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Joined: Jan 2012
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this is an update from my intial thread that morphed..... http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=279586#Post279586I casted a small rattle trap around, I caught a couple big BREAM, one Warmouth. I also Jumped two Tarpon, one broke me off after three sky high leaps the other just spit the hook durning a 3 feet flipping jump. I saw the broke off fish jumping a few times later on trying to get my lure out. Hope it falls out and it can contue eating.
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Ambassador Field Correspondent Hall of Fame Lunker
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Catch tarpon out of your pond sure would be fun!
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Very cool. Tarpon are such a fun fish to watch break water. My ponds are so small and narrow that if i had fish in there that jumped as high and far as a tarpon, I would end up with lots of fish on my food plots!
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One actually almost landed on the shore after it threw my hook back at me..
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Last edited by BobbyRice; 03/03/14 10:01 AM.
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Put it in your pond.
Also what are the other fish in the bucket?
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You're gonna have one unusual pond!
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Bobby, could you grow it large enough so it'd escape predation by the LMB, then introduct it to that pond?
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just messing around that thing would be too much a for a little freshwater pond...
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Another Tarpon update...I released some mullet into the pond this evening. They were swimming in a small school across the middle of the pond right on the surface. I tarpon launched itself into the air snagging one on its way up...it Was really cool...
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Decided to start adding some additional predators, I have this 13 inch flounder acclimated over to pure fresh water ready for realease into the pond this weekend. Goinng to add some additional Adult wild shinners and as many finger mullet as I can net to help feed the tarpon until the BG can start spawning again this spring. Sinking 4 chrismas trees as well. side note, when I called the local LEO office regarding me releasing my catch they seemed puzzled to say the least. They informed me "as long as you harvested your fish legally there is no law against you letting it go in a private fresh waster pond but it will die I you did because it is a saltwater fish"
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If there was a place to buy flounder for stocking I would be all for it. I very seldom target them fishing out of Apalachicola. I do catch alot of them about 5 to 7 miles out on my bait holes that have sandy patches around live bottom. I even caught 1 onetime while drifting bottom 28 miles out in 180' of water. I only eat about 10 a year that size. If I had them in the pond I know that number would increase. BTW Have you tried converting a sheepshead or mangrove snapper to freshwater?
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TUMS
From what I understand sheepshead can live in fresh water.
Keep a cooler and a battery or plug in bubbler handy when you fish next time, when you catch a couple that are leagal size to keep put them in the cooler and take them home. They are very easy to acclimate, just slowly keep adding fresh water.
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Thanks, I am thinking there could be an advantage to stocking Sheepshead in some cases instead of some RES (red eared sunfish). A sheepshead would be good for eating snails and other shelled creatures like the RES.. The advantage may come in that younger sheepshead will also eat filamentous algae.
I actually played around with the idea of Snook along time ago after catching them in freshwater canals. Water temps up this way kill them in the winter. I have never taken a LMB fisherman snook fishing that did not go a little crazy over them.
Keep up the good work.
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I would hope that a lot more of this experiment will be document and published here, whether successful or not.
We have many examples of good and bad, where fish and amphibians have transitioned from one to the other.
Striped bass are probably the best known successful accidental examples I know of, where a saltwater/brackish/freshwater fish has succeeded in a singular freshwater habitat without serious problems.
But, growing up on the Great Lakes when they opened to ocean-going ships via the St. Lawrence Seaway, the Great Lakes have been invaded by many problematic saltwater invasive species via ballast. These diseases and critters, like zebra mussels and lamprey eels, have since invaded inland freshwater lakes and streams in the Great Lakes states, which has made life miserable for our friends in those states. Because of this, it is illegal to move bait, fingerlings, etc., across county and state borders. Just moving a boat or boat trailer from one water body to another has become an issue.
Those of us involved in professional agriculture/aquaculture/aquaponics are constantly reminded and trained in bio-security. I would hope that experiments such as this are taking serious bio-security precautions.
A major concern I have about this experiment is that it doesn't result in another out-of-control invasive species.
Ken
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Catmandoo, the pond is an isolated small pond. Also the few fish in it have no reproductive capability with out access to salt water. They are also local native fish that naturally inhabbit the local fresh water waterways at some point during their life cycle. So nothing non-native or unatural about them, other than they will not have access to salt water when they think they want to reporduce. I also called the FWC and they said no law against putting them into private pond once you harvest them.
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Bobby,
I apologize for getting a little over zealous regarding moving fish from one place to another, especially into an enviroment where they don't normally live.
