Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Hook Shy Pacu?

I finally transferred my pacu to the main pond. Since there was no way I could net them without muddying up my minnow pond, I had to catch them on a bream pole. (it was a dirty job, but someone had to do it).

The wife volunteered to do the catching. We used a pellet on a #8 hook. It took all of 10 seconds to catch thr first one. It put up a pretty good fight. It weighed about 1 pound, and was a beautiful fish. Those vivid colors are arguably unmatched in any North American fish. Despite the disturbance and the missing mate, the No2 fish also bit imediately. I guess that tells me something about their feeding aggression. When released into the main pond, they were reluctant to swim out into it. They hugged the shore for several minutes, fins protruding from the weater, before disappearing into their new digs.

My minnow pond is now peaceful, and requires only a handful of feed.

No doubt about it, they are the most stunning freshwater fish I have ever seen. When they break water jumping when hooked, it is a sight unlike anything I have ever seen. The fight is as good or better than any other freshwater fish.

I went fishing last evening in my 1/4 acre TGG pond...caught 5 Pacu and since only 4 were stocked somebody was caught more than once. Every one of these fish have now been caught multiple times, and yet they come back for more. They continue to grow at an astonishing rate. This is one interesting fish.

Bobad, how about a contest to see who can catch their Pacu the most times in a season? I've got one fish that has now been caught 5 times in three months and weighs almost three pounds.

That is amazing. Imagine a 3 pound LMB that you can catch over and over and over like that. I had no idea Pacu were so catchable. I can't wait to get ours...that fish sounds like a blast!

I won't bite on that one ML. You have a big head start on me!

I will miss the watching the pacu feeding in the minnow pond every evening. I hope they soon start feeding with the fish in the main pond. My guess is they will show up and feed with the bream in a few days. They never met a pellet they didn't like!

ML, Bobad,
One thing you might consider is over feeding them, if that is possible, they are subject to radical swings of available food in the wild and can store quite a bit as fat. In your case they will feed a lot when the water is warmer and slow eating as it cools.

Rad & ML,

Well, they're already feeding today!


I went to the pond today, and was on the far end feeding the minnow pond. My wife was doing a hook-and-line "survey" on the floating deck, 450ft away. I happened to glance that way just as she hooked a pacu. Even from that great distance, I could easily see the vivid sunset red fish, and the wife's smile . That fish was caught just yesterday. I believe they either have no fear, or have a death wish.

Their nickname is "Little river pigs" in the amazon.
The fisherman there used to use a stick to splash the surface which the pacu responded to, thinking fruit had fallen in the water and they were then speared due to their size.

Its been about a month since I caught the Pacu "A" team. Been busy ranching...but today was kind of rainy and cloudy so I went fishing instead. The result: the Pacu "A" team in Nova pond is now verifiably 3.2 pounds and 3.75 pounds respectively.

This is now a serious fish...in just three months in this pond surpassing most of the HSB that have been in this pond for four years. It has moved past the ultra-light tackle stage...you won't catch these fighters on light lines and you better handle them with caution much like one would handle a serious saltwater fish.

This experiment started out as a search for a seasonal grass carp weed control replacement...but this isn't a grass carp in any shape, form, or function. It is a game fish, perhaps the equal of any in freshwater. This remarkable fish compares favorably with the great saltwater fish called a Permit. It is wide and thick and uses this shape to its advantage when hooked. A spectacular fighter that comes back for more and more.

There must be some downsides to this fish...it is eating something besides weeds to achieve this incredible growth. I suspect it is opportunistic and will eat anything it can get in its mouth.

They should be around 6 pounds by this fall and will probably be too large to carry over indoors into next year....but I intend to give it a try anyway. What a fish!

I'd love to see a photo. Did you have your camera handy?

ML,

We have now made 5 catches on the 2 pacu. I can't tell them apart, so I don't know how many times each fish has been caught. Haven't weighed or photographed them, but they look to weigh 1 to 1-1/4 pounds. Mine aren't real fighters, as they don't seem to realize they are caught until they are out of the water. That's when they really explode. We've been catching them on bream poles. I can't wait to catch one on rod and reel pretty far from shore.

At fish feeding time, I am seeing lots of minnows and an occasional small BG panicing and jumping out of the water, which I never saw before the pacu were put in.

My guess is, the pacu are doing some light snacking on weeds and maybe minnows, but getting most of their food at afternoon feeding time.

Go to the following link, posted earlier in this thread, for all of my Pacu pictures...scroll down past the GC to the July update for Pacu with the 3.75 pound fish.

http://www.meadowlarkponds.com/grasscarp.htm

Bobad, it may be that you are experiencing a behavior of repeatedly caught fish that I have observed/experienced...fish that have been caught many times before, sometimes they kind of just give in, seemingly knowing the outcome or maybe its a lack of reserve energy. On the great trout streams I've been fortunate to fish, I can tell quickly if a fish has been caught before, especially recently caught ones. Not to bore you with stories, but in the Texas hole on the San Juan River, just about every trout has been caught numerous times and the fight is nothing at all, but go downstream, away from the crowds and catch one and it is a completely different fish.

