Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations A Dream Turned to Fruition (and Mas Questiones)

That next to last photo appears to be a Herculean effort.

Thanks, Theo.

I have rather long arms as well, and I can do a mean Condello pose. Not as good as the master himself, though.

Bobad,
That is a good question. We're somewhat hoping the crappie will target the GSH, TFS, or small RES when FHs run low. However, the TFS should be more of an open water forage for the HSB, the GSH should help control crappie reproduction, and we don't plan on having enough RES to adequately feed the crappie. Truth be told, we'll probably get 100 pounds of roseys or FHs from Todd Overton 2-3 times per year. It's not the most efficient way of doing it, but we think and hope it will work.

Our most recent stocking should get the ball rolling. The FHs and GSH are so thick you can see hundreds (maybe thousands?) from any spot on the shoreline. The 50 crappie are having a ball I'm sure. We'll probably stock more mature crappie at some point if we can get some from Todd. We're also looking to stock some mature RES within a year, unless we can catch/seine some of the larger ones from the BG pond.

Al has got the fish itch again and I guess I'm gonna scratch it for him. What you really need, Al, is some dang water. I've got some nice stock at the moment.

The place looks INCREDIBLE!!!!

BTW, the caption for the treefish mentioned bullhead. I am lousy at fish ID's but those look like channels to me. Am I wrong as usual?

That's right. Bruce could make the Bullheads look that big.

Davatsa...

Have you considered adding some Gambusia minnows to the pond? They are pretty prolific and would add yet another food source for your crappie.

Great update! Thanks for posting it. It's very fun to see what is going on at other people's ponds!

Thanks for the compliments, Rex.

In that picture, there are actually three bullheads and a bluegill. The easiest way for me to tell the difference between a small CC and a bullhead is that the bullheads have a straight (or slightly curved) caudal fin, while channels have a noticeable fork.

i'm insanely jealous. yers is filling up while mine is draining......birth vs (near) death. the growth rates on the gills, tilapia and cats is impressive, beautiful place and fish dave and al.

DIED, much needed rain forcasted for the weekend. Perhaps our mudholes will get a boost of water!

They have appeared naturally in our other ponds. I have not been able to i.d. any gambusias yet in the crappie pond. They would be a good food source while present, but do you think they would last long?

In your warm climate, with rare ice cover at best, I bet they would. Gams are just incredibly prolific IME (limited).

Davasta...

From what I have heard, they are about as prolific as you can get here in Texas.

dave if you (or sunil) would please translate the parenthetical portion of this thread title i would appreciate it.....or do i have to press 1 first?

if you get some shoreline weeds goin in the crappie pond, the gams will do fine. with only open water they will likely dissappear.

If I have to press 1 to vote, you can press 1 on this thread.


That's exactly what I was worried about, Dave. We've had gams in our other ponds, and I know they are prolific in our area, but we have trouble keeping them around.
As of now, the shoreline is bare, but we've planted all around it. If we can get a good rain, hopefully we'll get some shoreline weeds goin.

Dave, I think he means "More Questions."

Actually the spanish word for question is pregunta. Many times folks (myself included sometimes) add "o" or "os" to the end of words in an effort to speak spanish as in the question "Where is el bathroomo?" or "More beero please."

Understando?

Davasta...

If you don't have grass or weeds along the shoreline, you can plant some or construct some type of barrier out of a silt fence like what they use at construction sites. Toss in a few Gambusia in your new pen and put a little Barry White on a boom box. This can be something you can cycle through every couple of weeks when the fry hatch. This might help until you can get some plants or bushes planted along the pond edge.

Weirdo

Time for a new update.

After trying to find a time when all of us could get together, my dad and I finally met Todd Overton and Clint, his right-hand man, down at the ponds on a warm, South Texas December 9, 2008. At July’s conference, my dad was fortunate enough to win the auction for a free electro-shocking survey by Todd Overton. All proceeds went to the Jesse West Endowment at SDSU—an extremely worthy cause. Thanks, Todd, for being selfless enough to offer such a great service for the auction.

To make the trip a bit more worthwhile, Todd also brought some FHs, GSH, RES, and BC. They all went into the new crappie pond that is about half full. That pond will have FHs, GSH, TFS, RES, HSB, and BC.

It was neat for me to be in the boat with Todd and Clint when they did the survey. Of course, I played back-up and netted the ones Clint missed. The only problem with that is that I missed way more than he did. Oh well. Nonetheless, I was impressed with how many pounds of fish we netted in just a short amount of time. The gizzard shad and BG seem to be doing well. It appears we need to harvest some of the HSB—we caught many more than expected and their growth rate has not been as good as we’d hoped. The LMB, with the exception of some low Wrs on the smaller fish, are doing very well.

