How fish get into an unstocked pond

[5030]

Two words.....BIRD POOP

 

[drssg]

Your minnows are crappies?

I don't know what species came to the pond for free. By the time I noticed them, I already had fish ordered from the fishery, so I let them come at the scheduled date.

I stocked it with bluegills and bass, and that's all I've ever caught fishing.

 

[fried1765]

I don't know what species came to the pond for free. By the time I noticed them, I already had fish ordered from the fishery, so I let them come at the scheduled date.

I stocked it with bluegills and bass, and that's all I've ever caught fishing.

The "crappies" comment was obviously a play on words.

 

[the old grind]

In 19 years here there has been no place suitable for perch or crappie (btw) to spawn, but both have been seen or caught here again this year.

I won't say there is one of either specie per acre or that either is seen every year, but when I fish 'releasing is believing'.

As for bait-fish, by letting cattails flourish to provide natural cover I keep a broad diversity of panfish well fed. (mostly large mouth & red-ear sunfish, AKA 'shellcrackers')

Not related, but I just shot another muskrat (cattail killer) at all of 50yd & at 9:50 at night. (12Ga hi-vel non-toxic #2 shot) I couldn't find a den to trap, so I went 'ballistic'. I no longerr buy fat-heads minnows by the gallon since developing the 4ac former sand pit as a 'bird bath'.

 

[5030]

You can always tell when it's a good shot.... The tail will go vertical instantly..............:laughing:

 

[EddieWalker]

I dug both ponds on my place. The one closest to my house is 3/4 of an acre and I stocked it with coppernose bluegill, channel catfish and fathead minnows. From looking at google images, there isn't another pond anywhere close to my pond, and the way I get water into it is from cutting ditches and building up my roads to carry it to where my pond is, which was never an ideal location for a pond. The fish have done well and over the years, bullfrogs and turtles have found it. the closest creek is down hill about 1,200 feet away. Somehow they know the pond is there and find it.

My bigger pond is 4.5 acres and I had to remove about 7 acres of trees to clear the area to dig it. It's about 50 feet from the creek. It is fed from rain run off and a ditch that I dug to carry the over flow from my smaller pond. I expect that I get some of the smaller fish and maybe eggs from the small pond to the big pond, but it's a 1,000 foot journey through shallow ditches and culverts.

I stocked the big pond with fathead minnows and coppernose bluegill when it was half full in the fall. After it filled up over winter, I added channel catfish to it when the temps had warmed up. Then in the Fall, a full year after first putting in the bluegill and minnows, I added large mouth bass. Those are the only fish species that I put into the pond, and they all came from Tyler Fish Farm, a well known, and highly organized business that I trust to not mix it species, or have unwanted species.

Over the years, yellow catfish have been caught in the big pond. These are not what I want in there, so I'm hoping they are not breeding and that the ones that have been caught are the only ones in there. Doubtful, but hope is all I have on stopping them from taking over. A single green sunfish was also caught in the big pond. There is zero chance that they made it to either of my ponds from another pond farther uphill. Either Tyler Fish Farm somehow sold me an unwanted species, which I doubt, or they where brought to the pond by birds.

I have a bunch of Herons and Egrets. I believe that they catch their food live and swallow them hole. I think that sometimes, the fish pass through the birds digestive system without dying. Maybe they somehow swallowed a very small fingerling along with something bigger, and the fingerling was small enough to pass through without dying? That's really the best idea that I have on how it happens.

 

[drssg]

The "crappies" comment was obviously a play on words.

Ha! I get it now. I'm really not that thick headed (I think), but I tend to take things literally.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

I dug both ponds on my place. The one closest to my house is 3/4 of an acre and I stocked it with coppernose bluegill, channel catfish and fathead minnows. From looking at google images, there isn't another pond anywhere close to my pond, and the way I get water into it is from cutting ditches and building up my roads to carry it to where my pond is, which was never an ideal location for a pond. The fish have done well and over the years, bullfrogs and turtles have found it. the closest creek is down hill about 1,200 feet away. Somehow they know the pond is there and find it.

My bigger pond is 4.5 acres and I had to remove about 7 acres of trees to clear the area to dig it. It's about 50 feet from the creek. It is fed from rain run off and a ditch that I dug to carry the over flow from my smaller pond. I expect that I get some of the smaller fish and maybe eggs from the small pond to the big pond, but it's a 1,000 foot journey through shallow ditches and culverts.

I stocked the big pond with fathead minnows and coppernose bluegill when it was half full in the fall. After it filled up over winter, I added channel catfish to it when the temps had warmed up. Then in the Fall, a full year after first putting in the bluegill and minnows, I added large mouth bass. Those are the only fish species that I put into the pond, and they all came from Tyler Fish Farm, a well known, and highly organized business that I trust to not mix it species, or have unwanted species.

Over the years, yellow catfish have been caught in the big pond. These are not what I want in there, so I'm hoping they are not breeding and that the ones that have been caught are the only ones in there. Doubtful, but hope is all I have on stopping them from taking over. A single green sunfish was also caught in the big pond. There is zero chance that they made it to either of my ponds from another pond farther uphill. Either Tyler Fish Farm somehow sold me an unwanted species, which I doubt, or they where brought to the pond by birds.

I have a bunch of Herons and Egrets. I believe that they catch their food live and swallow them hole. I think that sometimes, the fish pass through the birds digestive system without dying. Maybe they somehow swallowed a very small fingerling along with something bigger, and the fingerling was small enough to pass through without dying? That's really the best idea that I have on how it happens.

If you allow others to fish your pond, you might want to inspect their bait. Many a pond has ended up with unwanted goldfish in it or something a lot worse.

 

[jmc]

If you allow others to fish your pond, you might want to inspect their bait. Many a pond has ended up with unwanted goldfish in it or something a lot worse.

Good point. Invasive Asian carp have come up the Mississippi R, to the Ohio R, to the Wabash R, to the White R, and finally, to the tributaries until they were finally stymied at the tail waters of our local reservoir. Indiana DNR posted warnings to fishermen catching baitfish in those tail waters and then using them in the reservoir. It's just a matter of time though...."I ain't payin' no $6/dozen if I can catchem for free downstream..."

 

[the old grind]

Asian carp are decent table fare and not particularly small as typically encountered by fishermen.

If you can't prevent 'em, eat 'em.