Molalla1
Elite Member
They took my lower pond out of fish , , , bassturds . . .
Great Blue Heron
- Thread starter dj1701
- Start date
They took my lower pond out of fish , , , bassturds . . .
Sawyer Rob
Super Member
Exactly, hatcheries here, shoot the bejesus' out of them. Those that raise fish don't want them around...
A friend of my dad, lost all of his fish in his little pond, and he saw it doing it, but he didn't realize how many fish they could eat, until it was too late...
Neighbor lost all of his fish too, he still shoots them on sight...
SR
oosik
Super Star Member
View attachment 646991 Looking off my front porch - across my little lake. Five acres @ 80' deep - five acres of cattails, down at the far end. It's stocked with large & small mouth bass. The one Blue Heron I might get doesn't stay long enough to do much damage. Besides he has a VERY limited area he can work in. Water depth right at the cliffs is 45'. It drops off to 80' out in the center. Basaltic lava cliffs - full length - both sides.
Almost every winter I get a pair of otters. Folks come out to watch them on the ice. I've been told they are river otters. Odd - the closest river is more than 50 miles away.
They will stay a week or so. Eventually they make a fantastic snow slide - down off the cliffs, in one area where the slope is more gentle. All day long - hump up to the top of the slide and down they go. Out maybe 40 to 50 feet onto the lake ice.
They will eat bass while here. I would guess over a week they probably eat 500 to 600 bass. The bald eagles & magpies gather and join in also. It becomes a real circus. In the late afternoon - it's dark - stand out on the porch and you can hear them chomping bass. Sounds just like a kid eating a dry ice cream cone.
All this chomping & smacking doesn't upset me one bit. Biggest problem is overpopulation of bass in the little lake. There is alway a TREMENDOUS spawning of bass - every spring. I row around the lake in the late spring - clouds & clouds of yolk-sac bass everywhere.
Almost every winter I get a pair of otters. Folks come out to watch them on the ice. I've been told they are river otters. Odd - the closest river is more than 50 miles away.
They will stay a week or so. Eventually they make a fantastic snow slide - down off the cliffs, in one area where the slope is more gentle. All day long - hump up to the top of the slide and down they go. Out maybe 40 to 50 feet onto the lake ice.
They will eat bass while here. I would guess over a week they probably eat 500 to 600 bass. The bald eagles & magpies gather and join in also. It becomes a real circus. In the late afternoon - it's dark - stand out on the porch and you can hear them chomping bass. Sounds just like a kid eating a dry ice cream cone.
All this chomping & smacking doesn't upset me one bit. Biggest problem is overpopulation of bass in the little lake. There is alway a TREMENDOUS spawning of bass - every spring. I row around the lake in the late spring - clouds & clouds of yolk-sac bass everywhere.
Hay Dude
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We had these annoying creatures called “Trespassing fishermen” that would fish out our ponds. Problem was, you couldn’t shoot em...
MossRoad
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Looks like it's eating a bullhead or small catfish.
They'll eat anything.
They'll eat anything.
MossRoad
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BoylermanCT
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The heron does not do too much damage to the fish in my pond. It is the otters that strip mine the place. Had 3 of them last summer. Fun to watch, but saw a definite reduction in fish.