Pond Boss Magazine
https://www.pondboss.com/images/userfiles/image/20130301193901_6_150by50orangewhyshouldsubscribejpeg.jpg
Advertisment
Newest Members
Shotgun01, Dan H, Stipker, LunkerHunt23, Jeanjules
18,451 Registered Users
Forum Statistics
Forums36
Topics40,902
Posts557,109
Members18,452
Most Online3,612
Jan 10th, 2023
Top Posters
esshup 28,417
ewest 21,475
Cecil Baird1 20,043
Bill Cody 15,112
Who's Online Now
7 members (Boondoggle, jbird5986, Angler8689, FishinRod, Dylanfrely, Bill Cody, Deancutler), 746 guests, and 176 robots.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Page 2 of 2 1 2
#89514 06/16/07 09:55 AM
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 7,615
Likes: 5
J
Ambassador
Field Correspondent
Lunker
Offline
Ambassador
Field Correspondent
Lunker
J
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 7,615
Likes: 5



JHAP
~~~~~~~~~~

"My mind is a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives."
...Hedley Lamarr (that's Hedley not Hedy)
#89515 06/16/07 10:06 AM
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 13,939
Likes: 268
Moderator
Lunker
Offline
Moderator
Lunker
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 13,939
Likes: 268
JHAP - Where'd you get that picture of my Brother-in-Law?

DD - I've heard of lush showers, but 2,500 gallons in 20 minutes? :rolleyes:


"Live like you'll die tomorrow, but manage your grass like you'll live forever."
-S. M. Stirling
[Linked Image from i.pinimg.com]
#89516 06/17/07 06:38 AM
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 16,028
Likes: 274
D
Moderator
Lunker
Offline
Moderator
Lunker
D
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 16,028
Likes: 274
Sunil, "On the Track of Bigfoot" by Marian T. Place; Copyright and first printing 1979

Jeff, good looking Chupacabara pic.

Theo, my well only produces 1/2 gallon per minute. My point is that it takes all day to replace the water that my wife uses in showering. I got a 2,500 gallon tank because she might get dirty sometime during the day.

Keith, I doubt that a fish captured by a bird could stay out of the birds gut for even 10 ft. Regarding the eggs: I once took the foot from a duck that had met his/her demise and tried to stick some BG eggs to it. They slid off. Even had they stuck, they would dry if the bird flew. Ok, let's say that they stayed moist and landed in the pond and floated to the bottom. I'm talking about sunfish species here. They would most likely become an epicurean delight to every denizen of the pond. If they didn't get eaten, they would have no male to fan over them to oxygenate and keep silt from covering them. That male also keeps the ever present bugs from enjoying them. If they landed on a rock, with sunlight penetration, most likely they would also be covered by algae, moss, or something. I'm sure there are other variables involved. But remember, BG fry recruitment/survival is less than 1% for a darn good reason.

OK, mosquito fish seem to show up in places that, in theory, have never been stocked. I suspect that most of these cases, strange fish come from the hatchery with FH or BG. I know my green sunfish did and have found LMB babies in some BG that I was stocking for a guy.

I guess that bird stocking is theoretically possible but the odds are staggering. And yet, somebody always wins the lottery.


It's not about the fish. It's about the pond. Take care of the pond and the fish will be fine. PB subscriber since before it was in color.

Without a sense of urgency, Nothing ever gets done.

Boy, if I say "sic em", you'd better look for something to bite. Sam Shelley Rancher and Farmer Muleshoe Texas 1892-1985 RIP
#89517 06/17/07 09:42 AM
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 285
K
Lunker
Offline
Lunker
K
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 285
On myth busters you could cover two adjacent small backyard ponds a with mesh enclosure over both, each with one type of fish in them or one with no fish at all. For an experiment you could use any small egg laying fish. Keep some pet ducks in there and see if they transfer any eggs. Remember, freak accidents happen and not all species of fish give such special care. We are talking about if it has ever happened over all of the millions of fish in ponds and creeks. I've seen a bird drop a fish that was too big for him. If his flight path was right it easily would have been restocked in the two ponds I'm talking about so over all of the years and ponds and birds out there I'd venture to say it has atleast happened once in some species of fish with a bird somewhere. That's cool that you tried to stick eggs to a dead ducks foot:)That's science in the field right there!!!

