Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Prey fish population evaluation

Hi there. Last Fall I stocked my pond with prey fish (red ear, blue fill, shiners, minnows, etc.). I used the proper quantities, as advised by TJ Hudson, a very helpful member of this forum. My questions are:

1) when it rains, I get a pretty decent flow rate out of my spillway. Do my fish ever wash out the spillway?

2) I have a crane that visits daily, walking around fishing on the shoreline. Will he hurt the population enough to matter, while they are getting established?

3) I plan to start feeding my new prey fish once the water warms up. How can I tell if I still have enough prey fish? I want them to breed and get establish before I add my bass and catfish this fall.

Thank you in advance!
John

One of the best ways I can come up with to determine a fish population is to hand feed them daily at the same spot and see what happens. The Bg most likely show up along with some shiners maybe along with the minnows, but the res most likely will not show up.

Hey John

1. Some may, likely only YOY - adult fish resist/avoid outflow current in my experience. Nothing you can do to prevent, nothing you should lose sleep about at all.

2. A Crane or a Heron? GBH probably won't impact fishery too much, but I have lost really nice fish to them before - dead on the shore too big to eat but killed nonetheless. I discourage GBH on my place - they love crapping on my dock which is a hassle to clean also. Up to you what to do here....some guys have dogs that watch the pond and do nice work keeping GBH and Canada Geese away.

3. You can start hand feeding now - same place same time every day [weather permitting]. Your fish will start to tune in and feed more aggressively. First few sessions don't be alarmed if you have no takers, it's a process that takes time. Start with handful, once you start getting takers you can increase feeding. General rule is don't feed more than fish can consume in 15 min, my personal timetable is 10 minutes but I'm very sensitive to nutrient loads/eutrophication issues so I'm more strict with the timeline. Once your fish are tuned into the feeding you can install a feeder - I'd go with the 70 lb model.

I wouldn't worry about your forage base - you'll have spawning all season ready for LMB stocking this Fall - per Tracy you'll start seeing them at feeding time soon.

Thank you so much for the reply, TJ and Tracy! Gave me all the info I need.

Some small fish go out the spillway.

Have been capturing some small crawdads at a pool below my overflow pipe from my RES/SMB pond. In that small pool the net also caught less than a dozen 1-1.5" fish as well as some gambusia. I have 3 of the fingerlings in an aquarium right now trying to grow them enough to determine for sure what they are. jpsdad ID'd them as SMB which I imagine is correct. I would assume they are from this years spawn.

I have heard that grass carp like to go with the flow. I did find one very large one in a new location that I'm pretty sure came from my pond.

Thanks, John

I have a couple follow up questions. When feeding my fish for the first time, is there a preferred depth of water I should throw out to? The dam is a longer walk and I am lazy, so can I feed them in my shallow, 3ft deep water, or should I feed them on the deeper side?

What are the following acronyms from this thread? I am a noob.

GBH
RES

GBH= great blue heron
RES= red ear sunfish

You can find the full list of acronyms here.

John [KS] send me the photos, I can help ID your fish.

John [MO] - sorry for the acronyms - Luke thanks for helping and great signature - I'm a big William Blake fan.

Start hand feeding at a place convenient for you - since fishery is devoid of predators the sunfish and minnows will be widespread and will come to you over time. Just give it a toss, nothing scientific, it will drift over varying depths with the wind/current. I'd wait until your water temps are in the upper 50s to low 60s before feeding really takes off. I recommend low light around 7:30 ish in our neck of the woods. Start with just a handful - wait and watch. If you don't have a floating thermometer buy one ASAP - $10 on Amazon. Can you confirm you are using Optimal BG JR? Those pellet sizes can be utilized by BG as small as 3-4" I would guess, but fish that size would struggle with straight BG pellets [much larger].

When I recommended a feeder I didn't specify a brand - strongly recommend Texas Hunter [TH] 70 lb model since you live on site you don't need to spend the $$ on the 125 lb. If you're going to install it on a dock or a platform get straight legs - otherwise get the angled legs for shoreline install and remember to keep the grass trimmed in front of the feeder so it doesn't impede delivery.

Per John [KS] and my first post, yes, some fish will make it over the spillway during rain events, but considering your fishery will consist of BG/LMB the only management issues you'll face with those species is overpopulation...so the rain events are providing some assistance.

What does John [MO] need:

Floating thermometer
Floating or stationary dock [You'll find you spend 90% of your time on the dock free of tall weeds/insects/etc. This is also where you'll be hand feeding your LMB fillets and watch them grow into monsters like we discussed. Go with a long gangplank so your platform is over deep water - 16-20' - and make your platform bigger than you think you'll need, 12'x20' maybe - you'll be grateful you overbuilt]
Commercial net for sampling - handles come in sections - get at least 8' [I like duraframe dipnets out of WI - tell LInda TJ sent you]
Visit NE this Summer and get some PK Shrimp - these will help your BG grow and help clean your pond, too.
Floating fish cages [collect your under performing BG for LMB feeding]

I posted them on this thread but for some reason the pictures are not loading. They worked when I posted them.

Link to post on my RES/SMB thread

John I can’t open. If you’d like you can email me tj@hudlandmgmt.com I’m super happy to help. How are your smb performing? Feed trained? Forage base? Goals?