Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Property Projects & Construction What did you do at your pond today?

Have you ever tried tilapia for the algae? I've had good results with them.

Would love to try tilapia. Main issue is the legality in Missouri. Big no no here. Also, with 4 acres, the cost would be out of my budget for any meaningful control.

Yes Sir. I have purchased Overton's Tilapia the last several years.

Last year I upped the lbs per acre & they seemed very effective last year.

Overton's has me on the schedule for Tilapia on April 19th.

One of my smaller ponds I would guess is over half covered by FA already.

QA, I am not close to a permanent running creek either. I surely hope you never have to mess with the otter. I don't know what they have done to my fish population, I hope not to much damage. Rifle is close to zero, fine tuning tomorrow as I ran out of light tonight. I may have to overcome my fear of body traps. I really like my fingers, fishing would be tough with them all broken.

I understand budget constraints only too well. But why in the world would Missouri ban tilapia while Texas allows them? No way they could survive a Missouri winter!

Over the past 4 yrs I have had to deal with River Otters. I have lost count on how many I have trapped out of the pond at different times. If you see one then look for 4. They seem to run in groups of 4 and may take a couple of weeks to trap the 4 out. For me I have never had an opportunity to shoot an Otter and I most always have a shotgun or riffle with me. I can set till dark or set for a long morning and I have only seen one and then I saw it for just a second before it dove under the water. And don't worry about your fingers when using a Conibar 330 trap. You need to worry about a broken arm or leg. No need to be scared of the trap but need to respect it and watch where you have your feet placed so no slip and fall into the trap.

I will take a goose anytime over a cormorant. I had 15 at the pond around noon yesterday. I am in the process of discouraging their return.

Otters and herons devastated me so much I gave up. Let nature take its course. The ponds will do what they will do. I will mow and feed occasionally.

Tracy I too need to learn how to set a Conibar 330....and I have trouble putting gas in my SUV....so it might take me awhile to learn....but the devastation the otters did this year has me motivated to learn. I think my trapper will be nice enough to give me a lesson or two.

Here is one of them that ate all my fish....son-of-gun needs to head to Long John Silvers next time!

Zep, it's not hard to learn on how and where to set the traps. Brian (Highflyer) taught me. At the time I never realized I would have to keep traps running year round. And how much that info would come into play at my place. When you buy your 330 traps be sure to buy the piece that helps to set the trap. Can't recall what the piece is called but it is shaped like a large pair of scissors with out the cutting edge. A cheater so to speak. Another thing is I always add some brush or limbs that might detour a horse, deer, cow or dog from taking the path to the trap. Something that and otter can go under without restriction but might stop a larger animal from taking the same path. I am not sure it really works but makes me feel a little better and I have not trapped any larger animals yet with this method.

So, while at the pond yesterday, I ran off Cormorants and I killed my first snake. I suspect it was a water snake but not sure because It change color from the first time I saw it. First time it looked like a copperhead might but the second time I saw it was almost black as it was sunning itself. For me, snakes at the pond are like Otters and Cormorants, I hate em!

Snakes are a good thing. It's no wonder there are any animals left in this world. All the senseless killings...

Mark, look up Coon Creek Locking Trap Setting Tongs. I bought a pair to lock the conibear while I set it.

Ok Al thanks....I see this:

Coon Creek Locking

Unloaded the dock floats that I dragged home over the weekend.

That's it. I use it to compress the springs, then once they're latched, I move it to the actual trap part. It's nice having a locked trap set while I'm getting everything ready.

Placed 50 lb of fertilizer in pond today. That's on the heavy side for my size BOW, but I've learned that even after liming, it takes a lot to get a decent bloom.

Also added 2 male CNBG in forage pond after previously depositing 3 females. Hopefully they'll spawn successfully in a couple of weeks.

No cormorants seen today! Still have GBH and a couple of geese, but they are far better than cormorants.

Its part of life here in Texas, we have snake hunts in some areas of Texas along with hunting season for other animals to control numbers.

Tracy....I grew up in Texas and was a Boy Scout on a lot of camp-outs and summer camps, did a lot of camping with my older brother, been fishing and around lakes and in the woods all my life and I have never seen a rattle snake in the wild. Seen lots of copperheads and cottonmouth...but never a live rattlesnake. Also have never seen a coral snake in Texas.

Al do you think a live trap like a HavaHart could work on an otter?

One fear with a live trap is with my luck a skunk would get in the trap.

Not sure what you do when a skunk is in a live trap.

