Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Seining for Catfish management

I'm planning on using a seine to harvest CC in about a month. I have a 50' X 4', 1/8" inch knotless seine, DELTA, material. Hindsight tells me I might wish I had ordered one with larger holes.

I've been hand feeding 2x per day in the same shallow area, feeding high quality fish food first then feeding grain based floating catfish feed. I'm seeing several of them on drone video that appear to be about 2# that remain to clean up the floating food.

My plan is to feed, wait until I see limited activity from BG, then sein them into a corner, pull the seine out onto some textile cloth to try to limit damage to the other species.

Weigh measure and tag LMB over 10" if any are caught.

Pull out the CC, YBH and large GSF then return the rest to the pond.

Some issues I feel like need deal with prior to seining are below.

1. Purchase an aquatic weed rake to remove pond weeds from the area.
2. Build a turtle trap to assist with reducing the turtle population, I'm seeing over 30 at feeding time that flock in at feeding time. They range from small to over 12 inches. I have only identified 1 very large soft shell it appears that most of them are Red Sliders.

I will have a 100-gallon stock tank to put them in as we cull them.

Family and friends are going to assist with everything and then we'll have a fish fry.

What else (besides the tools to clean them etc.) do I need to be prepared for this?

You need gloves when you are going to be handling that many fish. The good fish (LMB, BG, etc.) that you will be handling will have their protective slime coating damaged by bare hands. Not a big deal if you are only handling a few fish, but if you are going to be handling hundreds, than that will certainly save you some morts.

I also think you need to use salt in your 100-gallon stock tank. It will calm the fish and make them easier to handle, sort, and measure. You also probably need a dip net to help get them out of that tank.

I do not know the exact material composition for proper gloves, nor the correct salt concentration. I think a Pond Boss search might turn up that info?

If not, then maybe post those specific questions and see if you can get some proper advice from our experts that handle fish for a living.

Have you and your seining assistants ever seined before? IME novice seine handlers need a few reps before they do a good, coordinated job. (The same applies to old seiners - me - who may be a few years out of practice.) If these first ineffective seine attempts are made in the target pond right when you wish to collect fish, it can alarm the fish population making them harder to catch.

If you can get some practice in well before your collection efforts, or in a different BOW, I think it would pay off with increased catch numbers.

Delta nets are good, but 1/8"mesh is gonna be a bear to pull. It'll catch weeds, and will almost pillow the water being pushed in front of it. If you can feed the fish in a consistent area, you might set up a net corral, and pull one end to the bank and close the corral. I believe EWest has info on that. Pulling one end to the bank is gonna be much easier than pulling it from side to side.

I would also take Theo's advice to practice, and be patient, with your crew. I've made too many pulls, and I was often glad I didn't have a rock to throw at a helper.

I forgot to mention - we always wear live preservers (or PFDs, if you prefer) while working in the pond. Possibly being snagged by forgotten structure is one reason, but falling down just from your feet sticking in muck is enough for me. YMMV.

Thanks everyone for the excellent advice.

I've used one before but it's been several years, we will be doing some practice runs in other waters.

We process our own beef and pork so have plenty of heavy duty rubber gloves.

Have PFD's as well, just sold the seldom used Ranger Bass boat today to pay for this new pond management addiction. Wish I would have found PB before the pond was built.

Have lots of work to do to improve it to meet my goals.

I think those gloves are too bulky to handle slippery fish.

When I helped Snipe transfer fish he wore thin gloves like "hospital gloves". There are several different types of those, but I can't recall the exact style/material.

Maybe he just rinsed off the tiny bit of talcum powder in the pond before handling the first fish?

One method. Put out net in feeding area. Once they get use to the net feed and pull in. It is hard in my experience to net adult fish with a seine - too fast and wary.

Thanks Rod I'll try them out while fishing to verify they work.

Ewest, Thanks for the information. I feed about 9 am and 7 pm and plan to do this during my evening feeding after BG activity has stopped and I only see CC feeding. I'm sure it varies but how long does it usually take for them to get used to it? I'm thinking it would cause issues (Turtles and fish possibly getting caught) if it's left in too long.