Creating a Lake

[MarkV]

Eddie that is great that your Blue Gill spawned this year. Looks like you have a forage base starting that would let you add Large Mouth Bass this fall if you want them in the pond. Our bass and Bream are both spawning this time of year.

MarkV

 

[EddieWalker]

Dragonfly nymph?

This is a new one for me, so I googled it and got me a little education on dragonfly's. I had no idea of how they come about, but never even considered that they live in the water before turning into dragon flies!!!!

None of the pictures I saw were an exact match to what we cought, but they are close enough to show me that's what it was. Weird little creature, but kind of cool too.

Thank you.


Mark,

We're very exited about the bluegill spawn. We looked for it last year, but never saw any small ones, so this is probably our first time. The shere numbers of them in the small pond is kind of amazing. We couldnt' go four feet with that net without catching half a dozen to two dozen of them.

My plan for the bass is to get the lake stocked with feeder fish to the point they have had multiple spawns. That's the minnows and bluegill. With a solid food base that is self sustaining, I'll be able to put the bass in and know they will grow fast and healthy.

I'll start stocking the bass next year, either late spring or early summer.

Eddie

 

[jinman]

Eddie, the seine we used to have was at least 50' long. I was surprised to see yours was just 20'. We would roll the seine up on two end poles and just unroll what we needed if we couldn't stretch out all the 50'. I'm sure you lost a lot of fish and minnows by them swimming around the end of the net, but it sounds like you did just fine.

The way we used to seine is that one person would stand near the shore and the other would go straight out with the seine and then walk in an arc toward the shore. I'm not sure if that's the standard way, but we had willow trees along the bank and it was impossible to string the seine out along the shore and make a full arc.

 

[Bird]

I thought all seines had floats along the top to keep the the top at the water's surface so fish couldn't go over it without jumping. And I think nearly everyone I ever saw using one would have one person walking along the bank, or barely in the edge of the water and the other person walking as far out as possible, depending on depth of the water and height of the net. Then, after a short distance, the person at the bank would stop and the one out in the water would circle ahead to the bank and they'd drag everything out onto the bank. They were usually looking for bait, whether minnows or crawfish.

 

[patrick_g]

Bird, Floats (used to be cork) were at the top and lead weights on the bottom to hold it down so it didn't bag so much from resistance of the water flowing through. I've seen several wash tubs of keeper sized fish removed from one small muddy stock watering pond to support a fish fry for the friends and neighbors. The turtles caught were sailed Frisbee style into the pig lot. Lots of good breeding stock of various species could be seen jumping over the top of the net (crappie, bluegill, perch, and bass.)

We also had a minnow seine that was rectangular. You put it on the end of a strong pole and dipped it down in the water. The heavy gauge square wire hoop around the seine sunk it pretty well. You then pull it up and catch minnows. The cloth was not stretched tightly but allowed to bag to form a pocket when you pulled it up.

Pat

 

[Bird]

Yep, that sounds like the kind I used to see used when I was a kid. Of course, in more recent years when I went to visit my parents at Port Aransas, Dad used a casting net to catch shrimp and/or mullet and mud minnows for us to use as bait. Most folks need a little practice to learn to use one of those well, but I think if I were Eddie, that's what I'd get now.

 

[patrick_g]

Bird, Years ago when I was sailing up the west coast of Mexico from Acapulco to San Diego we stopped at Zihuatanejo (yachties frequently call it ZEEWhat) where young boys were casting nets under the concrete pier there to support small charter boat operations. They had gill nets in a roughly circular shape, woven of mono filament fishing line. The nets were maybe 6 ft in diameter with a mono filament line running to the center of the net. There were weights around the periphery. The line running to the center of the net was coiled up on a DIY open faced spinning reel (beer can.)

They were well practiced in tossing the net out with a flick of the wrist that sent the weights on the outside spinning in a circle held out by centrifugal force. The nets hit the water flat and sank quickly due to the lead weights. The sides of the net went down fast and any fish under the net got caught when they tried to swim out through the net. The fisherman wound up the string on the beer can, pulled in the laden net and pulled out the fish. Very effective. One set of kids would go under the pier and wave their arms so that their shadow would frighten the fish hiding under the pier. The fish would dart out from under the pier and SHAZAM the other kids would cast their nets.

This looked like fun and an efficient catching process. It wasn't just a game as they were filling buckets with fish and taking them home to mamasita. These preteens were feeding their families.

I think a similar net but finer mesh with a "purse string" around the periphery should work wonders. You'd spin-toss it out flat onto the surface, let it sink a bit and then pull the purse string capturing any enclosed fish larger than your mesh size.

Pat

 

[Bird]

That's exactly what I'm talking about Pat. Down on the coast, I think all the stores that sell fishing equipment sell those nets, just as Bass Pro sells these. Instead of a reel (or beer can) the line has a loop in the end that you attach to your wrist so once the weights and net settle to the bottom, you already have the line in your hand to start pulling it in. It pulls the weights to the middle, then up.

 

[patrick_g]

Bird, I guess that shows my ignorance, I had never seen nets like those before. They were strictly DIY from mono filament and in keeping with frugality the empty beer can (Tecate or Dos Equis) was the open Faced spinning reel. When they threw their nets they turned the end of the can toward the net so the line would pay out open faced reel style, much further than a line on your wrist would be practical.

Pat

 

[Bird]

so the line would pay out open faced reel style, much further than a line on your wrist would be practical.

Pat, I don't remember the exact length of the lines, but they were long enough to reach as far as I could throw the net. Dad had two different nets; different diameter and different mesh. And he was better at throwing those things than I was. Of course I just attribute that to the fact that he'd had a lot more practice. Naturally, they could certainly be used to catch fish for food, but we only used them in shallow water for shrimp and minnows for bait and threw back the crabs and any fish not suitable for bait.