Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Oh the Horror of it all! (JHAP, don't look)

JHAP, you couldn't resist, could you? Like moths to a flame......

The GSF removal and good fish transfer has started. This pond was dug a few years ago in a wet spot in the woods. The wet spot wasn't checked for fish before the pond was dug. GSH, FHM, Mosquito fish, were stocked the following Spring, then RES and YP were stocked in the Fall.

An angling survey was done to see how large the RES grew over the winter, and GSF were caught. Not good, since there won't be LMB in the pond, only SMB. In preperation of draining, killing and re-stocking the pond, I'm trying to catch and transfer as many YP and RES as possible. Some YOY RES have survived, as I caught RES from 8" to 2 1/2" in the Modified Fyke Net. YP were from 8" down to 4 1/2". GSF were 2 1/2" to 7 1/2". I'm experimenting with different trap positions in the pond to see what works the best. The lead is 5' tall by 50' long, I don't know if I need to use all of it or not. The first hoop is 3' x 5' and it transitions to 2 1/2' round hoops.

17 RES, 7 YP and 39 GSF were caught the first day.







I don't have any pictures of the RES/YP because I didn't want to stress them any more than they already were in the 90°F+ heat and the high 80's surface water temps.

JHAP, I thought about sending them to you, but decided that the raccoons needed to eat too, so they're getting a buffet spread tonight.

i see some hybrid genetics in that there bucket esshup.

you are obviously working quite hard on this....i commend you. i, on the other hand, will delegate the hard work to some lmb

good luck to you esshup.

Thanks DIED! There shouldn't be any hybrids in there, unless they made whoopie with the RES. LMB aren't an option because this pond will be a SMB pond.

Do other people have access to this pond for human stocking?

Bill, the landowner is not present at all times, but it's a pretty secluded area too. The pond is over 1/4 mile off of the road. The road is a dead end road, dirt. Not much traffic at all. Other than myself and family members, no one has permission. But yes, anything is possible.

There are 3 other ponds on the property (one was built at the same time as this one) and no GSF were found in any of them. This pond was the only pond that was dug where there was standing water. There are GSF in the ditches that abut the property, and at times of high water in the Spring the surrounding woods will flood. When the pond was built the spoils were distributed around the pond to keep out the woods water. So far it's worked. That's why we think the GSF were in the wet area when the pond was orig. dug.

Looks good Scott! Glad to hear the fyke net is working... Did you end up buying it yourself or did you chip in with others?

Travis, check your PM's.

The photo above looks like a hybrid to me.
It's interesting that it has what looks like the beginning of a helmet head.


Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.

How many GSF/hybrids did you find ? Are you sure about the stocked fish genetics ?

What is the size of this pond?

ewest, about as sure as one can be. The stocked fish were only RES, FHM, GSH and Gams (from Jones) and YP (from Cecil). All fish were inspected before being stocked. There are BG in another pond, but those are also from Cecil, and are a mixture of his and Bruce's BG genetics. I think the helmet head start is because of all the food that was in the pond. The plan was to get the forage base up so when the SMB were stocked they'd have plenty to eat. The GSF are acting like Bass, there are few YOY FHM and RES seen or trapped where the other pond that is stocked identically to this one (and stocked at the same time) has many YOY FHM, as well as many YOY RES and GSH. Pond is roughly 1 ac in size.

So far the ratio of GSF to RES is running close to 10:1. YP to RES (trapped and angled out) is running roughly 3:1. There were 2x as many RES stocked as YP.

Looking in that bucket, all those fish look like green sunfish to me. The most interesting, to me, is that there are three, maybe four year classes in the bucket. That biggest one may be five or six years old.

Bob, that's what I identified them as. The pond was dug in the summer of 2008, so the biggest one could have been one of the "stockers".

Unless the smaller ones crossed with the RES that spawned last year, I don't know where a HBG would have come from unless it was in the water since 2008.

