Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding Feed question/advise

I've read the forum and know there are a bunch of different feeds I can get. I've been feeding a commercial food from Rural King with a pic of a catfish on the front of it (don't know the name). No one in the pond likes it and hardly anyone will eat it anyway and I'm tired of chopping up meat everyday and chasing after and catching grasshoppers and buying bread and digging worms. I'm going on strike and will no longer be the fish woman slave. They have worked me to the bone all summer and each fish has his/her own likes and dislikes and I don't know how it has crept up on me but I seem to be managing a restaurant with a full itemized menu and I have to remember what each fish likes and dislikes and feed accordingly. I'm done. Tomorrow I'm going to order Purina SOMETHING. I have bass, bluegill, a few redear sunfish evidently, one catfish that I know of, some snapping turtles and some snakes. The snakes and turtles can eat what I buy or tough it out. I'm not pandering to them either anymore.

Please help me make a decison on which food to order - we do have a store that sells Purina products but I haven't seen any fish food. Thanks
Cam -

Gamefish Chow because it is mixed sizes for all size fish.

+1. If your Purina dealer doesn't carry it they can order it.

Thank you both - the fish however, may not agree ;c)

I bought Gamefish Chow today and threw it out for the fish to eat. The fish weren't impressed at all. I had asked before I went to get it if it was fresh and they said yes. After I got it home and opened it though I find it's dry as a bone. I think I read on another thread this is supposed to be oily? I called the store back and they said they have a Purina catfish chow that is oily they would trade me. Should I try this? Thanks again. I'm so glad I found this forum.

No, don't trade it in. Spend some time training your fish by presenting feed same time of day, every day for a while. Some people spend months, or even a year training fish, so don't give up. You can check the freshness by looking at the date on the bag. The shelf life is approximately 3 months during the warmer time of year, and a little longer during the winter.

Good luck.

I've been feeding fish food but not regularly for a few years until this summer. They just don't like it that well (at all). They are hungry and will eat but they just don't like the commercial food that I had and was hoping the game fish would be the ticket but it's as hard and dry as the other feed I had. I guess I was hoping the Purina would taste better or something. They will gobble bread and other food like crazy. Just today I finally got my most stubborn, skinniest, bass to eat something that wasn't alive (he only has taken anything at all from me just once before). I had to trick him like you trick a 3 year old kid with a tepee sandwich but it worked... I made a video of the big trick and put it on my little pond journal today and I'm going to try to put it here. How much is one bass supposed to eat anyway? He ate six hot dogs by himself today.
<embed width="448" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" src="http://i232.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid232.photobucket.com/albums/ee58/bassponder/Meanandleanhotdog2.flv"></embed>

whoops...

The video is proof that your fish can be trained to eat. GFC is dry not oily.

Bassponder, you are a nut. The world could use more like you.

Dang, and I just today in my journal said no one on this forum made fun of me - at least in public. lol

Hey - old ladies need hobbies too. I could be out pushing a shopping cart and watching soap operas!

Well, you made it to 18 posts before it happened. Keep it coming!

I would stop feeding the meat and live bait for a while and only offer the pellets. I have noticed that when we offer a large number of crickets/hoppers in the feeding area before giving them pellets the fish will be reluctant to eat the pellets because they are waiting for something better. I don't think it's because they are full since they will still attack any extra crickets offered. It's like filling up at the salad bar before the steak arrives. If they realize that it is pellets or nothing I think they will feed.

Also I have noticed our fish seemed the like aquamax500 better than the game fish chow we were feeding. Often when feeding the GFC the fish would take a pellet, swim below and spit it out. I have not seen them do this with aquamax. However it is twice the price of GFC.

My fish definatly like the Aquamax better. Aquamax is oily and smells pretty good. GFC is dry but also smells ok. Some of my fish seem to perfer the GFC, I think because its more boyant or the color, but the sunfish around the dock fight to get the aquamax while the GFC sits, they eventually eat it but the aquamax goes first. If I only put GFC, they eat it. Try the aquamax...heheh why not you tryed everything else.

The one fish I just got to eat in the past couple of days hasn't eaten anything at all from me all summer long or ever for that matter although he shows up almost every day. Except for one bass and some bluegill none of the others have ever eaten any of the commercial food in three years that I've been watching and only this summer have I just started to feed meat and bread and throw some hoppers in that I can catch from the banks. So I guess in three years they'd rather eat nothing (well they eat other fish I guess) than eat that feed and that one poor skinny bass that is such a poor hunter would rather starve to death than eat what he sees me throw out every day - until 2 days ago.

I don't care how much the aquamax costs - it can't cost more than meat - especially when you add up what the venison and wild turkey I feed them a lot ends up costing in the end. Is Aquamax a Purina product also and if not would I be able to order it from any feed store or just certain suppliers?