The LMB pond filled in January and February of 2006. Although it is just under three years-old, the largest LMB shocked-up was just shy of 7 lbs. We missed a few other large fish. On a side note, my dad hooked a LMB in that pond a few weeks ago that he conservatively believes was pushing double digits. He did not land the fish, but it came completely out of the water and gave him a few close looks. That’s when you realize the hard work is paying off.

Todd did stock 50 feed-trained LMB and a few 3-4# fish about a year-and-a-half ago. Could one of those fish (gorging on gizzard shad) have already reached double digits? Either way, this is not a trophy LMB pond. Our goal for this pond is to have as many 3-6# LMB as possible so family and friends can enjoy catching quality fish. An occasional lunker will be a great bonus. In line with the rest of this thread, and because a picture is worth 1,000 words, here is the day in pictures.

One final note: Todd is a class act with a first-rate operation. It has been a pleasure knowing him and doing business with him. Despite having a new baby boy, he was willing to come down and share his time and knowledge with us. Thanks, Todd!

Todd’s rig:







We don’t have any action shots because yours truly was helping Todd and Clint in the boat. But here are some pics of Todd weighing and measuring our haul.





































Here is a shot of Clint recording all the data.




And my personal favorite photo.




Just as Todd and Clint were weighing and measuring the final fish, a much-appreciated cold front blew in and the temperature started dropping. They hunted for hogs on our place until dark. Both saw hogs. One of them couldn’t get a shot at the fast-moving critters, and the other one got a good shot but missed. To protect the innocent, I won’t say who is who. Hopefully the hogs will not be so lucky when I pay them a visit in the morning. Fresh pork…YUM!

So, davatsa....

Do they have some deal in Texas where you can pay 20 bucks and have your picture taken with a supermodel?

LOL, Bruce. Actually, they do. But there's no guarantee she'll marry you. I just got lucky, and I thank God every day. She's a beautiful woman inside and out.
I showed her your comment. She said, "I like that guy. I'm glad he's your friend."

I'll try to post the pics again in a larger size. Maybe that'll do Todd's work a little more justice.

Great photos davasta. Although you mentioned that didn't intend to create a trophy bass pond it looks like you might just be stuck with one. I guess you'll just have to suffer with it.

Dave must be doing something right to snag a woman like that. Props to you Dave!! We haven't put our report together for this pond yet, but for the most part we are pleased.

I'm not pleased with the internal anchor tags I used on some of the feedtrained bass, because it was obvious that they pulled out, despite being recommended specifically for bass. I'm not a fan of tagging fish, but I am a fan of the pelvic fin clipping.

This pond has a significant population of fairly large size baitfish like adult bluegill, gizzard shad, and tilapia. Few intermediate and young-of-year bluegill were observed. Few shiners and threadfin shad were observed. The main factor influencing the dwindling population of small baitfish for the time being is the low water level....7 ft low, so all fish are concentrated. Some dense structure can be placed along the shoreline now to provide sanctuary for bluegill when the pond fills again. The current largemouth bass population is being sustained mainly by gizzard shad (stocked by the creek). We've added this evidence to the pile of existing evidence that gizzard may indeed have their place in the food chain for largemouth bass and other large predators.

I am pleased with the look of most of the fish, and will be recommending the stocking of additional adult florida influenced wild bass with pelvic fins clipped, to take advantage of the big bait fish. We'll also recommend the harvest of some HSBs, and the feeding of high protein feed in both feeders in the future.

We plan to install windmill aeration in the spring.

We'll be working on the compilation of data to provide Al and Dave RWs on their bass, so that they can post that data for the forum if they like.

By the way, I was the one that missed that hog from 60 yards. Shot the gun from that distance yesterday and was a full 8" high, so after adjustments I'm zeroed in again.

Al and his son Dave are outstanding gentlemen, which is why I always look forward to that trip south. We appreciate their letting us scare their hogs away from the deer corn.

Todd,
Now that you're zeroed in again, you need to come give 'em another try. Knowing my dad, I'm sure we'll need some fish again when we do the windmill aeration. Maybe the Florida or Tigre LMB? If it's still cool enough and the hogs are still around, take some pork home.


I bet you never thought you'd be paid in pig parts like in the Communist-era Soviet Union.

Well, the CC pond is virtually gone. We still have a few small BG and (unwanted) crappie left in there, but the big CC up to 15+ pounds, LMB, and HSB are gone. We're in a severe drought. I guess now would be a good time to expand the pond and remove silt. The pics below show most of the pond, except for a long inlet that goes back behind where the feeder is pictured.







The fish in our crappie pond are doing well, but there is a film-like substance coating the water on the wind-driven side of the pond. It almost looks like an oil spill. Any ideas what it could be?







We've never had anything like that before. Well, I'm off with my dad to head out there. I'll post another update this evening.