#89518 06/18/07 05:48 PM
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 38
T
Lunker
Offline
Lunker
T
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 38
I have to respond on this one. I ran a backhoe for years. I always dug water lines for this old well driller. One day I asked him about witching wells. He said "oh yes, It really works. Let me explain. When I arrive on the job and the owner wants the spot witched, I do so. I look up first, no wires, or trees. Then I see how easy it will be to get the rig in. After taking all of this in, the wires always cross on that spot. I also was steered wrong by farmers with wires looking for tile. I have dug many, many holes looking for a sure thing. Thanks

#89519 08/07/07 08:55 PM
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 5,712
Likes: 3
Moderator
Ambassador
Field Correspondent
Lunker
Offline
Moderator
Ambassador
Field Correspondent
Lunker
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 5,712
Likes: 3
 Quote:
Originally posted by Theo Gallus:
Evidently you can witch water with an auger on the back of a tractor.

I need to add that to the "tractor uses" thread.
There is an old joke where I come from. Somebody would proudly display a big fish, and right on que, somebody else would ask "where'd you catch that big fish?" The proud fish catcher would answer "right in the mouth." Somebody always took that old joke "hook line and sinker!"

I guess you guys got me -- hook, line, and sinker.

It is darn hot. Too hot to do much of anything useful, so I went down to the barn and made a pair of witchin' rods out of some #8 copper wire. Five-inch handles, with 24 inches of wild witchin! rod!



I've watched people "witch" since the early 1950s. I've tried it with willow, with sassafras, with steel rods, and with copper rods. Nothing ever happens when I use wish-bone shaped branches of willow or sassafras. But, with steel or copper, I can certainly get them to swivel. But, it's usually because one of my feet is in a depression.

As I got into my teens in Northern Wisconsin and Northern Minnesota, I came to realize that I lived in an area with a very high water table. The old timers always witched before they sunk a well. Many times I helped sink "sand points" into the ground for these wells. When we hit the level of Lake Superior, or the inland lake we were closest too, that was the level of the water in our new well.

Anyway, as a diversion in tonight's heat, I thought I'd try witchin' at least one more time.

My well is about 600 feet from the house. I thought I'd try to see if I could "witch" the water line from the well to the house. It is buried about 3-4 feet down. No such luck.

I know where the line leads from the house to my septic tank. I know where my septic tank and distribution box are located. During this part of the summer, it is easy to tell where the drain field lines are, as they are the only place where the grass is green. I tried to locate the whole system with the rods. Nothing doing.

I have a 50,000 volt powerline running through my property. It goes right over my pond. The field is strong enough to allow me to draw sparks from the lower eyes of my 16 foot jigging rod and from those on my fly rod. If I walk out there with a 4-foot fluorescent bulb, or one of the new high efficiency bulbs, it will light all by itself. As far as the witchin' rods -- nothin doing under the power lines either.

(This is what I see from my pond dock as I look toward 1600 MILLION WATT Mt. Storm, WV \:\)



As a not-so-young electronics engineer, various silly people have sought my advice in crazy areas like wave theory and electro-magnetic field propagation. I think I know a little about the subject, but can't explain witchin'.

But, I don't discount it. I don't discount ESP or UFOs either.

As much as I'd like to believe in witchin' -- I think Theo's auger has as good a chance of finding water as my copper rods.

Next time I put the post hole digger on the tractor, I'm wearing my tinfoil hat. Maybe I'll find a UFO with an eternal water supply for my pond!

Good witchin'
Ken G.


Subscribe to Pond Boss Magazine

Peculiar Friends are Better than No Friends at All!
#89520 08/07/07 09:41 PM
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 794
T
Lunker
Offline
Lunker
T
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 794
I work in the water distribution business and on occasion I am forced to try and find a water main with my witching rods, which I can say for sure that I dont think I have found one yet. I have to use a 4 or 6' probe rod and actually punch through the earth and touch the main to locate it, If the ground has alot of rock or is rock hard, I at last resort try to witch it, then if I get them to crossing I start probing for it in the area, I cant remember ever actually getting it right, most of the time if I cant fine it I start at one end of the easement and punch hole in the ground spaced half the width of the pipe I am looking for until I find it. But I can always witch it if I know where or can see the orginal ditch line is...Go figure?


A little snow, Please!
#89521 08/07/07 09:43 PM
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 794
T
Lunker
Offline
Lunker
T
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 794
Oh and a guy with a tractor and a auger with out a doubt will always find my water main on a friday afternoon or right after church on Sunday.