Thanks for answering!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Never mind. I found it. I'll call and get it ordered tomorrow. I guess I'll order the 500? Medium size?

Just so you know....anything smaller than 500 is a slow sinking feed. Some of the 400 will stay afloat just because they are so small that the surface tension of the water keeps them up for awhile.

Bruce thanks again. I bet I'm driving you all nuts and now I've put a link to this forum on my little journal page there might be more nuts trickling in - you poor guys. Now I guess I'm confused. I want the feed to stay up there as long as possible right or not? So which would be the best choice for mostly bluegill and some bass?

You're definitely NOT driving us nuts.

I'd start with the 500. That's what I feed my bluegill. Bluegill of all sizes will utilize it, however once you train them you can shift to the 600 because it's more efficient for the fish. Way more calories per swipe.

Oh yeah? Just you wait... I haven't jumped over to the aeration section yet and started pestering but was just over there reading things that you wrote. I'll get over there eventually then you'll be sorry.

And I do have another piece of property that has NO pond... Oh I have a place for a HUGE pond over there! Heh heh just think of all the questions I could ask if I decided to do that! Why I could put a regular lake over there! lol

You know I spilled about 5 lbs of that fish feed I got from Rural King in the driveway about a week ago and thought the night critters would clean it up. Not even the skunks and racoons and possums will eat it. As far as I can see not even a mouse has been near it. No wonder the fish won't eat it...

And while I'm in the feed section. Could I ever put enough fathead minnows in my pond to have a self replacing colony? I put about $30 worth only in a couple months ago but I don't think they lasted long. I seem to have a lot of baby bluegill but I still have a skinny bass. Are there some bass that are just lousy hunters?

Thanks again

Bassponder, if you'll put in an automatic feeder it will dramatically increasee the "fish feeding learning curve".
Use Purina AQMX as suggested and increase to 600 pellet size as Bruce reacommneds.

Your fish will be waiting at the dinner table when time for feeder to go off...

Changes in fish populations based on natural morts (deaths from all sources other than humans/fishing) and reproduction can take a while. From the limited info I would guess that your BG have been eating the food (you can't see it much of the time) and their feeding/eating (improved condition) has increased their spawn - thus the "lots of small/baby BG" but the LMB condition does not reflect the increased forage base yet as the BG are still small (less than 3in). A very important Bill Cody point that is not considered enough - feeding with out maintaining population balance by removal often results in higher biomass of small hungry fish not a population of bigger better conditioned fish.

Thanks. I guess I need to give you more info then: I didn't know what was in my pond until this year when it cleared and I'm guessing it cleared because of the lack of rain so it wasn't heavily fertilized from the runoff? Now I can see in the shallow end (which is REAL shallow this year) so am able to get a better idea of just who is down there lurking. Until this year I didn't even feed regularly enough to even make a difference (1 time a week maybe a handful and never in winter)and even until the last few months I bet I only threw out about 1-2 cups of feed a day (which mostly floated forever). Even now I only throw out about a cup or two and if half gets eaten by fish I'd be surprised although a couple snapping turtles seem pleased. I can look straight down at the fish and see them all clearly so I know what they are doing and eating. The one skinny bass is about one inch longer than a cement block and I've watched him hunt for hours at a time - he's just terrible at it. He can be surrounded by bluegill of all sizes, strike every which way and still not catch a thing. The other bass catch!

I don't get around very well and right now I probably spend an average of 3-4 hours a day back there sitting under my umbrella looking down into the pond so I do get to observe a LOT and I have to tell you that whoever said ponds are tranquil is someone that doesn't spend much time at one as my pond is about as tranquil as Grand Central Station.

Until I started feeding a caught grasshopper or two, I didn't have much action at all. Then the pond started clearing a bit and I got encouraged enough to start experimenting a bit and I did find food they would eat (just not commercial food). They will eat some bread and meat and I will be trying the Aquamax.

Now I see I have many bluegill from about 10 inchers to tiny little ones that just look like eyes with tails and every size in between. I have bass that range from babies up to about my largest is one and a half the length of a cement building block and a lot are about the length of a cement building block or a little bigger. Only one looks real thin (but he doesn't anymore).

I don't know how many fish I'm supposed to have but I'd like to take some of the real big bluegill out as I suppose that's about as big as they get and they are ready for harvest. Now if I can just get my family to believe they need to stand BACK from the bank when they cast they might be able to catch them. No one seems to believe that my fish SPOOK big time and they will disappear in an instant if they see someone cast out there.

I did have a funny looking fishing bird for awhile out there this summer and I'm sure he got his fill but he would beat feet whenever I arrived. Took me forever to find out what he was because he wasn't maturely feathered so wasn't black.

