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Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 3,794
Lunker
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OP
Lunker
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 3,794 |
We have lost a few large fish in the past that were obviously “speared” by a Great Blue Heron, left uneaten on the banks of our ponds.
Something new was observed this past week.
One of our largest male CNBG lay dead, floating near the pond bank, neatly severed in half, with head and mid-body remaining.
It was sheared neatly in half as if by a giant pair of scissors...
Had to be a GBH...
Anyone else seen this before?
N.E. Texas 2 acre and 1/4 acre ponds
Original george #173 (22 June 2002)
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Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 21,510 Likes: 269
Moderator Hall of Fame 2014  Lunker
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Moderator Hall of Fame 2014 Lunker
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 21,510 Likes: 269 |
George I have seen that but it was done by an otter. It would catch a BG and start eating from the tail up and halfway through it would stop leaving the top half to float away.
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Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 3,261
Ambassador Lunker
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Ambassador Lunker
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 3,261 |
i have GBHs, egrets, black crowned night herons, and green herons and kingfishers......that i've seen.....i have never seen any 4-legged critters going for fish.
so as i look up to the sky and thank God - i have observed no mutilated lepomis as of yet....i think the shore birds are being kept busy by the millions of young BFs.
GSF are people too!  
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Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 18
Lunker
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Lunker
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 18 |
I have never seen any fish remains around my pond. Whenever I watch the herons, all I have ever seen is them catch frogs, I think all the sunfish stay out of reach when they see the heron coming.
1/4 acre pond in the River Valley.
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Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 200
Lunker
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Lunker
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 200 |
Twice I found HBG with just the head and gills missing. That's the strangest thing I've seen so far.
  You have the world at your fingertips
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Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 609
Lunker
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Lunker
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 609 |
When i see a blue heron at my pond i always see a big CNBG floating a few days later it never fails.
I have noticed that they like to hang out around the feeder when it goes off for easy pickens but i fix that pretty quick.
You can pay more but you cant buy better.
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Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 3,794
Lunker
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OP
Lunker
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 3,794 |
I ran this question past Todd Overton and he agrees with Eric West that it was likely an otter that killed the fish.
A few weeks ago one of my son’s Great Pyrenees got in a fight with some critter that bloodied his feet and nose – probably an otter?
N.E. Texas 2 acre and 1/4 acre ponds
Original george #173 (22 June 2002)
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Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 15,155 Likes: 493
Moderator
Ambassador
Field Correspondent Lunker
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Moderator
Ambassador
Field Correspondent Lunker
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 15,155 Likes: 493 |
George,
I will occassionally see good sized fish (large perch 12"-14") chopped in half by my snapping turtles. The turtles don't kill healthy fish but they will eat fish that are sickly, fresh dead or weak and dying of old age. I could post a photo of this but what is the benefit of seeing 1/2 a dead fish?
aka Pond Doctor & Dr. Perca Read Pond Boss Magazine -
America's Journal of Pond Management
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Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 13,765 Likes: 302
Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Hall of Fame 2014 Lunker
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Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Hall of Fame 2014 Lunker
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 13,765 Likes: 302 |
Cody wrote: "I could post a photo of this but what is the benefit of seeing 1/2 a dead fish?"
Can anyone dig up the photo of Young Condello in the water holding up a one-week-dead old carp?
Excerpt from Robert Crais' "The Monkey's Raincoat:"
"She took another microscopic bite of her sandwich, then pushed it away. Maybe she absorbed nutrients from her surroundings."
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Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 8,854 Likes: 1
Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
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Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 8,854 Likes: 1 |
I would, but it's not really me. 
Holding a redear sunfish is like running with scissors.
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Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 285
Lunker
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Lunker
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 285 |
i love that picture. looks like a mini manatee
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Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 2,365
Lunker
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Lunker
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 2,365 |
Originally posted by Keith Wolfe:
i love that picture. looks like a mini manatee It does look like a baby manatee! But, I bet it doesn't SMELL like a baby manatee!
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Moderated by Bill Cody, Bruce Condello, catmandoo, Chris Steelman, Dave Davidson1, esshup, ewest, FireIsHot, Omaha, Sunil, teehjaeh57
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My First
by Bill Cody - 05/06/24 07:22 PM
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