A little snow, Please!
#89522 08/09/07 11:56 AM
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 111
D
Lunker
Offline
Lunker
D
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 111
I HAVE AN AUNT OUT OF TEXAS THAT WAS VISTIING UP IN WISCONSION THAT WITCH A SAND POINT FOR ME. FOUND WATER IN EXACTLY THE SPOT SHE SAID ALONG WITH THE DEPTH SHE SAID. SHE USES STICK BUT I COULD ONLY GET IT TO WORK WITH HE METAL RODS.
IT WILL PROBABLY BE A LOST ART VERY SOON.
SHE IS IN HERE 80'S

Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 14
K
Lunker
Offline
Lunker
K
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 14
An old boss witched a well many years ago and the well they bored provided water for a 20 acre market garden. He used a forked stick. His mate seconded, with two pieces of #8 wire.

Birds could easily cause the spread of fish. Ever squeezed a fish that's stuffed with eggs when you pick it up. So a large predatory bird picks up a pregnant fish of a size it can't gulp down. While taking the fish to it's nest it flies over a pond... And there's your legend.

Many things in nature - appear out of nowhere, but there is always a rational explanation.

Dousing, witching, I'm sure it's an energy flow thing. I can't do it but I won't dismiss those who can.

Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 5,712
Likes: 3
Moderator
Ambassador
Field Correspondent
Lunker
Offline
Moderator
Ambassador
Field Correspondent
Lunker
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 5,712
Likes: 3
Originally Posted By: catmandoo
Quote:
Originally posted by Theo Gallus:
Evidently you can witch water with an auger on the back of a tractor.

I need to add that to the "tractor uses" thread.
There is an old joke where I come from. Somebody would proudly display a big fish, and right on que, somebody else would ask "where'd you catch that big fish?" The proud fish catcher would answer "right in the mouth." Somebody always took that old joke "hook line and sinker!"

I guess you guys got me -- hook, line, and sinker.

It is darn hot. Too hot to do much of anything useful, so I went down to the barn and made a pair of witchin' rods out of some #8 copper wire. Five-inch handles, with 24 inches of wild witchin! rod!



I've watched people "witch" since the early 1950s. I've tried it with willow, with sassafras, with steel rods, and with copper rods. Nothing ever happens when I use wish-bone shaped branches of willow or sassafras. But, with steel or copper, I can certainly get them to swivel. But, it's usually because one of my feet is in a depression.

As I got into my teens in Northern Wisconsin and Northern Minnesota, I came to realize that I lived in an area with a very high water table. The old timers always witched before they sunk a well. Many times I helped sink "sand points" into the ground for these wells. When we hit the level of Lake Superior, or the inland lake we were closest too, that was the level of the water in our new well.

Anyway, as a diversion in tonight's heat, I thought I'd try witchin' at least one more time.

My well is about 600 feet from the house. I thought I'd try to see if I could "witch" the water line from the well to the house. It is buried about 3-4 feet down. No such luck.

I know where the line leads from the house to my septic tank. I know where my septic tank and distribution box are located. During this part of the summer, it is easy to tell where the drain field lines are, as they are the only place where the grass is green. I tried to locate the whole system with the rods. Nothing doing.

I have a 50,000 volt powerline running through my property. It goes right over my pond. The field is strong enough to allow me to draw sparks from the lower eyes of my 16 foot jigging rod and from those on my fly rod. If I walk out there with a 4-foot fluorescent bulb, or one of the new high efficiency bulbs, it will light all by itself. As far as the witchin' rods -- nothin doing under the power lines either.

(This is what I see from my pond dock as I look toward 1600 MILLION WATT Mt. Storm, WV smile



As a not-so-young electronics engineer, various silly people have sought my advice in crazy areas like wave theory and electro-magnetic field propagation. I think I know a little about the subject, but can't explain witchin'.

But, I don't discount it. I don't discount ESP or UFOs either.

As much as I'd like to believe in witchin' -- I think Theo's auger has as good a chance of finding water as my copper rods.

Next time I put the post hole digger on the tractor, I'm wearing my tinfoil hat. Maybe I'll find a UFO with an eternal water supply for my pond!

Good witchin'
Ken G.


Aw geeze! My debunking seems to have been debunked.