Today I was targeting large LMB...trying to see how large of a LMB I could catch on a very small minnow. Without going into the reasons for that, I'll just say I caught four LMB of 4 pounds, one HSB of 4 pounds, many LMB between 2 and 3 pounds, several "bull" CNBG, and three Pacu, two from the "A" team that I mentioned and one from the "B" team of about 2.5 pounds. The largest Pacu was the equal or superior to every single one of those fish, in term of fighting.

Please, let's keep comparing notes...there must be some bad characteristics of these fish that we haven't discovered yet, or someone would have already done what we are doing. If I lived in Florida or South Texas and didn't know any better than I know now, I'd sure have a Pacu pond. What a fish.

ML,
My youngsters were much like yours, fat. The hump and deep body near the anal fin are give aways. They are eating, as you said anything they can get in their mouth. I caught one on a rapalla.

This was November last year. They were upwards of seven pounds as of a couple of months ago.
The two downsides I have noticed are, that no plant is safe and they seem to communicate well, it took them a while to start doing so, but around a year old when any fish was caught they stopped biting. The only exception so far has been bottom fishing with cooked shrimp.
Don, the other Thai guy, said he would not stock them again, but didn't elaborate. I think it was the water plant issue.
Bobad, the first one we caught was about 8" long, on a grape, one of my pond rats was wadding and accidently dipped the grape in the water. The pacu inhaled it, scared the you know what out of the kid and he jerked it straight up out of the water, no fight in the water, but the fish and the kid were covered with dust and dirt by the time it got back in the water. Several months later I got the first one on rod and reel and it was as ML describes, it used its body and ran parallel to the shore and with that broad body was a tough fight, when it jumped, well you get the idea.

Rad and ML. I'm really jealous of those fish. They look like they cold kick some serious butt. Does anybody know what the upper limit of size could be in ponds like yours?

Dang, Rad, that was why I wanted to try this fish as a GC repalcement. Maybe they just don't like pond weed? Or maybe they need to be a little older? Or maybe there is just too much other food available for them? I just haven't seen much evidence...yet...of vegetative consumption in my ponds.

Are you able to contact Don? I'd really like to hear his experiences also especially as related to why he wouldn't restock them. I suspect their eventual size might be a factor(huge), but in my case, with cold weather coming in the future, these fish won't get much over 6 pounds, I don't think.

I don't know the upper limit in ponds, but I'm working on a fly fishing trip to Argentina which offers 60 pound Pacu on the fly. Interested in going?

I'll try Don's email. He said that he had caught a 12 pounder and his pond runs from 3 1/2 acres to 5 during the monsoon. I can't remember if it was 3 or 4 years old.
I read that they have been raised in home aquaiums up to 24" which for me will be 8 to 10 pounds.

I'll find out next year. I stocked my pacu a little late this year, but next year I'll stock at ~70F. I thing 6 Lbs is entirely possible given the usual warm water from early May-early October here. They seem to respond to "over feeding" with extremely rapid growth.

Still no sign of plant consumption, but my water is muddy, and plants are scarce.

Rad, if you connect with Don, tell him to come on and say hello to us. We haven't heard from him in a long, long time.

Bobad,

An interesting thing happened in my first stocking which really surprised me...I stocked my "A" team about April 1 in about 68 degree water temp this year mainly because I needed the open space in the hot tub. Around April 14 or so, we received an unprecedented snowstorm...grandchildren actually made snowmen for the first time in their lives... My water temps fell/plunged to 56 degrees. I fully expected the Pacu to die....but they didn't and as as we know they have actually thrived.

Any that I don't catch this fall, I plan to try to watch very carefully to determine what their fatal water temps are. I'd really like to hear what you may find along those lines also. I was told by aquarium experts that 60 degrees was the magic number...but they forgot to say "it all depends".

Will do Sunil, I was going to email earlier, but was reluctant to, he is a deminer by profession.

I've also been concerned about Don.
I sent him a supply of pellet hooks and materials and he replied - then he just dropped out of sight.

His is a very dangerous profession applied in a very dangerous part of the world.
I thank him for his srvice and pray for his well being.

All is well just got an emil from him, he will be back online in a few days.
He did say;
The large Pacu in my pond are in the 15 to 20 pound range and have been there almost five years.

"p.s. Ahvatsa, please let us know if you put some in your concrete tank...we've got to keep track of the potential members of RAD's Pacu club."
_________________________________________________

ML
I bought 6 and put in a holding tank at a windmill.(800 gal. pics will be posted later). There are 8 or so RES some FHs and a few goldfish. I put in an extra 50 small Rosys with them. I ocassionally feed some 400 max. Will see if they winter before stocking more.
Am I in RAD's club now?
I sent this to RAD quite a while ago. Turn on sound a nice experience.
http://www.asa100.com/

I watched it again, that guy is a much better photographer than I.
Keep an eye on the number of other fish in the tank, when hungry the pacu will eat anything. I think, not sure on this, but they should slow down feeding as temps cool, so you might consider fattening them up during your high temp time. They do get fat and in the wild, store it to live off of during lean times. Welcome to the club.