I think I'm going to lose all my fish when the weather changes anyway as I almost have no pond left except the big giant hole and that probably doesn't have oxygen. The pond is about 17 feet in the deepest part when it's full but now who knows. I have no elec source back there anyway. I think my pond is down about 3 feet and I'm feeding in just inches of water in the shallow part now. There were some larger catfish that used to live in there when I bought the place but each year I noticed a few dead at the end of the summer and I saw one that I thought was eating off the top and acting funny about that time (gasping for air I guess). I didn't know why until this year when I started taking an interest. I even thought of putting in the paddleboat and paddling around but I'm afraid to stir up the water at all.

Bassponder, I used to feed my fish bread but it got messy with moldy bread and bags everywhere. Several times in the past I tried fish food and the fish wouldn't eat it. Eventually I put some feed in a bucket and soaked it for about 15 minutes (don't put too much water or the food will become one solid mass) then fed it to my fish. And what do you know the fish started eating it once it had softened up. You might try that trick to get the fish feed trained.

Bassponder, I don't think you are crazy but I read your posts to my wife and our bellies and jaws are still hurting from laughing so hard. I wish my wife took so good of care of me as you do your fish. (I just read this to my wife and now I am in trouble, she just mumbled something about going outside and getting me some grasshoppers.)

How large is your pond? I know the feeling of the effects of a bad drought, this is the first year in several we have had a normal rain fall.

About the feed. My spoiled tom cat loves it when I feed him tuna and salmon and sniffs and sticks his tail up in the air and walks away when he is returned to dry cat food, but when he gets hungry enough he will eat it. (And that's good because when you can eat real good tasting food all the time you get fat like me) I think the other posts are right don't feed them other things for a while and eventually they will eat the dry stuff.

NEDOC on this site has started feeding a Purina largemought food to his fish. He said it took a long time for the lmb to take it but they have started now, and they weren't trained as babies to eat it. You may want to search for a string of posts with aquax largemouth bass food in it.

You must be such a nice lady. Most peoples partial solution to feeding your catfish and turtles would be to shoot the turtles and let the catfish eat them. That is what I do. As far as the snakes I leave the non-poisonous ones alone, but even though I dont intervene I think the catfish on their own pretty uses the same solution on them if they arent too big. In fact I would think Mr. Meanandlean would find a small snake as a tasety snack.

Good to have you here, keep the posts coming!

Best luck,

Bill

Bassponder, I DO think you are crazy. I just happen to like crazy.

Thank you very much. I will try.

George I bought a Moultrie feeder a few months ago and it probably works just fine for what it does but it only feeds at dawn and dusk. Maybe they have something I can buy to change that I dunno. I haven't been using it and anyway part of what I love about my pond is getting to feed :). I watched my fish a long time and scheduled my feeding time at what time my bass were most actively hunting bluegill and insects and in my pond that was between 12PM - 2PM. I always assumed they hunted real early and late as I've been told that all my life but not my bass - they forgot to set their watches and that's what time they prefer to eat so I oblige. I've been real busy the last couple days so haven't been able to order the 600 yet but thank you so much for the advice.

Bill, make sure she coats those grasshoppers in chocolate and you won't notice a thing... Shoot - if my sweet, patient, kind, loving, etc., etc., hubby knew what I was slipping out of the freezer to feed to my fish (his hard earned hunted venison and turkey sometimes) - nah I just took some that was freezer burned... well sorta ;).

To answer the question on size. My pond is under an acre - probably between 3/4 to one.

On the turtles. I have caught some of the snapping turtles and relocated them and I'll probably move more of them. I have to be real quiet and sneak to catch them and it's pretty hard because I use a hand net and lay it down in the water and stay REAL still until one comes for food. While you are waiting of course there are always several bugs crawling up your back and down your underwear, a mosquito landing on your eyelid, a horsefly biting your ankle and a few drops of sweat dripping down your face and into your burning eyes just to test your mettle. I put the food in the net and when he gets in then I raise the net. You have to have a LOT of stealth and patience for that. Treachery is something you learn well in old age however so I'm usually successful...

On the snakes: I think I only have one catfish in the pond and it's not very large. I don't have any real small snakes that I can see and the smallest I've seen is about 2 1/2 feet. Meanandlean the bass would snatch a small snake in an instant as the worms I have fed him are up to ten inches which is probably why I don't see any small snakes in my pond. I think a pond side funeral service may be in order for my little snake Hotdog however as today I found small prints all around his cement block house. The water has dropped even lower and the blocks aren't even in water any more. He wasn't around today. I think the racoons got him last night I hope not poor little guy.

