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Post by esshup on Mar 15, 2014 12:33:02 GMT -5
Yeah, I know, pics or it didn't happen. This is the pond behind the house. With the low water (4' low) it's only about 5/8 acre, and the deepest spot is 14' deep. I had to take some temperature profiles for a magazine article for next Fall, so I thought as long as I'm drilling holes I might as well fish too. The ice is still 14" to 14.5" thick, the diffuser has the hole opened up to about 40' diameter, and I fished in the deepest part of the pond. I only fished for maybe an hour and a half, and when the sun dipped lower than the tree tops, the bite slowed down to nothing. The total: 6 Yellow Perch, all between 10" and 11" long. I weighed one 10" male, and it was .4# One 11" Smallmouth Bass 18 Rainbow Trout. I had stocked 40-45 of them back in October at 1# each. This year I didn't feed them thru the winter like I normally do because I wanted to see how they'd grow without food. They all were between 15" and 17.5" long. I kept the first two that I caught, and released the rest. The 15" weighed 1.7#, and the 17.5" fish weighed 2.42#. As soon as I can get to an area that has a better cell signal, I'll send the pictures to my computer and I can post 'em. Bad cell signal here at the house. The Yellow Perch were caught anywhere from 6" to 18" off of the bottom, as was the Smallmouth Bass. Some of the trout were caught that deep, others were caught at the 10' mark. Plenty of O2 in the pond due to the aeration system. Here's the pictures of the fish: 10" YP .4# 11" SMB 15" and 17.5" RBT 1.7# and 2.42#
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Post by schall53 on Mar 16, 2014 11:55:31 GMT -5
Looks good !!
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Post by goosepondmonster on Mar 17, 2014 13:17:18 GMT -5
I'm guessing you stocked the smb in the pond as well?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 17, 2014 13:56:50 GMT -5
Nice Fish.
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Post by esshup on Mar 19, 2014 10:34:34 GMT -5
I'm guessing you stocked the smb in the pond as well? Yes. All fish in the pond were stocked at some point in time. With Largemouth in there, the Smallmouth won't establish themselves. These Smallies were some left over from an order where one customer backed out of the order. Lesson learned - if someone wants fish that I don't have in inventory, they have to pre-pay for me to get them so I won't be stuck with them.
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Post by goosepondmonster on Mar 19, 2014 11:11:33 GMT -5
Is it correct that smallies won't reproduce in a pond?
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Post by MuzzleLoader on Mar 19, 2014 11:15:30 GMT -5
I'm guessing you stocked the smb in the pond as well? Yes. All fish in the pond were stocked at some point in time. With Largemouth in there, the Smallmouth won't establish themselves. These Smallies were some left over from an order where one customer backed out of the order. Lesson learned - if someone wants fish that I don't have in inventory, they have to pre-pay for me to get them so I won't be stuck with them. Where are you at esshup??? I usually buy fish from Jones Fish, but their prices have gone up.
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Post by esshup on Mar 19, 2014 14:17:16 GMT -5
GPM, not true. SMB will reproduce in a pond, but their spawning success all depends on the habitat that they have to spawn on. They do better when spawning on 2" dia or so rocky substrate. You can build spawning beds for them in 2'-4' deep water. Make multiple spawning beds in varying depths of water. Largemouth prefer smaller pea gravel/sand substrate. To make a SMB spawning bed, take a wooden pallet. Put 1/2" or so hardware cloth on top of it. Cover it with 1"-3" diameter rocks. Make a semi-circle of cinderblocks so the open side is towards deeper water. Put some larger rocks around the cinderblocks to make it look more natural, and the baby SMB can hide in the rocky openings once hatched. Something like this: muzzleloader: I'm about 30 miles SW of South Bend. I have a limited selection of fish - I'm doing more consulting/design and pond maintenance than fish stocking, but I do have some select species. I'll be getting more Smallies this year, they will be feed trained. I have a client that wants some in the 10" range this Fall, so I'll be getting some in the 4"-6" range this Spring and growing them out larger. I'll also be making a trip to Nebraska to pick up some Condello Strain Bluegills. They have been selectively bred to grow quick when supplementally fed, and to take to food easily. Triploid Grass Carp and Tilapia for filamentous algae control will be on hand too. Here's a 6 month old female CSBG: They grow tall and thick vs. longer too. More dinner plate shaped than the typical BG that you find in the local lakes. www.hoosierpondpros.com
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Post by MuzzleLoader on Apr 10, 2014 19:05:19 GMT -5
Went out tonight, caught several bass. One had eggs already. Movin up in the shallows to spawn.
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Post by esshup on Apr 11, 2014 7:52:40 GMT -5
That also depends on water temps. Fish will have eggs in them a few months prior to the actual spawn. Water temps have to be in the mid 60's and typically it is around the full moon cycle. But, cold fronts that drop shallow water temps will push them off their beds, so they could have a rolling spawn, dragging out over a 2 month period.
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Post by MuzzleLoader on Apr 11, 2014 16:36:06 GMT -5
Full moon next week and water warming up.
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Post by esshup on Apr 12, 2014 21:26:42 GMT -5
My Yellow Perch in the pond just started to spawn yesterday. Largemouth next month if the water warms up. Still too cold - it's in the very low 50's.
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Post by MuzzleLoader on Apr 13, 2014 6:57:52 GMT -5
Saw bass on beds yesterday in my lake.
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Post by esshup on Apr 13, 2014 23:19:09 GMT -5
muzzleloader, where you at??
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Post by MuzzleLoader on Apr 14, 2014 6:14:12 GMT -5
Ohio Co.
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