Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations MY FISH CAME BACK!

FIRST WARM DAY AND MY FISH CAME BACK!

How exciting, the fish remember where to come for food (hot dogs). I had lots of little BG, many minnows that we haven't seen in these numbers in a few years, only 2 decent size BG, and my buddy Gashy was a little bigger. I did see one 7" bass, and waiting off in the back one Brown Carp. Makes me feel bad about the upcoming fish kill. The water is not good, very little clarity, but less filamentous algae growing on the drain, the drain is so clear of debris, cleaning them make a difference, and the heavy rains way back that must have flushed everything away.

Wait, the algae is just starting to grow.

I pass about 25 ponds on my way home from work at night. I was surprised tonight at how many were becoming overgrown, in just a few days, with FA.

What are all the species you have in your pond Catmandoo?

For sure, I have big bluegill, lots of small and medium-sized large mouth bass, a variety of channel cats, black crappie I keep trying to get rid of, and my big orange buddy -- a huge tiger-striped koi who follows me around the pond on my nightly rounds.

So far this season, I haven't seen the remaining two big grass carp who have been in the pond for many years (I took the others out). I didn't put any trout in over the winter due to availability, so they are lacking this spring. Lots of bullfrog, toad, and greenfrog polliwogs this year.

That's about it.

P.S. The many ponds I pass are on US-50, between Chantilly, VA, and Capon Bridge, WV.

Rt 50 is a pretty ride through Loudoun, Clark and Frederick Counties! I sometimes take the back way when I am trying to avoid I-95 and I-495 traffic.

So you work in good old Fairfax County? So do I...

Hot dogs - Armour hot dogs?

What kinds of fish eat Armour hot dogs?


Nevermind.

Fat fish
skinny fish
fish that climb on rocks
Big fish
little fish
even fish with chicken pox

You did ask !!!

Did you have a weiner roast for the 'boyz of summer?'

Have you named them yet?

Great news for ya, 2CM.
You haven't crossed the line between food and pets...have ya?
(Gashy, eh?...hmmmm)

I feed them Kroger value hot dogs, only .88cents a package! Last night there were about 5 bass, two large ones. The bluegill beach themselves to get them. You never see a gizzard shad though. I found new uses for the lake like feeding the fish, creating a buffer zone (it worked so well to hold in the sand!)and gardening in the water,(none of the water plants survived over the winter) once the lake went bad. Now I love these fish and we have to kill them, this is so disturbing to me. I will switch to the proper food once we do our fish kill and get new fish. Our board Pres. has it in his head that we should have a bass only fishery and I will need your help in the future to explain you can have bass & bluegill, you just have to manage the fishery. I want to grow some big bluegill, not just these stunted types. When the bad treatment guys killed all vegetation from nuking us with copper sulfate the minnows went away, but I am seeing large numbers of them back now.
The Boys of Summer will be out here next Thrus., heading out early to meet up before we go to the MLSA conference to give us the T-Shirts. GF LakeChair and I will wear them there and maybe go up to the booth of the bad guys with our photo board and show them what they did to our lake, depends on how much nerve we have. Last year we met a guy in the bar, then after we got him lit up, finally fessed up that he used to be a high up guy for the bad treatment company, and told us he left them because of "moral & ethical differences". I did get the boys a picnic table at our access site, wonder if they play cards?
I wrote the newsletter article about the fish kill and listed everyone's name from Pond Boss who helped me, and the Editor (she despises me) took all the names out, really makes me mad, and they put, "will restock with bass."
Fav guy B.O.S. is working on trying to get approval for a new product to try on our lake. They have gotten products approved in the state that weren't allowed or approved in the past. It is WHO they are that makes them so hot, really top notch, and willing to go through lots of crap for us.

Sounds like you need a website to promote your agenda, and a sign in the front yard listing the www addy.

The fish or the lake work boys?

(My guess, the answers are "a few" and "just the cute ones")

For the record, we should probably state that while Kost Kutter hot dogs are fine for the occasional meal for either fish or humans, they do not constitute a complete, well-balanced diet for either. College students, OTOH, can live on a strictly hot dog diet for months at a time.

Don't forget the beer Theo, hot dogs and beer...

I know, the hotdogs are only adding nitrates to this nutrient laden lake, but I don't give them that many. It is like the last meal syndrome, feed them before you kill them, it is awful. I don't want to catch or eat the fish, I want to feed them and observe them. I have always been a catch and release kind of gal.

How large are the "large bass"? If you could catch them without injuring them (the large bass NOT the BOS, however this comment probably applies to either) then you can probably sell them for quite a few bucks.

No joke... That's whats in my fridge right now.

In regards to restocking with LMB, you will. Does he think the LMB will survive just by eating smaller LMB?? Of course you have to stock BG to feed the LMB!!! Ask the Board Pres. what the bass will eat to get big and see what he says. You can counter with Bg will make big Bass......

JHAP:
That is a good idea. The bass I am seeing are about 14", and some smaller. We stocked 50 8-10" last fall, based on recommendations of the guys that did the fish survey, they said get 500 which other people thought was not right. I also had spawning boxes made. My hope is that when they come to do the fish kill they will bring the electro-shock boat and get out some of the big ones, we can place next door on another lake right across the street (where the guy that is most helpful with fish, removing carp etc. lives), and then bring some more back here. We have huge LM in here, like the photo Lusk has with the one with the gizzard shad in his mouth, I saw the exact same thing when they did the fish survey. These LM routinely jump right out of the water.
The reason the board pres thinks a bass only fishery is ok is because we have run across that advice 2x now; one in an article from the MI Conservancy, and one from I believe Michigan State, where they say it isn't that good of a combination. This applies if you don't manage the fishery. Also, a study they had done here in 1991 pointed to the out of balance fishery (then assumed to be stunted bluegill and carp) was a cause of the green hue to the water. My problem with it is the notion, just stock bass and DON'T TELL ANYONE, that is not right.
GF LakeChair came over when I was upset about the newsletter and she has a great idea before she quits (she is hanging on by a thread- we better have a darn good time this weekend on our trip). She wants to develop a five year fishery plan before she goes, that way in the future the other lakes will get taken care of, and we can implement some type of regular culling of the BG program.
Still, if it was my pond, I would low-dose selectively kill the g.shad, install the spawing boxes for the bass, and get about 5 Tiger Muskie in here, but it isn't up to me, just have to get whatever money we can spent on this lake while we can, so I have to go along to get along.

I am sure the guy in charge read the "Managing Michigan Ponds for Sports fishing," book put out by Michigan State. I read it before my first stocking and was convinced that my pond had to be bass only (it is Michigan State after all). Bill Cody and many others did a great job going over the misconceptions and talked me down from the ledge. The thread is called "worried about overpopulation" in "types of fish to choose." Maybe get those guys to dialog with the board Pres. and see if he will listen to some pond experts over an outdated book.

We drained and restocked the ponds in our neighborhood a few years ago and put LMB and BG back in and it has been doing great. See if the Pres. will contact Loch Alpine association in Ann Arbor and talk to them.

Brian

Thank you, thank you Coach B:
GF LakeChair promises me that she will not let it come to pass that we get only a LMBass fishery, she can work with these people (I don't have that type of personality) and get it to come out the way she wants, she ought to get a medal for it too, I can do all the work and research in the world, but could not tolerate sitting on board like ours...........