What's wrong with this picture? - 06/16/11 03:09 AM
Or should I say stocking plan.
.8 ac pond. Winterkilled during the winter of 2008. Unsure what fish survived, but was told all large fish died. Primiarly it was a LMB/BG pond. Pond depth averages 5' with the deepest part at 12'. Aerated and hand fed, now it has a TH Feeder on it.
Pond is in Northern Illinois, everything was stocked at once.
Pond goals = fast paced fishery for kids with an occasional large fish caught.
Stocked May of 2009 with:
100 5"-8" LMB
200 3"-5" BG
20 6"-8" WE
100 5"-7" YP
50 8"-12" CC
100# FHM
I have spent a total of 4 hrs. fishing the pond in the past 2 weeks. All I've caught are BG and Goldfish. The BG are mostly 3" long, and showing signs of slow growth. (eyes look slightly large on some of the fish). I have caught four 6" BG that are in great shape. I haven't seen a LMB, nor any CC. I have removed 207 Goldfish between 10" and 3", 3 distinct size classes 3", 6" and 10"), with the majority of them 9"-10".
I'm weighing the options of either an electroshock survey or dropping in a Fyke Net to get a better sample of fish species.
1) What would be a better sampling method?
From the BG population, and angling survey, I think there aren't enough LMB in the pond due to fishing them out or other reasons. Thoughts?
Would removing as many carp (oops I mean goldfish) as possible still require stocking a few NP or Tiger Muskies, or would a good LMB population of sufficient size (individual fish) take care of them? I'm afraid that the 9"-10" fish will spawn next year (if not this year) and the population will explode.
.8 ac pond. Winterkilled during the winter of 2008. Unsure what fish survived, but was told all large fish died. Primiarly it was a LMB/BG pond. Pond depth averages 5' with the deepest part at 12'. Aerated and hand fed, now it has a TH Feeder on it.
Pond is in Northern Illinois, everything was stocked at once.
Pond goals = fast paced fishery for kids with an occasional large fish caught.
Stocked May of 2009 with:
100 5"-8" LMB
200 3"-5" BG
20 6"-8" WE
100 5"-7" YP
50 8"-12" CC
100# FHM
I have spent a total of 4 hrs. fishing the pond in the past 2 weeks. All I've caught are BG and Goldfish. The BG are mostly 3" long, and showing signs of slow growth. (eyes look slightly large on some of the fish). I have caught four 6" BG that are in great shape. I haven't seen a LMB, nor any CC. I have removed 207 Goldfish between 10" and 3", 3 distinct size classes 3", 6" and 10"), with the majority of them 9"-10".
I'm weighing the options of either an electroshock survey or dropping in a Fyke Net to get a better sample of fish species.
1) What would be a better sampling method?
From the BG population, and angling survey, I think there aren't enough LMB in the pond due to fishing them out or other reasons. Thoughts?
Would removing as many carp (oops I mean goldfish) as possible still require stocking a few NP or Tiger Muskies, or would a good LMB population of sufficient size (individual fish) take care of them? I'm afraid that the 9"-10" fish will spawn next year (if not this year) and the population will explode.