more on predation results and species. It is not about how to control them.