Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations how long will bullhead stay in the mud?

On October 3rd I drained a 1/3 acre 3 feet deep pond. This old silty pond is about 75 yards downstream from my "good" pond. I want to use it as a water donor for the upstream pond in the summer via 2" gas pump. Problem is it has bullheads and I don't want any fry getting carried along with the water and making it into upstream pond. A concrete water chute with small waterfall was put in the upstream ponds overflow more than 2 decades ago to keep the bullhead from getting into the upper pond. It has been successful.

I drained the pond to remove all cleanable sized fish and to make another effort to kill off the bullhead. 2 winters ago I drained it and left it with only a few inches of water throughout the winter and they still made it. This year after I drained it and while scooping out the bigger fish I could see the bullhead nose down into the mud, put their tails straight up and bore themselves downward. All the other fish were in panic mode while the bullhead were in survival mode. While slogging through the muck I could feel buried bullhead under my boots.

The pond stayed empty for a month and a half. The rain we have had from Thanksgiving to now have refilled it to full pool. So my question is this. With this cool water refilling the pond will the bullhead come back out of the mud or stay put until the water warms in the spring? The pond has probably been in the 40's for most of this time and just froze over on Monday.

I was thinking that if they come right back out of the mud I may try to drain the pond again right before a hard cold snap and flash freeze the bullhead before they can bore themselves back in the mud. However if they stay in the mud waiting for warmer water I am wasting my time. I could drain it in February and it would still refill easily with spring rain. Digging the muck out is not in the budget right now although that is the plan in a few years.

Have you considered Rotenone?

Dig the silt out while it's drained.. Then rotenone it. That oughta kill everything..

Those nasty bullheads are really something else.

Bunker buster!! Just inform pentagon that osama is hiding under the muck.

That's one way to deepen a pond!

They won't live very long if you drain and over lime.

Drain your pond and spread 400 pounds of HYDRATED lime over the mud...there won't be any survivors when a small rain comes! Cheap and very effective...The elevated, lethal PH level will go back to normal after a week or two.

I read that as Obama the first couple times...I suppose either hiding would get a deepened pond fast and cheap by the pentagon.

Bullhead are very tough.

When I was kid, up through my early 20s, our group of crazies would regularly gather at a friend's farm that had a 25-30 acre pond loaded with northern pike and bullheads. We'd catch the bullheads by "chumming" with bread thrown from the dock. We'd capture them with dip nets.

Because bullheads have such simple body structures, and skin without scales, we would simply gut them before cooking. A few friends were always a little squeamish about this whole process.

Even without their innards, and after being thoroughly scrubbed and washed, the bullheads would be squirming in the seasoned flour we dropped them into before frying. They'd even continue to squirm for another 15-30 seconds after we dropped them in a cauldron of boiling pig fat that was preparing lard and chitterlings.



With their overall tenacity, I think bullhead could live for quite some time in cool mud, unless they had external forces affecting their lifespan -- like poisons, or lime, etc.

When I drained it 2 years ago I did add a few gallons of bleach to the remaining few inches of water but that was a couple days after draining. It apparently was not able to kill the buried bullheads. I should have had something ready to add to the water right away this year but didn't. I am hoping that the bullhead all come out of the mud now that the pond has refilled and I get another chance at extermination before spring. If they deceide to wait out the winter under the mud it will make my job much harder. I wonder how they know they are covered with a few feet of water instead of a few inches and what triggers them to emerge from the mud.

"A few friends were always a little squeamish about this whole process."

No, you don't say?

Chitterlings?

What the heck are....

Never mind, after a moment of contemplation I'm quite sure I don't want to know.

Also called chitlins.

Chitterlings (often pronounced Chitlins and sometimes spelled chitlins or chittlins in vernacular) are the intestines of a pig that have been prepared as food. In various countries across the world, such food is prepared and eaten either as part of a daily diet, or at special events, holidays or religious festivities.

In the United States, chitterlings are an African American culinary tradition and a Southern culinary tradition sometimes called "soul food" cooking. In vernacular terms, chitterlings are often pronounced as chit'lins.

Chitterlings are carefully cleaned and rinsed several times before they are boiled or stewed for several hours. Chitterlings sometimes are battered and fried after the stewing process and commonly are served with cider vinegar and hot sauce as condiments.

A common practice is to place a halved onion in the pot to mitigate what many regard as a pungent, very unpleasant odor that can be particularly strong when the chitterlings begin to cook.

CAN YOU IMAGINE USING A HALVED ONION IN COOKING JUST TO MAKE YOUR HOUSE SMELL BETTER???


Bing

Great, I think I'm about to involuntarily check my stomach contents.

Every time I see this topic come up in the list, there is a song that pops in my head when I think of those bullheads in the mud...

"How long...has this been goin' on?" (ACE - 1975)

They'll know. If they get a few feet of water above them, they'll be out in no time. You probably can't seine if you have that much muck. But, if you can, they would make an incredible neighborhood festival.



Sunil -- I know you had some reservations about the jellied pig's knuckle I served, but you slurped up the last of the crumbs with great vigor. You even tricked your lovely wife into enjoying my venison. Have you ever eaten anything I served that you didn't like? Are you still alive? (Remember, I even had WV legal counsel there to verify what actually took place.)

. . . and,



Jeff -- the IRS is big, VERY BIG, here in my local area, thanks to our late Senator Byrd. I'll see what I can do to change the 2011 tax filing date so that you can make it to the next conference. Between the dock and the swimming pool area, I'll work with Bob to schedule "sensitivity and acclimation" work sessions for you, Sunil, and others who might be interested. They'd be kind of like what we had in the Navy several decades ago regarding survival and sea sickness, but not quite like the SERE camping expedition we enjoyed at Whidbey Island, WA. I'll arrange for a fire hose if things don't go quite right after our big lunch.

If Sunil can call people FREAKS -- all I can say is: YOU WOOSIES!

(P.S. Seven pounds of venison have been curing since last Sunday. I'll smoke it on Friday, and serve it for snacks after our Christmas Eve church service -- come on down!)

That's called "lavage," Jeff. You're about to perform a lavage procedure after reading that post. C'mon, man! Use the proper terminology around this joint!

Of course, ethical considerations and confidentiality requirements prohibit me from either confirming or denying anything that may or may not have occurred on the dates and at the locations set forth.

(But the jellied pig's knuckle did turn out to be a surprisingly palatable delicacy, strictly from my perspective and not on behalf of anyone who may or may not have been present!)

That won't cut it Todd. Do you have a Retainer Agreement with these persons of questionable veracity?

What a strange cast of characters we have on these forums.

Ken, I don't think even your culinary skills can make Chitterlings less than repulsive to the senses. BTW, the pig's knuckles were great!

Of course, sir, you know full well that such an admission would require me to violate standards of confidentiality. I can neither admit nor deny the possible existence of such an agreement with any persons who may or may not have been present of any variety of character, whether same may or may not have been present at a particular location you have in mind and at any particular time. Hypothetically speaking, were you a person who was engaged in such an agreement with me - and I am not suggesting you are or are not - I would extend the same such courtesy of confidentiality to you. So, in light of this clear and concise analysis ( ) I am sure you can appreciate the thoroughness of my answer. If not, at least Eric is with me on this one!

Years later, after jellied pig knuckles became illegal, and hence then, contraban, running bootlegged jellied pig knuckles became quite a black market growth industry.

The ensuing Congressional Hearings lit C-Span ratings on fire.

Upon advise of counsel, four men plead in unison..."I have no recollection of that, Senator."