Esshup - the net looks good! Stretched tight! Yes, you can shorten the lead, if necessary. It's most important that the back end of the net be stretched tight to work properly. Use the full lead if you can, but if you don't have room, or if you are working in deep water, you certainly can just attach just a portion of the lead net to shore. Hope that makes sense.

The elongated body shape, the bright yellow underbelly that extends further toward the anal fin, and the very pronounced blue striations on the cheeks all look different from my HBG, and more like a true GSF, at least to me.

The photo of the individual against the tape displays body coloration more like a HBG, but the shape, coupled with the huge mouth and vivid cheek markings still lead me to believe GSF.

On another note, some of those look worthy of being invited home for supper........ sorry raccoons!

Dave:

Thanks for the specs on the net. Any tips on placement? How deep (water depth) should the trap end be placed? I tied a cinderblock to a rope, tied a loop about 18" up and then tied a decoy to the end of the rope so I could find it. The catch end of the fyke net is tied off to the loop in the rope. I staked the lead to the shore, and backed out with the trolling motor. Once the whole net was in the water I grabbed the decoy end of the rope, holding the anchor up off of the bottom and reversed the motor to get the net as tight as I could. Then I let go, hoping that the weight would hold it in place.

I moved the trap end deeper, into about 7' of water, (where it's shown in the picture) and caught roughly the same number of RES and YP, plus one GSH, but less (and smaller) GSF. The net was roughly 20 feet further to the right (in that picture) for the first night, and it was in about 2' shallower water. All the GSF were in the 3" range. I also caught a painted turtle that was roughly 8" across and 10" long. It was still alive, so back it went.

I won't be able to check the net for 4 days, so I pulled it out.

On another note the Gams that were so plentiful in the pond last year are starting to make a comeback. I saw quite a few fat females each being followed by 5-10 males. They made it thru the winter.

That sized net is a PITA to get the fish out of by yourself, especially from a small boat! They all don't seem to know that they're supposed to swim to the furthest end of the net.

Nice to see your Gams are making it, I think all mine were eaten, or died off this past winter with the -31 degrees we had.

Where and how to set the net in a pond is often decided by the pond shape. "Ideally," I like 1-2 feet of water over the first frame on the net. However, as you are discovering, the nets tend to fish despite differences in how they are set.

I think you were wise to pull the net. I don't like to keep them out more than one, or maybe two nights at the most. The fish start to get banged up -- frayed fins and small nicks that create the "portal of entry" for bacterial diseases and fungus.

Yes, I thought about you working a net from that particular boat when I saw the photo. Generally, we run nets with two people. Put a washtub in your boat with some water, and then bring the net in on top of it. Grab the float and anchor, then put the furthest back hoop over the tub, and then the rest of the hoops, and then the frames. Then we "shake down" the net. Lift the first frame, shake, lift the second frame up to the first, shake both, lift the first hoop, shake, etc. The fish will fall to the bottom where you can untie the cod end. Being an iron man, you could attempt the entire process yourself.

Dave, I don't know about being an iron man, but I only had help setting the net the first day, the rest of the time it was a one man show.

That lime green bucket in the boat is 25 gallons IIRC. What you are describing is what I did, after a false start the first day. I tried picking up the net from the lead end, thinking that some fish would swim out. I quickly gave up on that idea and did it like you described.

In 95 deg temp and 70% humidity I don't know where all the water came from that was in my clothse; me or the pond.

The little boat is rated for 525#, so it's a balancing act as well. But, it sure is easy to get in and out of small ponds, and it's wider than any 10' jon boat that I could find. At 125#, it's very easy to move around. I can't believe that it's rated for 5 hp.

What kind of fish is that with the blue on it under the tape measure? I found a few of those in my pond but have no idea what they are.

GSF (Green Sunfish)

There, I fixed it for you.

You'r lucky the McDonalds is too hot to eat yet or I'd have messed on my keyboard.