Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations A BUNCH OF CLASS ACTS

As a regular "troller" of this forum for the last year and a half, I would like to thank all of the fine folks for sharing their wealth of knowledge. As a new pond manager it sure helps seeing the pitfalls before stepping in $#it. That doesn't mean that I've done it all by the book, but guess that's half the fun. I would really like to send a special Thank You to Cecil. He is in my general area (N.E. Indiana) And helped out with some real good advice. (some I took, some I gotta learn on my own) Not to mention, He set me up with a hundred of those nice Yellow Perch. I think mine are doing as well as Cecils judging by the picture of the 17 in his recent post.(they average 11" and some are pushing 13"). They are a riot to catch through the ice! (wish we still had some)
Here's the breakdown of the fish I've put in my pond since the fall of '04 after it started to fill.
Winter of '05

29 7-10" bluegill

14 8-11" redear sunfish
(caught ice fishing secret pond)

Spring of '05

100 8" yellow perch
(from Cecil)
130 6-9" bluegill
(from buddies pond that was being renovated)

Summer of '05

30 7-8" LM bass
(fish truck)
12 8" channel cats
(fish truck)
9 12-17" SM bass
(secret creek)
Winter '05

11 bluegill 3 redear 7-10" 1 13" crappie
(Secret pond)
My pond is only a year and a half old and is a fun place for my friends and family to wet a line.(Catch and release for now) All the above fish were caught by My son, brother and self.(except the LM and cats) They were all feeding on high protein pellets (except the smallmouths)through the Fall. I hope to get another 100 perch this Spring and to have a few fish frys this Summer. Perhaps I've overdid since the pond is only .54 acre, but it will be relativly deep at 15'(it's been a dry Summer and even after the run-off from this recent thaw it's still 10" from the overflow) All of the fish we've caught seem healthy and strong. and before it turned cold we observed thousands upon thousands of bluegill fry, well that's my 2,3,and four cents worth. Thanks again to all, and I'll post a follow-up this Spring or Summer.

Lynn, it does not seem like you've overdone anything to me. It seems like you've put in some decent fish that will be your brood stock.

I suppose there is a chance that the bluegill or perch populations could get out of control if the LMB, SMB, and CC don't eat enough of them.

The YP and BG and RES will also eat smaller BG fry ,esp. the YP over the winter. The YP will eat small BG/RES 3in.ers also. Sounds like a good start. Why no fatheads or minnows to start. Monitor the population dynamics and be sure they get enough food and clean water. Good job !!

Sorry about the lonely pic. was just goofing around to see if I could actually get one in. Hope it doesn't show up on everyones as a white box with an X. By the way that's a picture of my pond from last year. Guess I need to stop fishing and take some current ones. We installed a home-made fountain last spring on the bend. I machined the fountain head on a slow night at work and picked up a sprinkler pump at Menards (like a Home Depot or Lowes) I think I have right at 300 bucks in it and it has a pattern of approximatly 15' high by 40' diameter. Also I did stock a thousand fatheads this summer with the LMB, but the Bass were all over them, and pretty well wiped them out in 6 weeks. at 30 bucks a thousand guess they will need to eat the bluegill fry. haven't seen any perch fry as they were all suppose to be females. I'll try to find some better pics and post them if I can remember how it's done........ Mo out!

what is all that white stuff around your pond??????

LOL

(texan)