What about a solution on the aeration problem? I think it will be really, critical this year as I don't have that much water. I thought about even putting in the paddle boat but I'm afraid to stir things up at all. I have no idea where I can get a paddle wheel aerator? Isn't that the only kind that actually puts air into the pond rather than just moving the water around?

Thanks so much everyone for not kicking me outta here YET.

Cam

HEY!!!! I come from a long line of crazy women... why stop at my mother's generation?

Hi Cam:

How did you get that little box with my post to you inside your post to me?

"Treachery is something you learn well in old age however so I'm usually successful..." I'm 55 so I'm getting there.

I'm not one of the smart people on here. So I know nothing about aeration, except I have never needed to and if I ever did need to I would conclude I had way too many fish and let nature take its course. Too much trouble and expense for me to even think about. But I think they have fountain kinds too that squirts the water up into the air. But really you need to do a search because I know there is a lot of information here about aeration but I not the one to ask advise. In fact I am pretty much a novice about everything. I was naive enough to think you dig a hole in the ground, it rains, water comes in, you stock the water hole with fish and then you dont do anything but catch an eat them. Yeah right! But have hope I've only been on this for about 2 weeks or so and I have learned a lot. I spend hours reading old posts. But I experience a similar situation as you are the last three years, with last summer being the worst.

Last three years my pond went down 8 or 9 feet. It looses about a foot a month without rain on average, parial evaporation and seepage I guess. I have been told in Texas in the summer evaporation is about an inch a week. I got lots, and lots of willows and I think they cause a bunch of water loss. I went about 6 to 8 months without any run off to speak of in each of those years. Just light showers that soaked into the ground. My pond was just a little over half it's normal size by the time it got to ground water level and then just stayed there until we finally got a good rain. The thing is it only take a good bar ditch running rain for a day to fill it up even when it is that low. And that is about all I got is one a year. The first few years I had it it trickled an overflow 8 or 9 months a year.

I had a whole lot of fish in a little area. I didn't feed or fertilize or anything but put more brush where my fathead minnows and other little fish would have some spawning area's and cover. All the other stuff I had put in was high and dry. I still had about 10 or 11 feet of water in that area because it is pretty much a pit that was dug out with an excavator because they hit ground water at about 3 or 4 feet when they built the pond and then they just rounded it out around the pit and built the dam. The water stay a nice clear green (nicer, clearer and prettier than when it is full because the base of where it hits ground water is sugar sand).

I never had a fish kill. But I sure have a heck of a lot of stunned BG or GSF or whatever they are now. Still lots of big catfish, I think they all made it. I had no bass and that was lucky I think. I have pictures of my pond and a description of it under Family Pond Talk or something like that the name of the post is Pond in a Bog if you care to learn more. The think is every pond is differnt and maybe you should aerate. I just know that feeding could effect water quality so be careful.

Is your pond still an 3/4 an acre in area? How deep is it. Is what is left pretty steep?

When I read your posts it seemed you had a name for each fish and didn't expect you to have that large of a pond.

Well sorry I couldn't help more, but sometimes when I read about other peoples experiences it helps me to get an idea on what is similar to my situation, what is different, and what I should do.

Hope to hear more from you, and good luck.

Bill, when you go to answer a post you see at the bottom it has a bunch of little boxes? One says "quote" and if you hit that one it will put everything in a box so it will be more understandable what and who you are answering.

You are way old enough to learn treachery as you are older than I am. Maybe it's just an inherited trait though and something you just won't be very good at if you haven't learned it by now. Get an old broom and hold it in your hand and then try to practice it around Halloween for optimal results. I will warn you though that women are usually better at it than men so it may be you will fail anyway.

I can't possibly name all my fish and don't really know how many I have. I only name some of them and those are the ones that stand out in some way. They may be marked differently or act a bit odd or be a regular to a spot or a little larger than the rest. Whatever the difference is they stand out and get a name. Most of the bluegill I just call, "Dinner" and I just try not to look them in the face too hard.

I have read and read the aeration posts. It's exhausting trying to figure out what exactly is best for a given pond or a given situation as there are so many factors to consider. I also threw some trees in for my little fish this year and I raised the pond level a couple feet 2 years ago - which presented me with another problem I have to figure out. I'm still not sure if all that is left is so steep. One one side it is for sure but maybe not on the other side. It's does look like it's slanted and I guess it goes down probaby about 13 -14 feet now that the water level is so low. I think it used to be 17 foot at the very deepest but that was just in one little place. The pond has never been a nice clear green but I hope to make it like that in the future. It's fed a lot from run off and I used to cut the grass all around it. I suppose the clipping were ending up in the pond. Anyway, I want to figure a way to where the water isn't so "fertilized" This is the fisrt year I've been able to see anything at all in the pond and I'd love to be able to keep it nice - even now it's not really all that clear it's just shallow... I'm going to go look at your pond photos now - keep practicing treachery...

