Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding Culling

What do most of you out there do with culled fish? My buddies say just through them up on the bank. I have a problem with that. Two reasons, first they will start to smell and draw flies second the older I get the harder it is for me to kill anything. I just don’t like the idea of them suffocating (a slow death). I guess I could keep them on a stringer or live bucket and find a place to release them later and or my other idea is this. It seems like a big waste of protein to remove them from the lake so I thought if I disabled the fish (removed/cutoff tail or fin) this would make an easy meal for a larger bass. Does this sound reasonable. This seems logical to me. The injured fish will no longer be able to feed and will supply food for the other fish. Any thoughts will be appreciated.

Vincent,

I'm not sure I understand how a slow death in a disabled condition in the water is preferable to a faster death thrown on the bank....from the victims point of view.

Here's what I do. We have a garden and compost pile. The culls go into that and provide sustenance to the soil and vegetables we raise. Nothing is wasted. This approach has been used since the dawn of civilization and still works wonders today. Cover them well and there is no smell nor animal invasion. Saves on fertilizer, reduces chemical uses, and is a general win win.

I spent 2004 culling GShiners by attempting to disable with fin clipping/removal, to turn them into easy bass pickings. Then in 2005 I caught a fair number of fish which I had evidently failed to disable sufficiently, limping around short a fin but otherwise healthy. So I went back to 1) tossing them on the bank (our local buzzards don't know how to eat fish - saw a dozen standing around trying to figure out what they were good for more than once), 2) killing them outright and putting them back in the pond for CC or LMB (probably had 1/4 to 1/3 taken floating on the surface while I was still at the pond watching), or 3) (when rain and overflow was imminent) putting them in the drain box for a bon voyage downstream. I now cull only with "extreme prejudice."

I sometimes catch shiners and small bream in a minnow trap, let them set out just the right amount of time that they lose some of their vitality, then release back into the pond. Seems to work pretty good.

One of the things I do is to donate frozen LMB and BG to "The Raptor Recovery Center." They care for injured birds of prey and release those raptors that can be released back into the wild, others that can't be released become educational birds. They have several bald eagles and 2 Osprey that they primarily feed fish too. I've been doing this on and off for over 10 years now, and they are always wanting more fish than I can provide them. I just throw the fish straight in the freezer after pulling them out of my fish basket or livewell. Some of you might be upset if you knew how many 9-10" BG's I have donated over the years.

BTW - both the Bald Eagles and Osprey have a preference for eating BG over LMB according to the gal who runs the place.

Vincent, I am like you also in that I really don't like to kill the fish, however, I'm somehow fine to hook 'em in the mouth and yank them around for a few minutes.

So I am a self admitted hypocrite in that I eat meat and use leather, yet I don't like to kill animals. Go figure. I don't like to gut fish either.

For bullheads, I just throw them up on shore and overnight, they are removed by racoons or other rodentia.

For LMB or Black Crappie, I put them in a bucket and, when full, I empty the bucket in a creek adjacent to my pond. I do this with a clear conscience because my pond used to be openly connected to this creek, and any fish could come or go. Also, the lake that this creek lets out into, already has all of these species present.

One other option is to find out if any pond owners near you would like to have the fish you are culling.

You are a good man Vincent Murphy. I agree suffocation does not sound like the best way to go. I have done a bit of research on the best way to dispose of a fish. It is pretty interesting stuff.

One "Tried and True" method is to cut off the head. Apparently, fish can live without their heads for some time and they still die of suffocation. I have seen body-less fish that appear to be gasping for air so I tend to believe this. Therefore, this method just adds more pain to the process.

One article I read proposed anesthetizing the fish by tossing them in a bucket of ice water. Fish being cold blooded are not hurt by cold. This allows them to suffocate in a sedated state.

My preferred method is stomping them till their dead I am not squeamish and this allows them to go quickly. Do whatever you are comfortable with. Try to resist the urge to dump them in some public lake. That may just make them someone else's problem.

This, of course, is a great suggestion. Receiving culls once in a while is good too. It will add new genes to your fish's gene pool.

Jayman, my only problem with the ice option is that I usually need my ice to keep the beer cold (I don't have a house at my pond).

Let's not get too sentimental over the disposition of fish now. They are not high enough on the pyrimid that pain is a problem, though as some have stated, getting older and having felt lots of pain makes you more sensitive.
Next thing you know, we will all be draining our ponds and joining PETA.

Lets not drop the p-bomb . I have a sudden craving for some KFC.

I think Meadowlark has the handle on this one, if you can't give them away, feed them to the cat or varmits, then put them in the compost pile. Fish meal is a great food for almost anything.
I don't thnk I have any fish that one of my neighbors won't eat and that is my first choice.

I've done a lot of heaving up on bank for the coons and such in the past; but I'd be pretty tempted to set up an old wire basket / rack or something on the end of the dock if I had a dock. Not attractive, but the falling maggots would help feed the remaining fish.

Jeff, don't put that anywhere near where you want to be hanging out; more importantly, put it downwind.

It would make quite a funk in the air.

Sunil: Yep. Probably not something one should do if it is close to your house or anything like that either. I've heard of people setting large baits up to become infested with maggots over rivers as continuous source of chum / feed which attracts small fish which attracts big fish. Never tried it myself yet though.

The maggot basket is something that people do, yet I haven't tried it.

At first when I used to throw bullheads up on the shore, something would eat them overnight, but leave the head, spine, and tail.

This would create quite a stink for several days, all of which I would be too aware because my dog would just shoulder down and roll in the funk. Don't know why he likes it, just that it's tough to have him around after he rolls in it.

Now though, whatever comes and takes the bullheads takes the whole thing, leaving no remains. Needless to say a much more pleasant experience for myself.

I am willing to put up with the smell of a maggot basket (if I killed it, it's gonna smell some anyway, plus the dog can't roll in a suspended basket), but am not going to put one over the pond we swim in. The name is not appealing, either (Is that too persnickety?). Some day pond #2 will go in and so will the "protein recycling insect spawn system" (PRISS).

Ooh...if I called it PRISS, my wife my let me install it. Course, she's already nixed the "maggot basket" idea...so I'd get dinged like a kid for playin' word games...

Theo, that is great. Yes, a "protein recycling insect spawn system" (PRISS). I will have the Docile Water Environment Engineer/Biologist (DWEEB) install one.

Theo and Jayman, you guys are a hoot. Those acronyms are hilarious.

Sunil, the dog rolls in the funk, because it masks the dog's scent. It's instinktive to them to do that.

ceadmin, I noted the way you spelled "instinktive."

The worst funk that he ever rolled in was when we were looking for properties with ponds or lakes.

We were walking one property and had the dog with us. As we've seen on most plots of land with water, there was a lot of rubbish laying around.

Someone had left a semi-used package of Oscar Meyer Bologna sitting around. I guess it was a few months old during summertime temps.

Oh man. We had to ride in the car with the dog the rest of the day.

"My Bologna has a first name ..." I can just see ya'll going down the road singing!

LOL .. Funny Sunil, Did you call him "Oscar" the rest of the day?

Ric, I had some other choice expletives to call him for the rest of the day.

The irony for my dog when he gets all funked up is that although he is a lab/sheppherd type mix with webbed feet and all, he just does not really care to swim. Otherwise, it wouldn't be so bad, 'cause you could throw a stick in the water and let him wash some of the funk off.

Our half lab/half (coonhound?) doesn't like going in the water either.

You remember the old Farside cartoon where the dog is picking up his date?
"You look just beautiful, Ginger, and whatever you rolled in sure does stink!"