I was at an auction yesterday, where I saw a metal detector. I mentioned to a friend who was looking at the same junk I was looking at, that I couldn't find my septic tank. I said that maybe I should see if I could find it with a metal detector, since I assumed the septic tank had re-bar in it.

I found that my septic tank is not anywhere near where I thought it was a few years ago. Our county health department plat is far from helpful. It shows my driveway about 60 feet from where it really is, in relation to my house. The angles on the hand-drawn, non-proportional map, don't give me a clue. I could only guess withing about +/- about 10 feet of where the sewer line exits the house.

My friend says he could find it. He asked me if I had any "witchin' rods" -- which I just happened to have, as shown in the thread above.

He came over this afternoon and it took him less than a minute, with my witchin rods, to find my sewer line. He followed them to my septic tank. It took about five scoops with my back hoe before I snagged the cleanout for the septic tank.

He told me to try it -- yes, I'm still a major skeptic. I tried it. Damn, if they didn't turn parallel to the line when I got right over it.

I challenged him. We've had a lot of construction here at the house recently, and Miss Utility has been out several times. I know where every underground water, electric, telephone, and gas line is. I asked him to walk across the front yard. He got everyone of them -- including the coax to my Dish Network antenna, which had not been marked before!

He showed me how to hold the rods. I went up into the woods, about 20 feet from the edge of the yard, closed my eyes, and started walking into the yard. I found what he found. The rods crossed over each other, parallel to the lines below them.

As mentioned above, my well is about 600 feet south of the house, and comes through a forested area. I know where it starts, and ends, but I don't really know it's true couse. I found it!

Now I'm haunted. I still have a hard time believing it. Tomorrow I'm going to see if I can find a Ouija board, and ask the board if "witchin" really works.

This is crazy. Maybe it is just me.


Subscribe to Pond Boss Magazine

Peculiar Friends are Better than No Friends at All!
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 28,417
Likes: 794
Moderator
Ambassador
Field Correspondent
Lunker
Offline
Moderator
Ambassador
Field Correspondent
Lunker
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 28,417
Likes: 794
Ken, when I was renovating the pond, I wanted to find the line (electric) going from the house to the barn. The guy that was running the ASV knew how to witch. He found it by making 2 rods from coathangers that I had, and showed me how to do it. It's erie to walk and watch the rods turn in on themselves!!!!


www.hoosierpondpros.com


http://www.pondboss.com/subscribe.asp?c=4
3/4 to 1 1/4 ac pond LMB, SMB, PS, BG, RES, CC, YP, Bardello BG, (RBT & Blue Tilapia - seasonal).
Page 2 of 2 1 2

Link Copied to Clipboard
Today's Birthdays
cro, HC1968
Recent Posts
pond experience needed
by FishinRod - 03/28/24 08:46 PM
Alum vs Bentonite/Lathanum for Phosphorus Removal?
by FishinRod - 03/28/24 08:28 PM
New pond middle TN: establishing food chain?
by Bill Cody - 03/28/24 07:57 PM
Happy Birthday Bob Lusk!!
by FireIsHot - 03/28/24 07:33 PM
Relative weight charts in Excel ? Calculations?
by Boondoggle - 03/28/24 06:45 PM
Working on a .5acre disaster, I mean pond.
by PRCS - 03/28/24 06:39 PM
Fungus infection on fish
by nvcdl - 03/28/24 06:07 PM
Can anyone ID these minnows?
by Dylanfrely - 03/28/24 05:43 PM
1 year after stocking question
by esshup - 03/28/24 04:48 PM
Yellow Perch Spawn 2024
by H20fwler - 03/28/24 04:29 PM
New 2 acre pond stocking plan
by LANGSTER - 03/28/24 03:49 PM
Paper-shell crayfish and Japanese snails
by esshup - 03/28/24 10:39 AM
Newly Uploaded Images
Eagles Over The Pond Yesterday
Eagles Over The Pond Yesterday
by Tbar, December 10
Deer at Theo's 2023
Deer at Theo's 2023
by Theo Gallus, November 13
Minnow identification
Minnow identification
by Mike Troyer, October 6
Sharing the Food
Sharing the Food
by FishinRod, September 9
Nice BGxRES
Nice BGxRES
by Theo Gallus, July 28
Snake Identification
Snake Identification
by Rangersedge, July 12

� 2014 POND BOSS INC. all rights reserved USA and Worldwide

Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5