Down here we have lots of copperheads, sometimes see several within a few minutes on the trails at East End Park in Kingwood. Also water moccasins. If you spend a lot of time in the woods you'll spot a coral snake. They like to hang out under the pine needles and leaves. Neighbors have been bitten by timber rattlers here, I have yet to see one.

So far I was bit once by a western diamondback near Austin and a Water Moccasin near the San Jacinto river. Both were in tall grass.

I'd like to avoid being bit again.

Having said that I generally tolerate snakes as long as they are not around the house. I've haven't killed any yet. I'm also careful to identify them before bothering them. Hognose snakes and water snakes look scary but really aren't.

Vortex...what was that like getting bit by a Water Moccasin?

Was the Water Moccasin grass on the edge of water?
Did you have to spend the night(s) in a hospital?
Get pretty sick?
Painful?

The water mocassin was nothing at first. I was running in tall grass near a creek and it felt like my foot had hooked over a garden hose. I shook it off and forgot about it. It bit me on the calf. A few hours later my dog bumped my leg and OUCH! It was a big egg on my leg that hurt like the Dickens. Then blood started pooling in my foot and up my leg. I took a benadryl. It was better in a few days. Took a few weeks for the bruising to clear up. Copperheads and water moccasins are really not bad. The vet tells me if the dog gets bit, just give her a benadryl.

The rattlesnake was different. It felt like a sledgehammer when it struck. It hit my ankle. Swelled up my leg and made me sick. Three days later a broken fang worked its way out of my skin. Took a few years for the scars from the fangs to fade. I did not get treated.

wow Vortex you are a trooper....I think I'd freak if either one bit me

i have these boots from Bass Pro that I tend to roam around in during snake months...

they are not actually snake boots, but I think the fangs would not hit my skin in most cases...because there is some empty space between boot wall and my skin

interesting where your bites occurred...i think my boots would be effective in those areas of the leg

coral snakes bites are probably even lower on the leg since they are usually small



I've heard if you get bit in the neck...it could be all she wrote

Vortex I read this:

Statistically, about 48,000 people a year bitten in the United States. Of these, about 8,000 are from poisonous snakes and an average of 10 people a year die because they are cared for improperly.

Worldwide, about 40% of the time people are bitten by poisonous snakes no venom passes.

85% of the time only enough venom passes to make the victim sick.

15% require critical care in the acute phase of the poisoning

In the Florida series, about 10 people per year were bitten by a cottonmouth while reaching over the side of a boat to pull up a string of fish. Cottonmouths inflict most of their bite under the water, on top of the water, or near the water.

The height of snake season is between April and October, peaking between July and August.

Snakes are generally less active at temperatures less than 50-60 degrees, or greater than 80 degrees.

70-77% of all bites occur between 9:00 AM and 9:00 PM, peaking between 3:00 PM and 6:00 PM.

Anatomically 60% of all bites occur to the lower extremity 38% to the upper extremity, and 2% to unidentified sites.

The cardinal signs and symptoms of pit viper envenomation include: burning pain (the commonest, earliest sign), puncture wound (50% of the time accompanied by a bloody ooze), swelling, skin discoloration, nausea and vomiting, minty, metallic, rubbery taste in the mouth, sweating, chills, numbness and tingling of the mouth, face, scalp, and wound site, ecchymosis and production of blebs and blisters, erythema and edema progressing from the wound site, weakness, vertigo, haematemesis epistaxis, muscle fasiculations, paralysis, shock, convulsions, loss of sphincter control, melena haematuria, and renal shutdown. Envenomation may include some or all of these symptoms, depending on the severity of envenomation.

Death can occur up to several days following the bite, or in as little as two hours.

In pit viper envenomation the average death occurs in two days.

If the bite is inflicted in an artery, vein, lymphatics, or a nerve, death will occur in 30 seconds to 10 minutes.

If the victim does not die within the first 10 to 30 minutes, you have excess of 12 hours to get to proper medical help; in most cases, severe complications or death will not occur if proper medical protocol is followed.

Maynard recommends the following:

A. Do not apply a tourniquet !
B. Do not cut and suck !
C. Do not apply ice !

I saw something on the Texas Hunting Forum about the cost of the treatment. They said the treatment could run into several hundred thousand dollars.

Mark, luckily I don't have any experience with otters. I have several sizes and brands of the live traps, but I've never caught a skunk either. Opossums are the easiest critters I've trapped with live traps. The last 2 were asleep in the cage when I got to them the next morning.