Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss Advise, or simply agree?

Does anyone else wonder if some who come to the forum are truly asking for advice, or are just interested in having someone agree with whatever plan they already have?

Just checked in, after spending the day with family, and after reading a few posts this was the first thought that crossed my mind......had to throw it out there.

Some people are definately hard headed lol.. I'm one of them but I know good advice when I get it..

Well, I have certainly modified/changed my plans on advice given here. Much of the advice comes with the logic behind it or evidence that certain things work.

I think people are truly asking. Some just aren't ready to "hear". As BGK mentioned, one name for it is hard headed. I like to think that some need to see the whole picture better before they believe it as the truth. There is a lot to absorb and see how all this pond stuff ties together. I am glad that some don't take advice willingly, they might discover something that we all will benefit from. There are many here that has proven that, at least it seems to me.

There is also something to be said for time proven results....

At times it does seem that way. However, for every person who actually posts I think there are many more who have the same questions but just read the responses to other's questions. So, even if the original poster is hard headed, others may get value from good responses.

I take any and all good advise I get on here! Heck if it wasn't for the people on this forum being willing to take the time to answer my many questions and give advice I would have killed my trout a long time ago and probably given up on the whole pond management thing.

Count me as hard-headed type sometimes. Take my black crappie as an example, and now sweating it out that they reproduced this spring after being stocked at 3-4" this past fall. Lots of local pond people said they were fine around here, but on this site everyone says don't do it. Well, I am leaning towards the locals were wrong in the case of my pond.

When it comes to Crappie they are pretty much looked down upon here and I am sure that in most cases they are not a good idea for a pond.

But after my outing yesterday it makes me wonder why we should not stock them. We had been fishing for a few hours from the dam and caught a nice mess of mix of LMB and many types of sunfish.

They were working on the dock so we could not fish it until they were done. In about 15 minutes we caught a nice mess of crappie (some of the largest I have caught). They were all healthy and went home with us.

So I think this is one of the few successful crappie plans I have seen and thankful he to the chance to make this happen.

As in most cases I think it depends on your goals. My pond was stocked with BCP a couple years before I moved in. My goals are LMB and BG. The guy who previously stocked it chastises me for not wanting them in there. Yesterday he said "you don't want Crappie but you stocked BG? That makes no sense!". He's a guy who's always right so I just let him go.

As far as taking over a BOW, I can completely agree. Crappie YOY survived my fish-kill last June and I restocked with LMB, HSB in Sept and BG this June. Since I started counting on 4-28-13, I've pulled over 1100 Crappie out of my pond. So for me? I can just imagine how they would multiply if left alone and I really think they would damper my plans of big LMB and BG by out-competing for food.

I thought they would be good to have in my 2-acre pond but read enough posts on here to (in my mind) decide against it. These folks know much more than I do and I try to stay open to all advice, suggestions and ideas. Then apply how I see fit and accept my decisions as my own, right or wrong.

PB Rocks!

PS - The good side is there are a lot of people young and old who have had a great time fishing-out the Crappie over the past 2 months!

Keep in mind what may seem like a success may very well be a short term thing. Almost any stocking plan into a new body of water will work out OK initially... Long term success is less certain. If one is willing to drain their pond every 5 to 8 years and start over, you can do all kinds of unproven stocking plans.

I read a lot of posts that I don't comment upon - one way or the other - due to time-limitations or since others have already addressed the matter.
However, it would be an interesting forum-feature to allow some means for quickly affirming or raising issue with a poster's comment, suggestion or recommendation - with the tally for both responses representing the forum's consolidated opinion.
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Speaking for me I come here for advise and listen. I don't always have to ask my question since it has already been asked a thousand times. I do a search and then if I don't find it, I'll then ask. Where else can you find this much experience in one place?

I'm always thankful for this site and the people here. Everyone has been great help to me!

I think a lot of folks ask a question about what they are doing for that exact purpose to see if you agree or not which is a good thing IMO?

I know I have asked for advice in the past hopeing I was doing the right thing, but if not I would like to think you all would guide me the right way. Of course you have to take the constructive advice the rigth way also! Other wise like CJ said others could benifit from the post if they had the same question in mind and needed advise even if the original poster did not take the advise!

RC

I don't have any issues with someone asking for advice....I certainly need help from time-to-time myself, and I'm glad to listen to what everyone has to say.

What I'm sensitive to, are the instances where a poster presents his/her plan, asks for advice on whatever the problem is, THEN, after reading through the commentary, keeps referring back to their original plan, rather than considering the advice that they, themselves, asked for in the first place?

It seems to me, that asking for advice implies a lack of knowledge about a particular subject.....why then, would someone presume that their way was right, while the opinion of the very people they solicited for help should be ignored?

Certainly there are times when opinions may vary among like-minded individuals, and I think it's good to hear all sides, and all opinions before making a decision. But I do believe in at least considering the advice that you asked for, before making a decision.

I think you also have to recognize where most people are coming from when they get here.

I, like I surmise many who first come here, had an idea in place about what I wanted to do with my pond and how to do it. Just before spending a bunch of money, I wanted to know if I was doing it right.

When someone tells you that your idea may not be the best and that there are other options or something that may work better that you had not considered, I think most listen. However, you will always have the "I want to have 100 5 lbs bass in my 1/4 acre pond, with no aeration and I don't like bluegills" posts that aren't going to respond well to someone telling them that they may not have the success that they want.

Heck, esshup pointed out to me that I will likely need to do ANOTHER Alum treatment to get my pond to clear...and I am begrudgingly thinking he is right...

John

Just human nature.....for some, that is.

If you guys ever need a final answer on anything, you could ask my wife. I think she knows how to do everything. I am amazed daily that I made it this far along in life with so little assistance.

I know right!

We might be brothers-in-law, since our wives are obviously related.

Carefull or you may get an internet time-out

That describes my son-in-law perfectly! He knows all and if you don't believe me just ask him!

Let me point out that the owner has been working on his pond for years and I believe it is well over 20 years old now from what I have been told.

We were catching many small LMB and other fish that we just turned back. He came down and told us that any small fish we did not want to keep to toss over the dam.

He also said that he had built many traps in the past and all he would catch was small crappie in them and removed many as they never would catch them of any size. Now they are catching some over 2 pounds.

I am sure it is full of little crappie as well and want to point out to him that any time he wants 100's of them removed to let me know. The large ones are fun to catch and make for a good meal but just to have the opportunity to fish I would be willing to throw back whatever he wanted me to. I would think anything under 12-13 inches should be removed for sure but that would be his call.