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

I’ve never stocked BG, but I have stocked HBG and RES. I’m pretty sure I have some kind of cross. They are a continuous problem for me, as they aggressively go after swimmers. Every now and then I contemplate adding a LMB to try and cut down their numbers. But my SMB and YP numbers are doing well, I’m just not willing to gamble with the balance to maybe make it a bit more peaceful for swimmers.

IME catching BGxRES is just like catching BG.

RAH,

Thanks for the follow-up post about your management history.

I know you can't "prove" that your culling efforts are the cause of your larger fish sizes, but it sounds to me like your management plan is probably paying off!

Theo,

Is it easier to catch BG in your pond compared to pure RES?

Or are they similar when you specifically target the RES?

I catch relatively few RES compared to BG (pond 1) or BGxRES (pond 2), but I pretty much always am targeting the latter for population reduction and filets for eating.

Being recently retired, I may have the time to spend with less productive fishing pursuits now.

Same here on the RES.seems they hang out in 18” of water on sand flats , can be caught on chartreuse or white jigs or worms. Absolutely beautiful fish but hard to come by in my pond. May catch one or two a year of various sizes.

Went to the pond yesterday evening and paddled around before dark to catch some LMB for relocating and caught a few on top water up in the flooded timber area. One blew up on Pop-R and it felt like a stump till it took off running jumped once and threw the hook . That fish was a hog for sure over 8# what a way to end the evening!

I think I have lost more fish from topwater hook sets than any other type of fishing.

I have certainly snagged the most fish on topwater. I have even reeled in fish sideways where they had one hook near their pectoral fin and one hook near their tail. The first time I did that as a little kid, I thought I had a 5 pounder ... it turned out to just be a 1 pounder coming in sideways!

Been there done that. Pop-R regular with silver hooks suck! The plus variety has black hooks that will snag you while trying to unhook fish. I have caught the largest fish on top water. One well over ten pounds. Got in the water to release so not to damage her…..

I snagged a 7 lb channel cat in the back once. That was a heck of a fight.

You are allowed to snag paddlefish in Kansas.

The state record is 144#. I can't even imagine that fight.

Perhaps the guy was snagging with the winch line on his pickup?

Foul hooked the biggest LMB I have ever caught trying to rehabilitate our retention pond. 18.5" but a Rw of only 80%. Hooked with a rooster tail spinner in the tail. When I got he fish in hand the hook just fell out. Because of the size, I put that one back in the pond. I have fair caught a couple at 17" but with an RW of only 75%.

Brought in a 50lb spoonbill one night without too many problems (surf pole with 50lb test). The next one I hooked spooled me and popped the line when it got down to nothing. Sounded like a .22 going off. Never saw it but the weight and power was like nothing I've ever felt before... or since. Wish it would have surfaced just once to get a look.

They make 200# Spectra that is used for the big tuna with a top shot of 175 mono. That'd stop them from spooling ya!

That sounds like FUN!

Went paddling around in the upper end of pond in the standing timber and saw that the BG are spawning in masses, looked like craters on the moon.

I assume you had your blue tooth speaker sitting on the bottom of the boat and playing romantic music?

lol they don’t seem to need any outside stimulation….. full moon and that’s it .

Man the pollen is thick this year. Maybe it’s because we’ve finally had some moisture.
Also, the pond water is this weird mud color. Not sure why. We haven’t had rain for a week or so.

There are some types of brown algae. I believe they are typically diatoms.

Have you had a lot of low overcast days this spring? Sometimes bright sunshine will enhance the green algal blooms and lower light levels will enhance the brown algal blooms.

Might try a jar test on it when it is really thick just to determine the actual cause?

Thx. It must be a brown algae. The pond has had more of a green color for 10 years. I should check visibility also, but it’s minimal. Lots of the runoff comes from two fields that I recently switched from soybeans to CRP. They used to get regularly fertilized, not for a few years now. Maybe that changed the algae.
We have had a pretty cool, cloudy, and rainy spring. I may try to screen off some pollen. If I remember correctly, it floats around for a long time.

I waited a week to make sure everything ran flawlessly. It did, but that also came with sealing all the internal seams, windows,and riveted and siliconed all the factory solar panel screw holes that weren't used. I added the solar panel for the chicken door on the same side as the feeder's solar panel.



The door is easy to set with a provided red magnet, but I set the opening to accept a time change if needed. When I set it up at first, it wasn't working correctly. It took me a while to figure out that I had placed the magnet inside the feeder, and the attached magnet was causing the problem. When I pulled it off the feeder, the problem stopped.



Like our chicken coop, I clean and oil the lower door every month or two, so I left a paint brush for fish food dust, and a needle tipped oil container handy.

Yesterday went to my place, 2nd trip, after the extremely high winds and booming 6 inch rains. All 5 ponds FINALLY full after years of not enough rain. Had to get some big oak trees out that had busted and blown down into the big pond. Used a tractor and Jon boat. Other trees also down that will need attention and turned into firewood. A young fellow and his wife are heading there today to create firewood and get a little more junk out of the big pond.

That’s the trouble with to much rain is the tree problem. Glad your ponds are full …. It’s been a journey

Pat, rain is still oozing out of the hills and into a stream feeding the ponds.

Big nasty storm going just South of me now.