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

FWIW, the trout were 16.75", 3.29# and 16.5", 3.51#

Hoping to get out later this week and try some luck at catching some LMB.

Got to spend some time at the pond over the weekend, was keeping an eye out for otters but saw no signs of activity, the fish are swarming feed.

Was super elated to see a lot of wood duck activity and seen two different hens enter two different nest boxes that I put out 2 yrs ago with no success up to this point,
The one nest had a hen in it and a stupid starling trying to enter it to build a nest, they waited till the hen left then went back to going in and out with nesting materials, so not sure how that's going to turn out, there is a duck egg in the nest because I stuck my phone up to the hole and snapped a picture, don't know if the starlings will run the duck off or not. I did take a crack at the starling with the 17 when the ducks weren't around and think might have clipped it, the burned out and I didn't see them again for the time I was able to hang around.

Also Had a huge bald Eagle hanging out yesterday morning.

Sure do wish it was legal to feed train Bald Eagles to eat starlings!

The hen wood duck should return every morning for the next 10-12 days and add one egg per day. You'll know she's in there because the drake will 'hang around' in the vicinity of the box. (? holding her purse). They usually only take 5-10 minutes and then leave again, usually not to be seen again till the next day. Sometimes starlings try to take over a box, and I discourage them with my pellet rifle or .22 magnum. Once she's started laying, she'd be hard to keep from coming back. So once she's added an egg and left, the starlings are fair game the rest of the day. I have found starlings sometimes peck duck eggs to crack them, so if you can, check the box when she's gone and remove any cracked eggs. The get pretty ripe after a few weeks of incubation.

Here's hoping for a hatch this year! *fingers crossed*

Dr. Luke,

Thanks for that very comprehensive list of proper care tips for everyone trying to support wood ducks!

Thanks for the tips Dr Luke, I did take a swipe at the starling with a 17, thats all I had with me, Not sure if I got one of them but it was crippled and left out in a big hurry.
When she went into the nest, the male was sitting on a branch 30ft away, and the starlings came by there while she was in there, but didn't go in, I kept an eye on them for at least 45 min and I never seen where she came out, at least he was still setting on the limb that long but had to leave so dont know what went on after that, I figured he would go over and run them off but he never did.
Later in the afternoon when I came back they (starlings) were carrying nest materials into the box, thats when I stuck my phone in and got a picture. and there was only one egg so it must have been the first one she laid.
Then Sunday morning before I left I seen a hen duck fly into one of the duck hut boxes I have out, got two back to back on a pole and am pretty sure there is a starling in the other one already.

Seeded the pond dam with a five fescue blend, some feed wheat, and a bit of dutch clover. Lightly mulched it with some old hay.
Had to buy another 100' garden hose to reach the far side with the lawn sprinkler. Should start to turn green in a day or three.

Need some rain. Pond is still down ~18". Weather guessers say maybe Saturday.

I hope we get rain on Saturday Augie. We missed the last two big storms that came through. I think we received 2/10th”.
I planted 9 ac of CRP yesterday. It won’t do much if we don’t get some rain. Couldn’t believe how much dust was getting kicked up by the tractor and drill..
On the positive side, I’m seeing more fish hitting the feed. Some appear larger still. I’m just still hoping they aren’t all golden shiners! Ha!

I have hopes of going to the sprint car races at I-55 Raceway in Pevely Saturday night.
Won't hurt my feelings one bit if it rains out, just as long as it rains at my house too. lol

Mrs. Augie mowed the yard on Saturday. By the time she came in it looked like she'd spent her day shoveling coal.
It is dry and dusty. Morel season is going to be a bust if we don't get some moisture real soon now.

We are under a burn ban we are so dry. Stocked a brand new 2 acre pond today. 6"+ HBG, 5"+ RES, some 3"-4" BG and some 3"-4" and some 7"-8" one year old YP that were hand picked as shooters.

I went out to my farm on Saturday to set up for my brother and some of his buddies to go turkey hunting.

It was so dry out there in my native grass that I was terrified that my catalytic converter was going to start a fire.

If they do manage to bag a bird, I am afraid it will be turkey jerky before they can clean it!

