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

I was also curious what cross the HBG was. May be unknown but some of the experts surely have opinions. Pretty fish at any rate.

We have started the 2020 harvest of some GSF and HBG. Cleaned a batch and canned them to try something different. We have been eating a lot of sardines so decided to try canning some BG and CC.

Son in law broke the SMB pond record. Unfortunately the battery in my scale had died. No weight.

Jeff, that is a great looking fish.

WOW what a fish!

If you want to see just how big your fish are, invite someone else to fish and they'll show you

Wow Jeff that is a MASSIVE smallmouth. Congratulations! That is so exciting to see. There must be an abundance of forage in your pond and good growing conditions. Do you know if that was a female with eggs?

SetterGuy that is a beautiful small-mouth!

Thanks guys. Stocked 60 in Oct of 2015. We’ve kept three so far. We have caught two little ones over the years, so there has been some reproduction.
This one had no eggs, and pretty much an empty stomach. Not sure what that means. I cannot tell makes from females.
They are a blast to catch. I taught the son in law to catch the GS in in a trap and use them for bait. He’s obviously got the hang of it. Ha

Wasnt around the pond but.... I became I grandpa today. Both mamma n baby are doing good. I hope everyone had as good of day as mine.

Congratulations Grandpa

Congrats GPaw!

Old big scar and new cut on this pond record BH. Full of eggs. RW?? Jk

...Thought the photo issue was fixed.

nope - no joy on seeing your photo...uggg

congrats Grandpaw, And that's a nice smallie!

Nice SMB guys! Congrats on both ends.

Congrats Rusto!

Grandkids can negatively affect a pond budget

Fished again yesterday and today. In MO you can only turkey hunt until 1:00. So it leaves us time to fish. Caught a good sized GS. Went ahead and used him for bait. Big SMB hit him on first cast. But spit him up (dead) before it could be landed.
Daughter caught 2 or 3 very small YP, so I must have had some successful recruitment last summer.

SetterGuy I sure hope that's your daughters reel in the bottom picture LOL. I aint mad at ya but it sure is cute.

Haha! Yes that’s my Little Mermaid special. Deadly on SMB and YP! Grandkids use it, but my daughter ends up with it after they lose interest. They net tadpoles, their Mom (my daughter) could fish for hours.

She caught 17” SMB yesterday with a GS. I think the whole county heard her when she landed it.

This guy was out in the winter wheat yesterday morning. Right above the pond, but this was as close as he’d come. I think I need to improve my calling..

Setter, the whole story sounds great. Daughter yelling out excited. And the Turkey hunting pic is cool. But I may have to given that bird a shot at. Maybe it looks closer on the picture. Either way it's a good time just to set in the brush and watch them.

My son in law made the decision. He had his rangefinder out. (51 yards) Plus he was showing us his backside. We thought he’d come over to check out the hen decoy. Unfortunately he had two real hens with him. Never got closer than 75 yards after that. In our field for two hours. Strut the whole time. Still exciting though.
I think our SMB population is the most healthy one in the pond. The YP numbers don’t seem as strong as a few years ago. The RES numbers are good, but we don’t see many over 5/6”. The HSB must have not survived the stocking as none have ever been seen (in 5 yrs).
The water is as clear as we’ve ever seen it. The SMB hang out just off the banks. Mostly at north and south ends of the pond. They were visible the last few days, either laying in wait, or cruising in packs from 3 to 6. You could throw out a GS and watch one of the pack peel off and go for the GS.

Took a little time and fished the pond from the boat. In a couple of hrs I caught two bg and 11 lmb 6 of them were in the 11" range and the others were 3 16" that looked to be a little thinner than I want but maybe due to post spawn. One 15", one 17" and a 20 1/2' lmb that was post spawn but still in the 7lb range. Not a bad fishing trip catching most all of them on a weightless June bug colored lizard. But as I fish around I have seen where the vegetation is getting pretty bad with half the pond having submerged plants growing down to at least 6' depths. Most of it is bushy pondweed growing in 3 to 6' water and I found what I believe is Widgeon grass in the deeper edges in 6' water. I also have American pond weed that grows mostly in the 2 to 4' water depths. I am concerned to say the least. I do have Grass carp at 3 1/3 fish per acre. These were 14" when added early last fall. Hay! if they eat 3 times their wt per day then 30 lbs per day of vegetation might be consumed. That's not much considering what I am seeing. I may have to add some chemical treatment before long. I don't want to but?

Lots of bg at two feeders, one feeder down right now. I could use a bg spawn!

Had a friend stop by which has a small pond. He is wantin to get some fish started in his. He brought a cage with him. We stuffed a sock with some pellets and tied it off. Threw it in the cage and cage is in bout 3 - 4 feet of water. Put in the pond right noon on sat. Going to see how much we get in 24 hours. I should have took a picture. It's a homemade job opening is prolly bout a 3 inch circle. I will take pictures when I pull it out. Wish me luck!!!

Grandson caught a nice one.