Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations A Pond Log by QA

Just a log entry on what I've done this spring for the record....

I am starting to see some decent feeding activity, nothing to be considered a "frenzy", but a good representation of the classes and types of fish. I am hand feeding close to the 5 to 6 o'clock hour most every day. I feed a smaller pellet near the bank for the smaller panfish and cast out Optimal BG out off the dock in deeper water for the CC and larger HBG and BG. The story is still the same as usual...the fish feed sporadically as the feed spreads out across the pond. I have better results if the wind is blowing the feed across the pond rather than back to the bank. This seems to be giving the pond's inhabitants plenty of time to feed without getting bunched up and it shows me that the smaller fish feed near the dock and dam bank while the medium sized fish feed out in the middle and the larger fish tend to wait until the feed gets to the opposite side of the pond. Given that the feed does not get to the banks too quickly, the fish will feed for 30 minutes up to about an hour. The visibility has been near 12" all this spring and I contribute the lackadaisical feeding to this.

I have not seen the HSB hard (but infrequent) feeding habits that I witnessed over the last few years. In past years, they would rarely feed near the dock, but would feed further from the dock and would seem to hit sinking food more so than the floating. This spring, I have not witnessed any hits that I would think were the originally stocked HSB. They should be about 4-5 pounds now. I do see some hits that must be ones that were stocked 1-1/2 ago as 10 inchers.

A total of 7 hours of fishing has only produced a few catches...2 of the recently stocked CC and 2 of the HBG (both about 9" long and just over 1/2 pound). Lures have no affect, garden worms showed these results, but I have not tried liver, and crawdads can sit under a bobber untouched.

The Colorado Lily that was put in the hanging bucket off the dock did very good last year and I was able to divide it into 3 plants this spring and they are doing well. There is one other lily that is still alive and doing OK, I think it is called a Liou, but it was not able to be divided. The lotus that I transplanted form a local pond did well last year, but has yet to emerge. I believe they emerge later than the lilies, but the roots seem to be in good condition. I have some Water Primrose in a hanging bucket that is trying to come back from being under water all winter, but it is having a hard time staying ahead of the FA that grows so well near the surface.

I sowed about 1-1/2 cups of Yellow Flag Iris at the pond bank last fall, but have yet to see any germination there. I also sowed a similar amount in large shallow tray and they are starting to pop (thanks Neopond for sending me the seeds from you place!)...







For anyone wanting to try there luck at introducing these often considered invasive Iris' at their pond...I cleaned the seeds from the pods about the time that the seeds were about to fall out on their own, rinsed them, let them dry for several weeks, soaked them in room temp water for 2-3 days, placed them in a zip lock baggie with damp sand, and wintered them in the refrigerator for 3 months. Then, put about 3 inches of rich soil (shoveled up from where I had pond muck dumped after the pond was renovated a few years earlier - rather silty and dark, but no compost. Right, wrong, or indifferent...that's what I used) into a large 5" deep tray with no drain holes, spread the seeds out equally on top of the soil, covered with about a 1/2" of sand, sporadically poked at the sand to possibly push some of the seeds a bit deeper (an additional 1/2"). and then watered regularly to keep the sand damp, but not puddle anywhere in the tray. The sand is not necessary, but it works real well as a moisture indicator. If the sand dries out...it needs more water.

That's it for now..I'll be found hanging out on the dock trying to hook the elusive HSB!