Cam:

I hope this response isn't too general to be of any use.

If you actually have a need (or even just a concern) to provide short term emergency aeration, O2 can be added to the water with outboard motors, mowers/bush hogs on tractors, trassh pumps splashing water from the pond back into it; any number of means to churn up the water. On a small pond, emergency horizontal aeration could even be done with a trolling motor and battery (although I'm not sure emergency horizontal aeration would always be a good idea).

You might want to start a thread under aeration, giving your questions concerning it and details about the pond - size, depth, age, surrounding areas (trees, IIRC). I have been able to glean that electricity is not immediately available at the pond. Do you have access to electricity farther away from it? Long term, aeration can be sent to the pond via a pipeline for the air.

Thanks Theo, I'll go over to the aeration section with this. I think I have a problem with oxygen content in there but am so ignorant of anything having to do with ponds even though I've been reading I just am having trouble sorting it out. I know it's kinda funny but I suffer from oxygen deprivation myself so have a fuddled brain - ain't that a kick? No really! Anyway, I used to have a really good functioning brain but now it's hard to follow certain things and math I don't even try - hence the size of my fish are measured by how big they are in relation to cement blocks. Well, away I go over to aeration...

Tell me about it. I hit a mental wall at 2:00 PM today - I realized everything I'd done in the previous 1/2 hour was all hosed up and I couldn't figure out how to fix it without starting over from scratch, with no guarantee I'd do any better the second time. I moved on to another task and will try and fix that stuff tomorrow.

Thanks about the instructions on posting.

Well best of luck Cam. It dosn't sound too bad. I don't know what clarity you want but it probably wouldn't be good to have it too clear. It isn't soupy or anything is it? Do you have lots of ducks or geese?

What is the reason you think you don't have enough DO? I think Theo is right start a post and give lots of information about your pond.

I'd give it a few weeks before I gave up on the pellets, and you're doing real well getting Meanandlean to eat hotdogs. BTW when I was in the Army we had to yell over and over we were mean green lean fighting machines. I bet he is green. Maybe you should add another word to his name.

Good luck,

Bill

All you have to do when that happens is take your power nap and you won't have to start over

Cam

No ducks or geese Bill. My pond is fed by a lot of run off though and maybe it;s getting too much fertilization that way? Seems too green and most of the time the clarity is inches. The last years it was probably only a couple of inches. Now it isn't bad but we haven't had the rain and it's real shallow. It's turning a bit brownish on one end.

I think I probably don't have enough DO just because of how the pond is shaped, no water running thru at all this year, shrinkage of the surface and the past years fish kill with much more surface area and more water. Anyway I took it over to aeration.

If you were a lean mean green fighting machine I guess you were long gone before they switched to camo. I guess they are lean, mean,invisible fighting machines now?

Cam

Bassponder.... I just watched your vids on your web page...! There great hahah I love Lean and Means Hot dog trick. It belongs on Americas funniest animals or something.

Yes long before camo, and long gone since I was lean

I was desperate Joey! That poor fish was starving even though he was surrounded by bluegill. I would see him hunting for hours using calories and expending energy that he sure couldn't afford and he'd always try to catch the 1-2 inch tiny fish even though he's by far big enough to get big bluegill. He can't catch a thing... He'd stop by where I sit and just look up at me for long periods of time. It was heartbreaking I tell you. The other bass look good but he looked like a super model ready for Halloween. Why Meanandlean was so thin he made those starving boney news stand photos of Nicole Ritchie look like the picture of health. He swam around just fine and didn't look sick other than being skinny and he was certainly alert but gawd what a skeleton... I can't help thinking that maybe he got finned in the mouth or something a few times by taking a bit bigger bluegill and he won't take them anymore. I don't know...

Well, in just one week (or less) look at him now! Isn't he the cutest fish ever now? He did start giving me a bit of a problem yesterday and ended up leaving disgruntled but I hope we have it worked out.

Dare I ask Cam, how did he give you a bit of a problem? And what made him go away disgruntled?

Did you try to give him a hotdog without a night crawler attached?

