More Brown Bullhead questions - 07/07/22 02:33 AM
Hi There - I have a new to me pond in upstate New York - currently totally swamped with brown bullheads. The pond is ~50 years old, 0.9ac in size, and about 8' and max depth. Bullheads are the only fish that were in the pond when I moved in. This spring I stocked ~65 rainbow trout as a test to see if they'd survive the summer. No deaths yet, but I'm getting worried as the surface temperature as risen above 73 a few times already. It has a decent amount of shade, wind, and we're at ~1500' elevation so we stay a few degrees cooler than the surrounding towns.
The pond is spring/runoff fed, and we've had a drier year than most this year so my water level is a little low and currently not flowing out. Last year it only stopped outflowing for a few weeks in august.
In any case, my main goals are just to have a varied fishery with a little bit of a few things, and nothing that is totally dominant. I'm not worried about trophy fish, though good tasting fish that aren't totally stunted would be great. And if the bullheads would stop silting up the water that'd be great too.
I'd like to put in a predator to control the bullheads, but as I read through the forums, what I see is LMB and CC, and basically people saying after a year there were no more bullheads to worry about. I kind of like having them so I'd prefer to not totally crush them. I was wondering if something like SMB would put some pressure on the population, at least on the fry side, and if I culled a good portion of the stunted ones, then I'd be in good shape.
I'd be happy to throw in any single or combination that would help. If I get enough BG and minnows along with the bullhead, would that be enough diverse forage that the LMB wouldn't eat all the BH? Should I get a single CC, let it get to work on the BH, then try to catch it again?
So my main question - is what fish(es) should I put in here to bring balance to the force?
Thank you!
The pond is spring/runoff fed, and we've had a drier year than most this year so my water level is a little low and currently not flowing out. Last year it only stopped outflowing for a few weeks in august.
In any case, my main goals are just to have a varied fishery with a little bit of a few things, and nothing that is totally dominant. I'm not worried about trophy fish, though good tasting fish that aren't totally stunted would be great. And if the bullheads would stop silting up the water that'd be great too.
I'd like to put in a predator to control the bullheads, but as I read through the forums, what I see is LMB and CC, and basically people saying after a year there were no more bullheads to worry about. I kind of like having them so I'd prefer to not totally crush them. I was wondering if something like SMB would put some pressure on the population, at least on the fry side, and if I culled a good portion of the stunted ones, then I'd be in good shape.
I'd be happy to throw in any single or combination that would help. If I get enough BG and minnows along with the bullhead, would that be enough diverse forage that the LMB wouldn't eat all the BH? Should I get a single CC, let it get to work on the BH, then try to catch it again?
So my main question - is what fish(es) should I put in here to bring balance to the force?
Thank you!