Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations My pond remains a mystery to me...

As listed in previous posts, my pond was built (expanded from a cattle watering hole) a little over a year ago. It is a little over half an acre and 12' at the deepest. Total ~4 acre/feet of water. The night it was completed, a huge weather system hung over Polk Cty. and dumped 7"+ of rain. I have a huge aggressive watershed, and at the time a shallow creek nearby. The pond filled up over night. I never thought much about it and never saw any movement in the water until I stocked fish. Mid-August, I stocked CNBG, FHM. In September I stocked RES. Nothing over 2-3" long. This end of May I stocked LMB and in July CC and BC...both species were 4" long. I caught both species of catfish after 6 weeks in the pond and they measured up to 7 1/4" of growth. This spring I caught a species of which I was unsure of and I had my Pond Boss friends help me identify as either GSF or a hybrid of. See below...now here lately, I've noticed that I have 4) distinct spawn sizes in the pond ranging from 5 1/2" to 2 1/4". Tony (Sprkplug) being the Guru of GSF that he is, I PM'ed with him and he was gracious enough to help me deal with my overpopulation issue. I have begun that process.


Next, I started catching a few of these (pictured below). I thought they might be a sunfish of sorts with maybe some GSF in the gene pool. I looked on the web last night and saw some pics of pumpkinseed that are very similar, but I really don't know. Anyone that can add something to ID'ing these...please do.


Then, I'm fishing this past Saturday evening and I hook this fish...(see below). Keep in mind, the largest fish in the pond to my knowledge are CNBG, RES, CC, and BC and the largest is 7 1/4-7 1/2".


I catch this 16" CC...as I guess more will be revealed as time goes on...I had no idea the effect that the pond filling up over night would have on my li'l BOW. The creek has been re-routed and I had it dug from originally 3' deep to now approximately 8' deep. Hopefully, the creek will no longer be an issue.

Can't help with the ID cept GSFs in the mix, and I thought my bass were a mystery

Looks like there may be some LES in the mix, also.

Long ear sunfish?

Pumpkinseed are a northern fish, so not likely that. It is a pretty thing. The problem with a lot of the other sunfish like the long ear is they don't get very big.

snrub,
I did not realize that pumpkinseed were a northern species. I've seen similar fish in the SW Louisiana river systems while fishing when I was growing up...not sure if it's a mutt or what....but, they are a pretty species.

Well guys what is the mystery fish? Bill C you gotta know.... LOL

Longear.

Thanks, for everyone's input...

Here you go, stickem: http://txstate.fishesoftexas.org/lepomis%20megalotis.htm

Beautiful fish, common to creeks in my area. When males get their spawning colors, they are spectacular.

Hold up, check out the dollar sunfish. I don't know these fish personally, but ran across them in my search. The markings on the chest and opercular appear very similar to what you show in the photo: http://txstate.fishesoftexas.org/lepomis%20marginatus.htm

Spark has it correct - a color version of the longear sunfish. See correction below.

pumpkinseed distribution

First and only ones I've seen were snorkeling in a freshwater pond on Cape Cod. Numerous full size adult fish on beds in full spawning colors. Beautiful fish. I was ready to get some for my pond till I saw the distribution range.

Tony,
....wow, nice information...I think you may have nailed it with the "dollar sunfish"....I was reading the article. The colors may be off a bit, but my fish are still a little pale from the new pond and somewhat cloudy water. I think it a greater possibility than the long ear...us being in east Texas...Thanks, for taking the time.
Charlie

Bill, had I caught this fish down in the creek here I would've labeled it a LES and never gave it another thought. But those crazy opercular markings kept nagging at me, so I dug a little more.

Dollar sunfish aren't familiar to me, but it sure seems to be a good match for stickem's photo, and now I'm pondering....

Spark - you are correct - my error in quickly thinking it to be a longear sunfish - LES. The longear and dollar sunfishes have very similar appearance. Several items separate the dollar SF from the longear SF. Mouth on DSF is smaller not reaching past the middle of the eye as it does in LES. DSF has 3-4 rows of scales on the cheek vs 5-6 for the LES. The most noticeable difference is the DSF has spots or marks on the gill flap and LES. does not. The dollar sunfish rarely grows as large as the longear sunfish.

Caught what appears to be an adult GSF this weekend. This one was 8" long. Remember, I mentioned earlier in this post that I did not stock any of these...3-4 spawn sizes later, Tony (Sparkplug) has been be directing me as to manage them with all the other species that I have stocked since the overnight pond filling up a little over a year ago.....

It looks mostly green sunfish to me. Keep feeding it and it could easily grow to 9" maybe 10". They are prolific.

Yes, they are.....I have already witnessed in the first year what they are capable of with regards to spawning....I just wish my predators were a bit larger right now. I'm sure they'll get there in due time....

Your preds will soon be snacking on those greenies.

...and now it appears that a GBH is using my dock feeder as a perch to stalk it's prey...what could be more perfect than that??? Huntin' over a baited field!

Cecil Baird mentioned bottle rockets if I remember the post correctly. Could be your daily dose of entertainment.

Cmm

My luck.....with the burn ban on, I'd burn down S.E. Texas...


We are not at the property during the week, so that presents another problem...I have no control over anything going on and very little influence over anything when we are not there....

JKB could probably rig up a solar panel and series of capacitors and find some way to 'energize' the outside metal of the feeder just enough so GBH gets a little voltage tickle/jolt when deciding to stand up there..

Or I noticed in buildings by us they have these flat aluminum trays with a series of vertical tines or spikes sticking up. They put them in window sills of tall buildings and it keeps the birds from landing there.

Lots of do it yourself ideas here at this link:

...Dangit, CC...that would do it!!! Hahahaha!!!

Bird spikes would be the most effective. Energizing something to repel pests would require enough power/voltage to overcome resistance in the air to close a circuit. By then you may as well go up another notch and leave a platter, mashed potatoes, and gravy down there to have yourself some roast bird. I believe a nice Tesla coil may do the trick, I made one as a kid that would have roast the bird while it was still a few feet away.