Bill

Well Bill, it's like this. The pond was icky from the wind blowing every bit of anything right over to where I feed so I couldn't see very well to begin with. The bass and the larger bluegill were mostly hanging back a ways as the pond is just inches deep now where I feed. Everyone was half spooked as there were birds flying over from time to time and the wind was up. I was antsy over all that and the fish were too. Meanandlean and a buddy he brought with him were right up front making pitiful faces. I was feeding him hotdog worms but he started to look all crafty like and then realized those weren't REAL worms at all... The little creep quit on me and the water was littered with fake worms. By that time all the other bass had been fed and left and I was just hanging out for about an hour I guess looking at the pond and making mean faces back at Meanandlean. Meanandlean was busy sitting right at the bank training his buddy in the fine art of pitiful starving face making while a plentitude of bluegill swam around them... I was a bit upset at them both and started throwing chunks of hotdogs all around the little creeps (and at them if the truth be known). Of course Meanandlean you can hit right on the ole noggin with a hotdog and he won't even flinch. I thought at least it would make the bluegill get right in his face and he might take one. Well, the bluegill swim around him anyway but don't normally go too awfully close to his mouth. I kept this up for awhile and lo and behold if ole bonehead didn't take a chunk of hotdog! He took three chunks in all, gave me a dirty look, then turned around, swished his tail at me in an ugly way and swam off to the depths... I feel I've won a major battle and he's on his way to eating. I think I'll start putting commercial fish food inside chunks of hotdogs... I still have a long battle to go but I'm determined to win. I wonder if he'll show today - it's time for me to go down there now. They will be waiting - the monsters...

BP, this is a great story. Please keep us updated on how meanandlean progresses with his feeding. Maybe next year you can graduate him to Aquamax LargeMouth. My HSB are starting to prefer that over Aquamax 600. And I think there are a few LMB mixed in with the HSB. Feeding fish is the best part of having a pond.

Cute story. And I agree with the above, Feeding Fish is so rewarding. I can sit on the dock for hours, just watching them in the pond. Do keep us updated.

Shame on you Cam, tricking and upsetting that poor fish!

Cam you are such a nice lady, or you are crazy like the others say. However, I like to think the best.

Did you read the post about a LMB that looked like he was straving and had a bunch of plastic baits lodged in his digestive system and couldn't digest any food.

Perhaps you should inspect Meanandleans digestive system. That would cure his anorexia the same way Caligula cured his nephews cough by having his head cut off.

Well just an idea.

But I did guess right. He got mad at you because you gave him hotdogs without worms attach!

Keep them coming. I got a friendly GH starting to get within just a few feet when I feed, but the fish, except FH's and tinsy BG, still keep their distance several feet away and keep their heads under water except for a few vacuum cleaner CC.

Inspect his digestive system??? AGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! He's so entertaining I couldn't possibly do that! I'm still trying to get all these acronyms right on the different types of fish. I know the LMB and the BG but the GH and FH and the CC? Sometimes when I read them and I don't know what they are I like to make up my own names for them FH = Fanning Hulafish GH = Gargantuan hermosafish CC= Carniverous Cuttlemonster

You know Bill, I don't know if I'd want a Gargantuan Hermosafish anywhere near my hands when I feed... You may want to rethink that... Now the Fanning Hulafish seem altogether different - I'd let them come on in without a worry in the world.

I started "loading" my hot dogs yesterday for the bass and it works for some to a point:

'CC= Carniverous Cuttlemonster' --

That made me giggle for several minutes.

GH is for Green Heron, GBH, is for Great Blue Heron. I made the same mistake with Theo. The bird acronyms are below the fish ones. CC is channel catfish. I missed that one too once. FH = fathead minnow.

Your fish names are making my head hurt! I didn't get much sleep last night because I had to do an emergency search to purchase a kayak for a turle trapping and tagging expedition down the Sabine River that I was invited on last night. No free boat space and too many fallen trees to get my john boat through. Tomorrow I am going to pick up some 1lb lmb and 6"+ CNBG. I think my wife is going to make me catch and eat grasshoopers to save money and redeem my spending on outdoor type activities. 1lb+ cost about what Alaskan crab legs cost. On well I have heard they have been eating grasshoppers in Arabia for thousands of years.

How is Meanandlean doing? Has he forgiven you yet?

[/quote]

GH is for Green Heron, GBH, is for Great Blue Heron. I made the same mistake with Theo. The bird acronyms are below the fish ones. CC is channel catfish. I missed that one too once. FH = fathead minnow.

Your fish names are making my head hurt! I didn't get much sleep last night because I had to do an emergency search to purchase a kayak for a turle trapping and tagging expedition down the Sabine River that I was invited on last night. No free boat space and too many fallen trees to get my john boat through. Tomorrow I am going to pick up some 1lb lmb and 6"+ CNBG. I think my wife is going to make me catch and eat grasshoopers to save money and redeem my spending on outdoor type activities. 1lb+ cost about what Alaskan crab legs cost. On well I have heard they have been eating grasshoppers in Arabia for thousands of years.

How is Meanandlean doing? Has he forgiven you yet? [/quote]

It's going to take me 100 years to remember all the acronyms... Surely there is a list somewhere I can refer to. You are going to trap and tag turtles? What kind of turtles? What for? I'd hate to try to pull a big ole snapping turtle up into a kayak I didn't know 1lb LMB cost so terribly much..

