Pond Boss Forums PHOTO GALLERY Image Gallery Neighbors Pond with RES

Rod and reel sampling from fishing my neighbors pond last night.

Plus 4 more pictures from tonight, 3 from his pond, one from mine.

The very last picture is from my pond for comparison.

The smaller RES appear to be stunted.

I agree with you Shorty. What is your sense of the predators in this pond?

It was stocked with FHM 7-8 years ago, RES from my pond 5-6 years ago. The RES never wiped the FHM out and have co-existed well for quite some time. Last summer 43 8-10" HSB were stocked, these are the only predators currently in the pond. I was there for less than 30 minutes last night and didn't see a single FHM along the bank, in years past you would see lots of FHMs along the banks in the weeds. I'm guessing the HSB have greatly reduced the FHM population over the last year that the smaller RES were relying on. The pond is also very weedy, it has coontail and possibly chara. My neighbor has drug his feet stocking fish in his pond, he doesn't fish it or actively manage it.

What size is the pond?

At some point I see the smaller RES being food for the HSB. The HSB must focusing on minnows. The tangent we all went on with ESOX conversion last year taught me something I didn't know. Cyprinids are MUCH more energy dense than centrachids. 7524 j/g (common carp)as compared to 4186 j/g (BG, BCP, LMB, GSF). Hopefully, the HSB thin out a few of the little RES.

Pond is 1.1 acres. My guess is that the smaller skinny RES probably won't make it through the winter if they are in the same body condition this fall.

Stunted RES, now I've seen it all. Man, that first one looks likes its eyes are about to pop. HUGE eyes, tiny body. This has to be the result of a very low LMB population, right? RES spawn only once per year IIRC, so for them to stunt this badly, there's not much in there to thin them out.

I have RES.. No LMB. I have never seen a RES with eyes like that or that skinny. I'm being polite here but those suck.. :-))
I don't grow big RES but that is unreal..
Edit: some of those slightly larger look pretty nice over-all. BUT.. those little guys would never grow into their eyes if food showed up a plenty...It's like there was a time food was abundant for growth but now it's not. I know RES will hammer some FHM but I'm sure there are much wider dynamics at play here.

The pond is very weedy this year, the weeds are to the surface or near the surface out in the center of the pond and FHM are absent. A year ago those smaller RES were in much better shape, the FHM were abundant, and the pond wasn't as weedy as it is this year.

The other possibility is roundworms (Camallanus sp), one of the larger RES I caught had red, thread-like worms 🪱 extending from the anus.