Pond Boss

Our pond’s a mess but the fish are great...

FA outrageous, water primrose out of control – but when feeder turns on, the feeding frenzy washes the scum away and the fishing’s great...

Two week tilapia stockers beginning to make a dent in FA but goats not on water primrose as yet – too much browse.

Anyone that has never caught 3 – 5 lb HSB on a 5 wt flyrod has a life changing experience ahead….!

I know no shame – pellet flies... :rolleyes:

Sounds like a blast.

Can't wait, George. Put my 9-10" HSB stockers in last weekend and it appears they all made the trip from Buffalo in good shape.
I am getting more topwater action next to my aeration bubbles in the evening. Could it be the HSB feeding on smaller BG next to the column of air bubbles?

I find that HSB like to hang out in deeper water around aerators - especially in hot weather.

By the way, this morning I transferred 2 more 2005 class 2# HSB, in addtion to 7, 2 pounders 3 weeks ago from un-aerated shallow"grow-out" pond, surviving last summer's record breaking - drought ridden heat wave
Who says HSB can't survive Texas summers???
:p

george, what little time I've had for fishing this Spring I've mostly been "population sampling" nearly pet status BG with worms. This would leave a bad taste in my mouth, but 1) I'm not even keeping up with the population growth of the eating sized BG and 2) the taste of the fillets from the culls wipes it right out.

What is there not to like about a sport fish that will not give up the fight?
A fish that will fight to her death deserves my respect…!

I violated Rule number one yesterday by fishing a DD1 pellet fly for BG with a 5wt fly rod and hooked into a 4.5#, 20 inch HSB that fought "til it died.
Respect for the fish that died fighting is what I call it…!
She took me all over the pond – best fight ever with a pond fish or any other
as far as I am concerned.

New pond rules:
8 – 10wt striper rods for main pond
5wt fly rods for 1/4acre HSB/BG pond.

I reminded myself that ours is a “put and take” fishery so OK to harvest, but the first one is difficult –until dinner tonight, that is…

I did have my first chance to examine stomach contents of a HSB tho - all AQMX pellets –no natural forage.

Whose quote was it, ML and/or Mark McDonald that said HSB “fight like a Banshee and good table fare to boot”?
Truer words were never spoken.

Great morning to test DD1's new pellet fly idea.

george, you wouldn't want to hook another big HSB on the 5wt? It sounds like fun.

DY, a 5# class HSB on a 5wt will give a fight of a lifetime - I had rather land them quickly on heavier tackle than to risk losing them.

We are fortunate to have a 1/4 acre HSB/BG "grow-out pond" for all takle fishing,in addition to main pond.
The "litle pond" is where my 5wt fly rod will come into play with 2-3# fish.

That makes sense. I didn't realize you wanted to release the fish.

Ok guys – listen up...
We have gone through periods of pond building, stocking, pond maintenance, troubleshooting, and problem solving. That's all-important stuff.
Hey, it's springtime and time for having fun.

How "bout some fish stories and pictures too?

Good idea george.

What have you got?

George I tried to do that Saturday but I was to busy catching fish to pick up the camera.

¼ acre HSB/BG ”grow-out”/ forage pond report.

I continue to catch 2-pound fat and healthy HSB from an unaerated ¼ acre pond that have survived two record setting, drought ridden, low water condition summers.

I caught two this morning that were 2005 class fish, having believed most of them had been “grown-out” and moved to main pond – or succumbed to “hot Texas summers”.
Three or four more of this class fish were observed

I release this larger class of fish to control current prolific BG spawn until the 2006 stockers are large enough to control the BG.

I am pleased to report 2006 class of “grow out “ fish are now feed frenzy trained.
I caught and transferred a couple of the 10 inchers to main pond his morning.

Over the years I have had more than my share of Texas white bass and striped bass fishing and know full well that they are tough, hard fighting fish, and find that their prodigy retain the same characteristics.