I have to figure out what I need to take out of my pond for the winter so everyone will have enough to eat. I am noticing that the baby bluegill population that was so heavy is now diminishing. There are still a lot but not a lot of the tiny ones anymore that were down in the end I called the nursery. Maybe I need to take out fish but WHO comes out? GULP

I dunno about eating an ole yucky grasshopper even if you plant them on a stick and double dip them in chocolate and put candy sprinkles on top. My fish seem to like them awfully well except for the brown ones which they will spit out for some reason. Maybe if you HAVE to eat them just try to stick to the green ones. Ole Same Bass who lives on the other side of the pond from Meanandlean likes those. I lived down in South America for awhile and saw some unappetizing things eaten. I ordered some soup in a restaurant once and one of the words on the menu was unfamilar. Found out later I had eaten Guinea pig - oops...

I did a real stupid thing yesterday and I thought it would set me back for awhile with ole Meanandlean but I got lucky and it didn't. We are working on our gray water line and have a bunch of big 9-10 inch worms and I took a few to the pond. I thought I'd give the old bonehead a treat... Duh After working so hard to get him to take food I went and gave him a few worms.. Of course that was it for him for the day...

I'm not posting today to my little pond journal because not much happened down there today but Meanandlean did eat and he ate well and he ate chunks loaded with fish chow. I'd like to get some of those big bass food chunks (I forgot what the name of them are?) that are new to try. I think they're about the same size as the hotdog chunks and I think it'll be an easier transition for me to make to get them to take. I'll probably have to soak them to make them soft but I think I can pull it off.

Enjoy your trip down the river and take lots of photos and share them!

...when in doubt, hit the archives, page 3 .
-
one for the hotdog lady!

Thanks Brett - sometimes it's kinda hard to wade thru and find just what you are looking for but you do learn an awful lot on the journey though I must say. Guess my mission this morning, if I choose to undertake it, will be to find out if the big feed LMB chunks are now available and also how many fish I should have and how big in my pond. Not that I'm taking out anyone I have named... I hope I can keep at least ten of my 15 inch plus bass. I think that's about all I have that large - maybe not that many. And I only have ONE that's real big - well at least big to me! I don't really know how big she is but she's a lot longer than a cement block! She almost never comes up close though I see her almost ever day from a distance and I only have one decent photo of her. She does look right up at me though and check me out. She's also the only one that eats the commercial food without any tricks. If I throw anything else (like hot dogs)in her direction she runs off. Bet she won't ever be caught with a lure! I named her La Torpeda because she looks like a big ole torpedo out there shooting thru the water. She kinda makes my heart jump a bit - well not kinda - she DOES. Too bad I can't tame her. She's the Queen of the pond! This is La Torpeda - isn't she magnificent?

[img][/img]

Bill, I thought you'd like this updated photo of Meanandlean I took today. I was just taking photos today but when I came in and hooked the stick thing up to the computer and saw this one I had to add the caption. I'd definitely say it qualifies as feeding... Those little bluegill don't look fooled at all do they?

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BP, the largemouth food is called 'Aquamax Largemouth'. It is aobut 18mm in size and my bass have taken to it pretty well. Although not as well as the Hybrid Striped Bass. They are beginning to destroy it. Just contact a local Purina dealer and he should be able to special order you some if he tries hard enough. Of course, the fish feeding will begin to slow soon, so you may want to wait til spring.

Thanks. You are right of course and I'll wait until Spring to order. When should I quit feeding this winter - gosh I'm going to feel bad about that.

Is there anything I need to do to get ready for winter? Should I stock some more minnows or is it too late? Yesterday I saw a new batch of tiny baby fish around the edge of the pond and was wondering what they could be this late in the season?

I also caught two snapping turtles that I'm going to take and release this morning. This is the smaller one - isn't he too cute? Look how cute his little hands are. I didn't catch the turtles on purpose. I'm trying to catch something else and I hate it that they got on the lines but I may as well relocate them while I have them.

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They might be BG. My nephew netted a couple about 3/4" long on Saturday.

Yes he is cute Cam. Your fingers are cute also, do you still have 10?

Your fish will probably slow down and stop feeding as the water temp drops from 60 to 50 deg F. You should reduce the amount you are feeding when this happens and then stop at maybe 50 degrees. Stoppiong earlier is OK, too. Remember fish metabolism slows way down when it cools off (for LMB, a 50% drop for every 8 degree cooler), so they will need MUCH less to eat in the Winter.

My only concern was having my overdue manicure photo posted on the internet but, of course, I suppose it shouldn't be much of a worry with black pond scum, turtle poo, and stinky muck all over my hands...

