Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Property Projects & Construction What did you do at your pond today?

Mark, sorry to hear that.

Pat....at the deepest it's about 17 feet, but most of the deepest is 14 feet, and then of course most of the rest varies between 4-12 feet.

Yes Clint from Overton's said the shocking is mainly effective to about 6-7 feet...so hopefully maybe not as bad as I think....but fishing has been bad for last few months, but it is winter....I dunno

Somebody told me last week two otters can eat at least 15 lbs of fish per week.

The otters may have been in there a few months before we trapped them, then the water turkey arrived.

So now I wonder whether the reflective tape worked since the water-turkey are mainly gone...or heck are they gone because all the fish are gone?

It's a bummer for sure, but as I learn to say as I get older: "it is...what it is"

Pat just curious....I realize it would be kind of far-fetched....but if you had an electro-survey being done and there was a beaver or otter in the pond swimming under-water near the boat would it shock them the same way and make them float to top?

How big does the gape of a flathead have to be to eat an otter?

First feeding activity in West Central MO for the year. Nothing yesterday, but quite a few takers today.

BG and CC feeding on top again here since Sunday.

Probably about 75 to 80 pounds. We need some Wels Catfish to take care of the otters. One 300 pound Wels should take care of a whole otter group.

All's wels that ends wels!

Saw four X$@! cormorants, four geese, one GBH, and one bald eagle. Cormorants let us drive within 20 yards, but when we opened the car doors they flew off.

Frogs singing & chuckling, weeds and algae are growing faster than I anticipated. TP will be needed pretty soon, I think.

Replenished fish food. Funny reaction when testing feeders, though. Not much happens for a couple of minutes, then slow but steady feeding goes on for over an hour. Fish hit it all over as feed drifts in the wind, kinda neat to see it, but obviously BG aren't fully tuned in yet.

Zep, I hate if for you but the otters and cormorants did not get all your fish. But, you will need to take action against them. Believe me, I know. It's a never ending battle at my place when it comes to Otters, beavers and cormorants. Hire a trapper if you can't be there. Or set enough traps and check them on the week ends. You are supposed to run traps daily but a man has to do what a man has to do! I keep traps out year round, it's the only way I can keep them out. Yesterday I caught about a dozen cnbg and 3 of them had fresh wounds from cormorants. The battle is ongoing.

And Frank, my cnbg are very active right now, but if I run a test with my TH feeder and it's not at the regular feeding time there will be little action, and if it's a blue bird day it may not be eaten at all.

Tracy, My cnbg are feeding just like yours. Makes me question... do they cruise the pond for food all day? Do they stay in schools? I can't imagine all my thousands of cnbg are all sitting under my 30 ft. pontoon dock all day waiting for the feeder to go off in the AM and PM. but....I rarely catch any in other areas of the pond!! Also, I know I have some big lmb but unlike others ponds I have visited I never see a bass hit on the shoreline. When first stocked and they got about 12 inch long I would see them and actually had one run itself on dry land chasing bait!! But now rarely show any signs of them feeding. They are big so I assume they are just feeding deeper and can't be seen.

Flame, like you I have a floating pier and there are always bg near or around or under the pier but I am pretty sure they will seek deeper water when its blue bird day. the feeders concentrate them at lest during feeding times. I am now feeding Purina MVP where different sizes and weights of the feed comes into play. About 50% of that feed sinks and I see the largest cnbg all most never feed on top but feed on the sinking feed targeted about two feet below surface. I am pretty sure the larger lmb do the same and feed a few feet below the surface. But I have to say we are both lmb fisherman and have caught many a lmb on the surface. So are you seeing any lmb reproduction with all your cnbg? For me I had to add additional lmb to the pond to get a spawn. If you don't see any lmb feeding then maybe you might need to add some lmb to the mix to get back to balance or over time you may not have any lmb in the pond. The lmb you pictured awhile back was an outstanding fish and reminded me of what a trophy lmb pond might look like.

I was feeding my fish last year by hand. When I drove over the damn the fish would start hitting the surface of the water, with no feed put out. When I parked where I feed them they would be a lot of fish hitting the surface. One day my brother and I took his truck to feed. No fish hit the surface till I started walking on the dock and the fish were very slow to start eating. Maybe 2 to 3 min. before the water started to boil. My point is if they can tell a diesel truck from a gas truck driving over a damn they can hear you walking up to your pond from where ever they are in a small pond and be waiting for you to feed. We repeated this a couple times and it was the same results.

I usually have a gang sitting at the ready waiting on me every afternoon. But when I ring their dinner bell (pipe drove in the ground) you see wakes coming from across the pond as they race to get there.

Zep it may not be as bad as you think with your water depth being what it is .....as spooky as as otters are they probably wouldn’t be close to the boat let’s hope that your fish were in deeper water during the shocking

Thanks Tracy and Pat for the advice.

I walked the shoreline yesterday looking for bedding fish. The lmb continue to move up into the shallows. Males are guarding their nest. One thing I have noticed is most of these males are in the 14 to 15" range. They look larger when I see them with polarized sun glasses. I remove the sun glasses and if I can see them they look smaller without the sun glasses on. A lot of these bass I can not see with out the sun glasses on. I also saw the Osprey again yesterday. It's been awhile since I have seen him so I thought he had left. He was setting in a tree top near the pond. I am not all that crazy about him hanging out because I have seen fly off with some nice sized cnbg in his claws. But hay, it's just another fish eater that hangs out at the pond. I guess I am blessed to see all the nature that hangs around the pond.

Tracy I also have an osprey taking a few.... but it’s better than those dreadful cormorants..... cool to watch him hover then dive in

In my opinion Tracy with or without the glasses they always look smaller in the water than what they actually are. If it looks like a 2 pounder it is probably closer to 3. A 3 or 3 1/2 will be darn near 5 when you actually weigh her. Or maybe I have just always sucked at judging fish when sight fishing. Either way in a tournament if it looks like a 2 pounder...I'm going for it because it is probably at least 3. Just my observation. In my pond I still only have 12 inch visibility so probably don't even have to worry about that problem!! One plus to that is the gbh has a hard time seeing my fish on the banks!!

Tracy, I see only a few CNBG at the feeders. LMB tend to dominate there, along with an occasional HSB.

Part of the problem are the cormorants, I'm sure. Scary for CNBG to come up near surface.

Speaking of predators, I figure if the koi I put in the older pond make the water muddy, then the GBH and otters cannot see to fish. Those 5 koi sure did muddy up the forage pond last year when I was growing them big enough to escape LMB predation. I saw all 5 of them a couple of times this week, still growing. I'd rather have muddy water than predators and FA.

I noticed my pond was a bit more turbid yesterday. I think my BH may be trying to spawn. Still got over 2 feet of visibility tho.

Two large fat female LMB caught today, around 5 lb each. Also culled 12 that were too small/skinny. Since 1 Oct 18, removed 134 LMB.

Still not seeing CNBG around feeders, nor catching them in shallower water. Water is very clear, at least 5 feet viz. Water temps around 60 to 62 max in afternoon, not enough for CNBG spawning thus far.

I was walking out to the pond this morning, coffee in hand, when I saw the reflection of a bird overhead. I couldn't find it when I looked up at first, then got my eye on him sitting on an oak branch. A big beautiful drake wood duck.

I need a nesting box!!

Fished some today- used a dark minnow pattern on a 4wt fly rod, landed a 4lb 10oz LM that was 20" and a fat little 11.5" that was almost 15oz. That one got tagged. Also got a mess of blue gill. Color on the bg are very pale from the stained water, but most fish look healthy. Feeding is starting, still a bit slow, but nice to see.