I guess I've really become over-sensitized to it in the last dozen years, or so. We've seen so many issues in the Chesapeake Watershed that I even quit using anything but domestically raised minnows in my ponds for bait.
Regards, Ken
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Catmandoo, I have a lake house in Northern WI and fish the great lakes every season. I can see what effects the salty invaders have done. It is actually quite amazing that they are able to live in ballast tanks let alone go from the ocean get dumped into a cold fresh water environment and thrive.....The alewives and the lamprey in particular. It is one thing to be able to live in fresh water but thrive and reproduce coming from pure salt water is almost science fiction.
Although, I have often wondered if a regular stocking program of put and take for sheepshead in lakes that have zebra mussel issues might be benificial. I do think the sheepshead have some temperature restrictions but are pretty cold tolerant...
Also, I side note.... I notice alot of sealice on the saltwater fish around my area during the winter for some reason. The flounder in the picture above had several on it. They did not like the fresh water and died. At least I think they are sealice, they look like little allens attached. detach and they move like crabs over the fishes body. When atached the are hard to remove.
Last edited by BobbyRice; 01/08/13 11:02 AM.
Goofing off is a slang term for engaging in recreation or an idle pastime while obligations of work or society are neglected........... Wikipedia
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Catmandoo, I agree all people need to be good about protecting our waters from invasive problem species. That said I have personally observed every species BobbyRice and I are talking about in freshwater in FL.. I know they all spend parts of there life cycle there. Last year I seen adult sheepshead that where caught out of Lake Wimico (which opens naturally to the Gulf Of Mexico about 10 miles into the fresh water zone). The Zebra mussels you mentioned have now made there way into Alabama from the Great Lakes. Things like what BobbyRice is doing interest me as the Sheepshead may be another natural method of destroying other invasive species like the zebra mussel. I for one am very glad to find out the sheepshead can survive full time in the freshwater.
On a side note the tributaries in my area feed unrestricted into the Gulf of Mexico which has often made me think about invasive aquatic problems. I have actually caught wild american eels on site. I even removed one about 2ft long from my 3 AC pond site the last time I reworked it.
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Although, I have often wondered if a regular stocking program of put and take for sheepshead in lakes that have zebra mussel issues might be benificial. I do think the sheepshead have some temperature restrictions but are pretty cold tolerant... I have been thinking the same thing during the last year.
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Bobby, Can blue crabs live in absolute fresh water? I've seen them in areas that are most fresh, if not all fresh here in Louisiana. If so, have you put some small crabs in your pond to feed the sheepshead?
1 ac pond LMB, BG, RES, CC
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Blue Crabs can and do live in fresh water, someone on the forum has stocked some in their pond and had great growth, however they cannot reproduce without saltwater access either. I thought about blue crabs but they will eat everything else. I only have the one sheepshead. All the others are fish eaters. The sheepshead does eat the fish pellets though.
Last edited by BobbyRice; 01/08/13 12:35 PM.
Goofing off is a slang term for engaging in recreation or an idle pastime while obligations of work or society are neglected........... Wikipedia
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thought this was interesting Reserach by NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIV The results of this work provide the first evidence that southern flounder can be economically cultured in freshwater without adversely affecting growth. The establishment of southern flounder farming would be a valuable contribution to the U.S. Aquaculture industry of a high-value fish with worldwide market appeal. Use of cyclic feeding regimes may have limited ability to improve feed efficiency but appears to have greater effect on the phosphorus levels in pond water and would indirectly improve the quality of effluents from HSB ponds. Source... http://www.reeis.usda.gov/web/crisprojec...eastern-nc.html
Goofing off is a slang term for engaging in recreation or an idle pastime while obligations of work or society are neglected........... Wikipedia
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Sorry no pics or video, but wanted to give an update on the pond. This weekend I released a couple dozen adult wild shiners, some sail fin mollies and a load of gulf killifish into the pond to suppliment the bait fish population.
I also added several hundred finger mullet about 4-6 inches long.....
The cool part is after about 15 minutes somthing had the mullet schooled up and was chasing them along the surface of the pond exploding on them. It was pretty large, I am assuming it was the tarpon.....Seems they are still doing well and were enjoying the 80 degree weekend we had.....
Next time I release a finger Mullet in the pond it will have a circle hook in it....with a camera on stand bye,.,,,
Oh, and the flounder swam off healthy looking after being in the cooler of fresh water for a week.
Last edited by BobbyRice; 01/16/13 11:25 AM.
Goofing off is a slang term for engaging in recreation or an idle pastime while obligations of work or society are neglected........... Wikipedia
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