I really should get down to the nail place today... I'll take a good photo of the larger one before I release him this morning. I ain't 'fraid of no snapping turtle! I'm an old lady and I didn't get this old and mean being afraid of every little creature that crossed my path. They aren't so bad - they just try to bite because they are afraid. I think I'd try to bite to if I were in his place

I haven't seen my BG on the nests in some time so I was real surprised to see these. They must have been hiding!

Thanks Theo - so what do they eat in winter down in there? I won't be able to feed at all from Dec thru Mar which is why I was asking about maybe stocking fatheads. Is it too late?

Cam

BP - they really shouldn't need much to eat from Dec thru Mar. There metabolism is so slow that they will get by on very little natural food. I wouldn't worry about it at all. I would be willing to bet the fish will quit feeding within the next month. Although my catfish seem to feed at any temp., which is not how it should be according to the text book.

Cam, the fish will tell you when they start slowing down on feeding requirements. They feed voraciously in warmer water, slow down in the Fall and quit during the winter. Listen real closely and back off on the hot dogs.

does anyone have a sweeney fish feeder and feed the aquamax? What is the largest size that will go through it? 400,500,600?

Do I detect pink nail polish on one hand and coral on the other? That's one of the most commonly committed faux pas here at the forum.

P.S. For DD's benefit, faux pas is not what dogs have.

[quote=Theo GallusDo I detect pink nail polish on one hand and coral on the other? That's one of the most commonly committed faux pas here at the forum.. P.S. For DD's benefit, faux pas is not what dogs have. [/quote][/quote]



Certainly NOT Theo! It MUST be a shadow! If I did my own nails there would be a 75% chance at some sort of wacky error but I do go the parlor.

The larger turtle I caught yesterday I had in a cooler on the edge of the woods intending to take him to the lake this morning. When I went to get him this morning he was GONE! Flew the coop! Climbed out! Adios! The great escape! He's probably made his way back to the pond by now. So I had only one to take down to the lake.

I had another one on a hook this morning and cut him off before I left but he's a keeper (Rocky). I've caught that turtle 3 times now and this will be the 3rd time to send him back. Maybe he wants to leave the pond... Now I've got him in the cooler on the porch and there he will stay until I can get the creature out of my pond. I don't want to catch that poor turtle again. Just how many hooks can he possibly pass? Anyone know how long it takes for them to dissplve or whatever they do? And why am I supposed to cut the line off 6 inches from his face and not flush? He looks pathetic with that line hanging out of his mouth like that.

Cam

It probably has something to do with the afore mentioned fingers.

Oh silly it does not They tell you to do that when a fish swallows the hook too. lol

Cam

"Maybe so" (as my Grandma always used to say), but I think I'll pay more attention to that 6" recommendation with a Snapping turtle than with a bluegill.

My turtle that I like, Rocky, I put in the kitchen last night because we have had a cold spell come thru. This morning I looked in the cooler and he has pooped a couple of weird "things" I thought maybe some of you would know a bit about anatomy. I am hoping these aren't innards... It certainly doesn't look like turtle poo or poo at all. I hope Rocky is OK. I might have to ditch the plans to catch the creature in the pond and pull in the baited lines and just throw him back. He hasn't eaten anything since I have taken him out. The line in his mouth has shortened considerably though and is now only about a couple inches hanging out of his mouth. Poor thing still has the hook digesting or whatever it does.

I sent the photo of what I thought were intestines to turtle experts and I'm pleased to report it is, indeed, turtle poo. Whew.

I can't catch the giant catfish using liver wrapped in pantyhose on lines thrown into the pond here and there evidently as I've been trying for days. I'll pull them all out today and put Rocky, with his new paint job, back into the pond. Hope the hook passes or dissolves or whatever. He hasn't eaten anything at all.

I don't know what I'll do about the huge catfish and I don't know how I could have ever missed him in there. He really must be hiding well from me. I want him out of there.

Have you tried using shrimp for bait?

No.

Please give me more info. What size hook? How deep? How big of a shrimp? Just regular shrimp from the grocery? I don't want to just throw it in and leave it anymore because I put Rocky (the turtle) back in the pond today and I'm not going to leave lines in over night. I can't take the chance I might catch that poor turtle again.

Thanks

Cam

Turtle recipes... Now tell me the truth. Would you eat this rare Snapper Painteramous Turtle? I think not.



Besides, he left this morning:



Now what about the shrimp? Just the ones from the grocery to catch the catfish?

You can use grocery store shrimp or "bait shrimp", the larger the better, I usually rig them on a kahle (sp?) hook.

Thanks Shorty.

Please don't anyone post on this thread anymore. It is way past time it diessssssssssssssssss. And I have to have the last word.

Cam

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