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

Culling to grease is definitely the best method of culling.

I hope everyone has fun on the first part, and gets a happy belly on the second part!

We still have a few. I keep restocking YP, as those are my favorites to eat. My brother in law came up and fished last year. He’s a much better fisherman than I am. He caught (and released) 7. Only one was an original stocker. 19”+. The rest were of different lengths from different generations. We still seem to have a strong crawfish population. Easy to net several just dragging a net along the bank. Still seeing some glass shrimp also.
I was backup there last week to plant food plots. A rain was forecast so I got everything done. Of course the rain petered out. We got zero. And there’s nothing forecasted for the next few weeks.
However, the algae pictured above, was nowhere to be found! So I’ll be swimming again. Last time I jumped in the little HBG/RES cross were pretty aggressive towards every freckle and mole I had. Had to swim in a t-shirt. Water was still pretty cool a foot down.

I am no expert, but if you have a sustainable population of crayfish and ghost shrimp in a pond with SMB and YP, then it sounds like you must have a decent amount of rooted vegetation providing them cover.

I think losing some swimming days to algal blooms may just be the price you pay for having a healthy, fertile pond?

Did you happen to put that 19" YP on a scale?

Current Misery state record is 2lb 7oz.

We got 4.4 inches of badly needed rain in the middle of a long drought. Wife and I made the 70 mile drive to jump on 4 wheelers to take a look. Problem is that it was a farmers rain. Slow and soaked in so not the frog strangler with lots of runoff that I badly needed. Both ponds came up almost 2 feet and the spring fed creek started running again. Tossed feed and the fish fed well. Smaller water holes half way filled.

Not whining but need the alter the steps on my rain dance. Well, at 81 yoa, they’re not gonna get much more vigorous.

Dave can you come to Oklahoma and do your dance Pond is over 2' low, we got a trace of rain that resembled dew last night and no rain in the forecast for at least 2 weeks.

I no longer travel to rain dance but you can do your own. I find that Budweiser, not sissy light beers, enhances the dance. Keep practicing and don’t get too close to any steep banks.

Dave, Neuropathy has put an end to all Dancing , how about making a DVD of your rain dance , I'll set a DVD player, down by ponds, where the fair weather clouds can see you ! 4' down , no run off since July of 23 . We can copy right the name of the DVD , "Texas Giants rain dance " increases rain by 300% , clouds double in size 1st month , recommend 3,000 DVD's to the acre , not the usual Rain Dance , Our unique Hybrid of 3 different dance steps. Worked for GG's. How about it Dave ?

LOL, well that explains it, I was drinking Coors Light, going to have to make a trip to the neighbors, he has some of the Red label Buds in his fridge. And some dang good Scotch.

Flew the new drone tonight at feeding time and found out I have a whole lot more BIG Catfish and huge Turtles than I though I had. They flocked in like buzzards to fresh roadkill once I started throwing out the feed.

That also explains why my BG population is diminishing. Time to catch some and have a fish fry.

FA, I talked to my wife about your generous offer and she nixed the whole thing. She said me getting soused and jailed in Texas was bad enuff and, being retired, we could no longer afford enough lawyers to get me out of the calaboose when I got all wound up enjoying myself. I think her biggest problem was when women started tossing their “unmentionables” up on the stage.

I’m sorry! I reread my post. I totally messed that up. Brother in law caught 7 SMB, not YP. We’ve caught some decent sized YP over the years, but I don’t think any approached 19”. My son fished our pond yesterday for the first time in years. He had very limited success. Two nice SMB on, but he didn’t land either one. My wife caught one YP. The rest were all our weird RES/HBG crosses. (At least that’s what I’m guessing they are)

SetterGuy - You mention that your pond still has grass shrimp after several years. I will assume the pond has some sort of vegetated habitat to provide refuge for the grass shrimp. Do you know the type/s of vegetation present and about what percentage of the pond has vegetation?

[quote=Dave Davidson1]We got 4.4 inches of badly needed rain in the middle of a long drought.

Hopefully that 4.4" was not in the middle of a long drought and actually at the very end of it.

You might just have this budweiser rain dance perfected, its you against the farmers that want the slow soaking rains, and you are more into the runoff part if I understand you correctly!

Yep, I was raised on a cotton farm about 20 miles from Muleshoe Texas. I understand and appreciate both.

Oh well ; Just knew I and "The Guvnor" were going to be in the big money selling thousands of DVD's of our patented Rain Dance , with a little tweaking could have broke into the Cotton Patch market , also. The really big money.

My American Pond Weed is totally gone now. The shrimp and crawdads seem to do great in all the the leafs that accumulate along the banks. My pond has oaks, hickories, and maples all around it. The surface practically gets covered in the fall. So far it doesn’t seem to have caused any negative side effects. I don’t have aeration either. This picture is from a few years ago, but you can see how many leaves we get.

Made a Bathymetric map of the pond. Cool new toy.
Pond is 3 feet low and this overlay with Google maps is not totally accurate. It only shows a portion of the Island, it's actually bigger than that.

SetterGuy, the pond weed got eaten by the crayfish? or it didn't like the conditions there?

Always love to see your pond in the different seasons. Lots of oak leaves around your pond (and in it) they don't break down well even with aeration. They are sturdy. The center of the bottom of my pond has oak leaves with a black coating on them but they don't break down. That is why i was trying to use an outboard to stir the bottom up a bit. I do have aeration but it is about 2 feet off the bottom in the center so the stuff in the center on the bottom just stays put.

Your signature line says of your 2nd time around stocking HSB only 2 have been seen? Is it time to stock again or do you think they are still there?

I’m not sure about the pond weed. It was really thick a few years ago. The drought and lower water levels certainly affected it. It had a good start this year, but petered out. We have a lot of crayfish right now. My son wanted to use one for bait. He pulled a net up along the bank one time and caught three.

At the deepest spot, the pond is still 12 to 13’ deep. I can go down and reach it with my feet. There’s certainly some leaves down there, but they don’t seem to be building up. Although, I’m not really sure about that. But to get aeration down there I would be difficult and expensive. And, Im not really sure it would help my pond that much.
I don’t really know what happens to our HSB. I just don’t see them, and we don’t catch them. I caught one really big one from the original stocking, and one from the second stocking. Maybe the ph in our pond just isn’t great for HSB survival. My SMB are reproducing, so I haven’t restocked those. We eat a fair number of YP so I keep restocking those.
I’m pretty sure the otters took their share of fish too. I had five of them in there until an episode of lead poisoning hit the pond. I don’t think I have any visiting now. But I don’t have as many fish either. Ha

Wait on rain ….. lol

I've been wishing for rain for the last few weeks BD

Now hurricane Francine is headed for us!

I'm going to have to check on the pond during the storm since this is going to be this first real test of durability for the dam and the overflow pipe

Good luck! I’m 80-90% full, all is good so far. Taking forever to get to the overflow. I have another 18” to go. Level at the overflow is about 11’.

We are just waiting for our bass to show themselves


Hopefully some rain will come your way soon!

Very nice!

I went out to our property with a bunch of the little survey flags that last time we had major flooding. (The creek went at least 6' over the bridge on the county road.) They are like $9 for a 100 at Menards, and I always keep a few in the truck to mark herbicide test sprays, etc.

It was very handy to mark some edges to the creek floodplain so I wouldn't build anything there. Also nice to see the exact locations where my waterways run in the fields if I ever need to catch (or divert) that water in the future.

It might be worth if for you to do some marking on your property, where the water will show some exact survey "levels".


P.S. Stay safe while Francine comes to visit you!