Went to pond today and noticed lot of the bg coming to feeder have white fungus on dorsal fins and few have it on their sides…. What to do?

Sign of stress. I lost my larger CNBG in October 2017 with this symptom, right after a sudden cold snap.

I believe that soaking some of feed with antibiotic has been recommended in the past, but the real experts should chime in on this step.

We’ve got a chance for rain this weekend. I’m hoping.
I put out a couple of blinds the other day for my son-in-law and grandson. We’ve got more turkeys than any time in the last 10 years, but nothing like they were 20 years ago. It’s still nice to hear some gobbling in the mornings!

You get a couple of pounds of kosher salt and put it in the pond.

That would help the fish boost their slime coats, I think.

With being out of town I think I missed the opportunity for the mallard pair to use my straw 'mallard tube' nest. They were on the pond before I left but now the neighbor sees them in the adjacent woods so may be tending a nest there. I rehabbed the mallard tube, added a layer of thin plastic in between the straw layers to keep the inside dry and mounted it in the pond. Maybe it will still get spotted and used by another nesting pair.

I will try again to attract a wood duck. My son thought maybe my 2" PVC tube is 'too bright white' and the ducks don't like it. We moved the location to west side of pond facing east and I did my best to disguise the pole. I didn't have the correct plastic primer and probably nothing sticks to PVC anyway. So used up a half a can of metal self etching gray primer and then top coated that with a random can of rubberized spray undercoating which is more brown than black. We'll see how that holds up. Added fresh pine shavings and fingers crossed. Again probably too late in the season but who knows.

Pond is nice and full but it has been very dry and hot this week so you can see the level drop as the unpainted part of the pole shows up bright white as the water drops. Minnows are active and the first few American Toad pairs are swimming around in the pond already.

I'm down to about a dozen large unwanted koi/goldfish hybrids and they are getting very good at not biting hooks. At one time the pond had about 300 in it. Will continue to reward the kids for any goldfish caught!

You think a couple pounds will be enough in a 6 ac.pond? I have way too many bg in there as I have never removed any since the beginning…..

I don't think it hurts anything and certainly will give some benefit. Some of these 'sick' fish just need a little boost.

The Kansas turkey count is supposedly down this year, but I am also seeing more turkeys at my place. We are right in the middle of the worst section of remaining drought in Kansas. I don't know, but perhaps my small habitat improvements are helping.

My brother gobbled up two small flock when we working in the bright sun at mid-afternoon. One of my old neighbors used to turkey hunt on my property 20 years ago. He said one time he saw approximately 200 turkeys along the edges of the creek eating bugs. I wish we still had those population numbers!

Electro-harvest today, one of my favorite days of the year! Conditions very different than last fall, when the pond was three feet low. Now both the main pond and the little forage pond are full, ready for a hot summer.

LMB size & numbers improved, meaning fewer small bass but more bigguns. Largest netted was a spawned out 6.5 lb, 23.5 inch female. However, they saw several others which were even larger, including one hiding in a log jam that was double digit. Hard to shock them up when they settle on the bottom, but Ethan was really pleased with the overall progress. Sixty five harvested, something like twenty five or thirty were returned. A neighbor desperately wanted every fish for food, so they didn't go to waste. Just how many she will filet before giving up, though, is a question.

Florida genes have become increasingly dominant, good news for the size but bad news for fishing success. I talked with Ethan about maybe stocking some feed trained Northern LMB this fall to keep things balanced.

Stocked some CNBG and TP to help build forage base, and Ethan was kind enough to add about a dozen CNBG to the little forage pond. Only real bad news was a beaver slide, but at least it isn't otters.

Good job Anthropic
Just don’t drop any of the clove oil in the fish that you are going to consume….. nasty flavor! Don’t think your neighbor will care for anymore fish lol

anthropic congrats on a successful survey. sounds like your pond is full and doing well. Exactly..at least beavers don't eat fish. My trapper has a new otter contraption that is like a large minnow trap.....blue gill and crappie swim in and supposedly otter goes in to get them and gets stuck....he says trappers in area having some luck with it. I will let ya know how it works. Small world I was texting with Ethan today about the Black Salty.

After going to all that work fileting, she may swear off fish forever!

Mark, if you can, get a pic of the otter trap.