Ponds, fish, and Great Blue Heron

[EddieWalker]

Eddie, since I am NOT much of a fisherman, and unless there are some people around who will take up the flame, I won't be keeping the 'population' prime, I suspect... what can I do? What would be your recommendation for a relatively 'non-fisherman' to keep his pond in good shape? It isn't that I can't fish, it is just that growing up in SW Colorado, we didn't have much water to be fishing in, when I grew up. The Dolores River and a few reservoirs were all we had around, and I had too many bulls to ride, to think fishing was a fun pastime.

Your best bet would be to talk to a biologist knowledgeable with what does well in ponds in your area. There are two types of places to get fish, those who just sell you what you want and hopefully actually provide the species you paid for instead of something else that you don't want. And then there are the places with outstanding reputations for the purity of their fish run by a biologist. The cheap guys run around to parking lots and sell from a truck on a certain day, or maybe drive to your pond and dump a load of fish into it for you. The better places make you come to them, and then they have tanks with their fish in them that you can see. They count them out, put them in bags filled with pure oxygen and you put them inside your car with the AC on if doing this in summer.

If I was to guess what to put in there, I would think minnows and bluegill just to keep the bugs under control. Then I would probably do nothing for awhile and research if you even want a predator fish in there, like catfish, large mouth bass or small mouth bass. Sometimes less is more.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

1. Did your friend talk to a fish biologist before deciding what to stock his pond with? 2. How big where they when released? 3. Did they come from a fishery or was he stocking grown fish that he caught from one pond and letting them go in his pond? 4. Did your friend release any type of fish for the bluegill and perch to feed on, or where they having to live off of plant life to survive?

1. I don't know.
2. 3 to 4"
3. fishery.
4. no, he was feeding them, as was the place he got them from, but the heron took them all... he has NO doubt about that as he saw it out there...

EVERYONE around here with ponds, faces the same thing... control herons or loose all of your fish...UNLESS you have a lake sized pond!

SR

 

[EddieWalker]

That makes sense. If you are going to feed your fish, then they will concentrate in one place and make it easy for a heron to catch them. Sounds like what happens with koi and goldfish ponds.

 

[ovrszd]

No the fish will reproduce much faster than a single Heron can eat them. Just leave him alone and enjoy his beauty.

I agree.

In Missouri the Wildlife Conservation Department released Bobcats in our area to control Turkeys. How many Turkeys can a Bobcat eat anyway!!!! So now the Bobwhite Quail folks are up in arms about control of the Bobcat numbers. It's a vicious circle!!!!

 

[ovrszd]

That makes sense. If you are going to feed your fish, then they will concentrate in one place and make it easy for a heron to catch them. Sounds like what happens with koi and goldfish ponds.

Yep, he inadvertently made it easy for the bird. Any movement in the water in that area and all the stock came to feed, and became the feed.

 

[check]

1. I don't know. 2. 3 to 4" 3. fishery. 4. no, he was feeding them, as was the place he got them from, but the heron took them all... he has NO doubt about that as he saw it out there... EVERYONE around here with ponds, faces the same thing... control herons or loose all of your fish...UNLESS you have a lake sized pond! SR

Would a 6-acre "pond" which is over 25 ft. deep do?

 

[CajunRider]

Would a 6-acre "pond" which is over 25 ft. deep do?

It depends on how good a swimmer you are sir. If you can't swim across it easily it's a lake. If yes, it's a pond.

 

[CajunRider]

That makes sense. If you are going to feed your fish, then they will concentrate in one place and make it easy for a heron to catch them. Sounds like what happens with koi and goldfish ponds.

My neighbor would turn on the feeder and shoot the birds that hover the feeder. After a while they learn but they don't remember for long and he'd have to do it again.

 

[oosik]

Well, the "secret" to my population of bass is my pond. It is 5 acres of open water on the near half and 5 acres of cattails on the far half. The open part is 80 feet deep, spring fed - year round - and maintains a high oxygen level year round. The bass have just completed spawning for this year and I was able to count eleven "pods" of yolk sac fry with over 1500 fry in each pod. And those are only the pods I could see/found by slowly rowing around the lake.

View attachment 510343

This is the open portion of the pond from off my front porch. The basaltic lava cliffs on both sides of the lake are 40 feet high - the water is 15 feet deep where the shore line meets the cliff face.

 

[CajunRider]

Well, the "secret" to my population of bass is my pond. It is 5 acres of open water on the near half and 5 acres of cattails on the far half. The open part is 80 feet deep, spring fed - year round - and maintains a high oxygen level year round. The bass have just completed spawning for this year and I was able to count eleven "pods" of yolk sac fry with over 1500 fry in each pod. And those are only the pods I could see/found by slowly rowing around the lake.

View attachment 510343

This is the open portion of the pond from off my front porch. The basaltic lava cliffs on both sides of the lake are 40 feet high - the water is 15 feet deep where the shore line meets the cliff face.

Now I want to fish in your pond!