I am so happy with this litle pond I can hardly stand it...
Three months ago this pond was 5 ft low and over-crowded with HSB, CNBG, and RES that we didn’t even know existed...



Yesterday morning and this morning, I was rigging my tackle before daylight, and fishing the pond at first light.

Main objective was to catch and transfer “grown-out” HSB to main pond, which completed transfer of 30, 12-14 inch stockers from last 2006 class, and 17, 3+# class HSB from previous stocking.
I will leave the remaining 20 of the smaller and a few larger HSB to attempt to control prolific CNBG spawn.

Biggest surprise over the past three weeks are large numbers of feed trained RES caught between 5 and 10 inches.

Bonus fish of more than 20 Arkansas strain all male CNBG 8-10 inches have been transferred from main pond for fun fishing in little pond.
ALL smaller CNBG and all females will be removed from pond, in order to approach objective of predominate large males.
NO CC or LMB permitted.

Now that the 2-acre main pond is producing more pure Florida strain CNBG and the ¼ acre pond more Arkansas strain CNBG, it will be interesting to see which reaches the 12 inch mark first – if ever.
I don’t stand a chance to reach ML’s 13-inch CNBG mark, but don’t know if anyone else will either, except Condello...

Fabulous gene pool
Pure Florida genetics:
Tyler Fish Farm
Overton Fisheries

Arkansas genetics:
Arkansas Fish Stockers

ALL male Arkansas CNBG are being culled from main pond and transferred to ¼ acre “grow-out” HSB/Male CNBG/RES pond.
Female Arkansas strain CNBG are being released into hot grease... :rolleyes:

Life is Good...

It aint' about HSB, george, but it's sure about FISHIN'!

My daughter and I have been working on her 4-H Intermediate Fishing project, and Sunday it involved actual line wetting. We had great luck in only an hour, catching 1 RES, 29 BG (including an 8.5" immature male BG she landed that may have the best potential of any BG I have seen from our pond), and this pretty lady:



CC in my pond tend to be either silver/grey (females) or a dark battleship grey (males), but this female was a beautiful gold/green combination. Many BG we're catching this year are very similarly colored - I wonder if it is a pan-species camo adaptation to the prevailing water clarity this year???

Theo, it's probably a good thing your daughter caught this CC, without a tail end I would think it would have a hard time finding food, or even getting around. :p

VERY PRETTY LADY..

Hey Theo, tell us about the 4-H project. What does the project entail?

Originally posted by JHAP-

Yes, we'd like to know about the de-tails.

Knowledge of:
-different types of fish (open water speedsters, bottom feeders, etc.), what they eat, where they live, what their physical attributes are, and how all these fit together
-different places to fish (streams, ponds, bigger lakes) and where to find fish there
-how to handle fish after catching, both for C&R and for eating
-different kinds of fishing tackle and how to use them
-different ways to clean and cut fish (fillets, steaks, whole)

Activities such as (these are all ones she did):
-catching and cleaning fish (filleting the above CC and also BG)
-presentation to 4-H Club on how to clean and prepare fish (demo using "Bob", a 4 foot long BG pillow)
-raising and catching bait
-stream visit with information about the fish, watershed, and water quality of the stream (canoeing trip)

Documentation:
-Filling out Project Book, with information on the above sections
-Project Poster, showing the different species of fish in our pond and their purpose/niche there (still working on this one)

It all gets turned in tomorrow for (grading).

Outstanding!

-catching and cleaning fish (filleting the above CC and also BG...Looks like an ulterior motive for you.

What, no mouth gape vs. length lessons? Guess she'll have to learn that at home. Good stuff; kids and good, clean fun. Pretty catfish and fisherperson.

I'm with n_w_w, doesn't anyone think that's odd how the catfish looks like half a fish?

We had better pics of just the CC (ones where the tail actually showed!) but that was the best one of the fish, my daughter, and the scale readout, so it's the shot I kept.

No doubt it is a fine picture of Young Gallus.