Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Who Has An Effective Way To Remove Excess Goldfish

Hi Guys:
Great forum, it's a wealth of ideas and info. I need to tap the collective brain power of everyone for this one. I have a pond that is loaded with goldfish, I mean 1000's of the little beggars and I need to remove most of them. So far, here's what I've tried.

1. A 10' cast net, good for 10-20 at a time as long as they are shallow, but they get really spooky after consecutive days of net bombardment.

2. A fish trap I made from PVC chicken wire never caught more that about 10 a day and then they got wise and quit going in.

3. A Seine - I tried to siene them but the water is crystal clear, and drops rapidly to 4 feet and then drops again to 10+ feet so they just shoot out under the Seine.

OK Guys - At the rate I'm catching the goldfish right now, I'm not even keeping up with the spring spawn! There must be some bait, a better trap, some something to catch 'em out of the pond!

Lets have those great ideas!
Thanks

How big and what are the depths of this pond? What are the size ranges of the goldfish that you want removed?

Put some predator fish in there to eat the "little beggars." One great way to grow some big bass!

One flathead catfish will do the trick. Then save one to catch the flathead with.

Sorry I left out the pond size, I realized that after I posted the original.
To answer your replies:

1. The pond is small, about 1/4 acre and about 10 ft deep. I am going to use it as a rearing pond for supplemental bluegills and fatheads for my other larger ponds on the golf course.

2. The gold fish range from 2" to about 8-10" I want to remove about 95% of them. They have eaten every fry in the pond, and will actively chase a small jig or crankbait!

3. I have a few LMB's and C-Cats still in the pond and they are really fat. There is no way to I can catch all of the bass and c-cats out, but their numbers are low enough now that they won't have a serious impact on my bluegills and fatheads.

4. I want to use the goldfish I am removing as bass-chow in the other ponds. The few that survive predation are very good vector control fish for midge and mosquito larvae, which keeps the golfers happy.

I'm in Phoenix and the goldfish seem to spawn almost non-stop for about 3 months, they are as prolific as the bluegills and fatheads. So you can see my dilemma, how to get them out of there in an effective manner w/o draining the pond which the golf course won't let me do, they need the water for irrigation on a daily basis.

It’s ironic that a fish with a brain the size of a seed can be so hard to catch. I feel like wily coyote, but I don't have the ACME super goldfish rocket.

I had to move large KOi for Jimmy Carter in Atlanta. Smart you got that right. I caught a few the first day with cast net. On the second attempt one. oN the third attempt they would vanish when they saw me. They would fed like crazy for others but one look at me the guy with the beard and they were gone, so yes agree very smart family of fish. If smaller have you tried baiting prior to cast net? Your numbers might go way up. If you are trying to save them for other ponds not a good idea but to rid of simply stock more bass. I wish I could help more.

azpondguy,

When given lemons, I try to make lemonade. Not trying to be cute, but have you considered using the goldfish as supplemental for the other ponds? If they multiply that rapidly, then they may offer forage comparable to BG and especially fatheads. Maybe you should consider raising the goldfish as your supplemental forage. You have a great start. Seems like you've got a good thing going already. Goldfish are primarily vegetable matter eaters so they should not compete with BG. Just a thought.

"When given lemons..."

I try to drink tequila.

Way to go, Sunil!!!

Readers, AZpond guy can't very well use them as forage fish in his other ponds because he has his goldfish trained to escape entrapment. I think he should do like Cecil says and add about 25 to 30 8"-12" bass. When the bass get the gold fish under control fish with worms to remove the adult goldfish. Or just rotenone the whole pond and start over.

AZ if you are in a hurry to convert the pond to minnows and bgils, catch out what bass or catfish you can and then rotenone it and start over in a couple weeks. Bass me be so well fed that they will be hard to catch. Then rotenone is the best and quickest overall answer.

Hey Guys:
You all have a valid points! They would be great forage and I do already have a zillion of them in the pond. I'm still going to have to devise an efficient method of capture. I can't poison the pond, since all of the ponds are inter-connected via a stream or a 24" pipe. So... I did try the bass and cats program, they got so fat eating the goldfish they looked like me after turkey day dinner! They needed sans-a-belt fins! I'm thinking that a trap net (hoop net) with a guide just might be the ticket especially if I bait the area behind the net for a few days.

Anybody know where I can get a good trap net (hoop net)that has a 3/8" mesh, that should catch just about all sizes in one shot. I haven't been able to find one yet.

Thanks!