Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Trash Fish Eradication

I'm new at this, so here goes. I have a 1 acre pond that was dug eons ago, it averages about 4-5 feet deep with the deepest area being 10-12 feet in the middle. It became infested with duckweed about 4 years ago and we had some large fish kills trying to get rid of the DW. I let it set for several years just festering in DW while I sulked over the dead fish. Last spring I decided to get it back in fishing shape. I bought about 8 gallons of Reward and an ATV sprayer and waged war with the DW during March and April without any regards for fish kills. After the Reward wore off the tea stained water turned clear, clear, clear with no signs of life except for a few minnows. In late April I purchased 100 4-6" F1 LMB, 200 2" RES and captured 800+ 3"-4" BG from an overstocked subdivision lake. I started hand tossing 1-1/2 lbs of a 48% protein 1/8" floating trout feed I buy down the road from a Burris feed mill in May and installed a Vertex Air 1 Plus Aerator in July. My LMB are now 10" to 14" long and weigh over a pound. My largest BG average 8" and about 1/2 lb. No sign of RES since they were released. But shortly after buying my fish I started seeing a few 2' to 3' Spotted Gar cruising the shallows and while trying to catch them with juglines and bowfishing we've also taken several 4-5 lb Bowfin. Does anyone have any ideas on removing these monsters without jeopardizing the progress I've already made. Also any suggestions for improvements I could make to my pond would be appreciated too.

7mag, welcome to the forum. To take out the rough fish without bothering the "good" fish, the methods are exactly what you are doing. It sounds like you are on a good road of recovery. What are your goals for the pond?

How much cover is in the pond?

I hate to ask you this, but how did those monsters get in there? Reason, if you take some out will more get in?

Esshup- I'd like to be able to catch quality LMB and BG which IMO are some 5lb+ LMB and some 1lb+ BG. The methods worked good early on but rough fish are quick learners and I'm a good teacher so now they run from a spotlight and the catch ratio was always low on the jugs.

Frog- My pond appears to have been dug by Hwy. Dept. but no one knows when just that the hwy and the pond have always been here. Before the days of Diversion Canals and pumping stations that move water out quickly this area was prone to flooding. There were SG, LMB, BC, BG, RES, CC, WM, Mudcat, both Shad types and Golden shiners in the pond when I moved here in '97. But after the two huge fish kills,I couldn't believe the numbers and sizes of the fish that were in my pond, coupled with the years of DW coverage I'd mistakenly believed my pond devoid of life.

Thank you guys for taking the time to help. I also realized I had Green sunfish last year but a cane pole and worms on a #12 hook did wonders. They were used on Jugs and as cut bait for Bowfin or as yard fertilizer. This year I caught a 3" BC in the "Bubbles", that's what me and my 14yr old call the diffusers and have seen several <6" bass. So i must've had a few fish left. I've been thinking of putting out a large fish trap, do y'all thin this will work on Gar and Grinnel? Any suggestions on a bait for meateaters. Also any ideas on making the jugs more efficient at hooking the Gar, GSF are so scarce now it's hard to keep 2 jugs with bait in the water.

I grew up with the suwannee river at my back door where lots of gar cruise. I have found the best way is a big wad of string/twine that looks like a birds nest/messy pile with fish hung in it. I found that you could get them even w/o using a hook at times. Hooks dont work well with gar. They work but you gotta hook them in the right spot. Most of the mouth is hard bone. Using string helps in that the multitude of "snags" in the wad of string get hung on the teeth and they cant get off. Just drag the wad across the water fast like you would a top water bait for bass. Faster the better. Here is one website http://www.heritagekayaks.com/alligatorgar.htm Google search for more on fishing with wads of string for gar. I hate to say it but most gar, pound for pound will be a better figh than bass.

Thanks for the suggestion. I had heard about string tangling in their teeth. I actually built a couple of prototype baits last fall by removing the back hook on a Heddon Tiny Torpedo and replacing with a skirt made from 1/4" nylon rope. We've sight fished them a few times and had some followers and a couple kinda nip at the bait but none got tangled up. I've also read about a snare type device made with steel leader but am unclear how his is actually accomplished.

I am betting the gar and bowfin survived the fish kills and are left overs. They will no doubt compete with the bass for resources, but I think if you keep removing the ones you catch, you can work around them. Gar aren't much fun to catch, but a 5 pound bowfin(grinnel) will give a 5 pound bass a run for his money in a tug on war on the end of a line any day... I'd say keep keeping the gar and bowfin when you catch them and try the string/rope lure for the gar. I have never used that method but my cousin who lives in Florida catches gar all the time like that. I am betting you probably still have survivors from the fish kill of other species. I am betting the WM and mudcats(bullheads) survived as well. A healthy bass population should keep them in line though. There was a good thread recently reference an easy to build fish trap. See if you can find it or if not ask ewest, one of the moderators he'll help you locate it. The trap seemed to work great for catching bullheads and GSF...

If you fish for the rough fish a lot, have you tried giving them a rest for a couple of weeks and see if they "dumb" up?

I really think the way that you are going about it is about the best way possible other than getting an electrofishing boat in there.

Are 4"-6" golden shiners available locally? A different bait (live) might help.

One aspect to keep in mind is overpopulation in a (1) acre pond.

Sunil:

Just to clarify, overpopulation of what species, or you talking about exceeding the total pond carrying capacity?

Thank y'all for the assistance I can't tell you how helpful it is to have this forum. I am hoping the Father's Day fairy will bring me a subscription to the magazine.

We have a guy locally that makes traps out of concrete wire and net that resemble a hoop net but don't require the cuurent to stay open. They're reasonably priced and prolly work better than anything I could build.

The shock boat sounds interesting, does anybody know of someone that does the electroshocking in my area?

Today we tried cut bait fished on the bottom and managed to remove a 4# grinnel but educated two more, one of which flopped back in after I landed it.

7mag,
I find the articles are either very applicable or they aren't. Because I live in S. Texas, the ones dealing with ponds up North aren't applicable, but the advertisers alone are worth buying the mag for. There are all sorts of products out there that I didn't know existed until I got the subscription.