This will be very interesting, can't wait to read the results.
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This will be very interesting, can't wait to read the results.
Yesterday had some surprises. Keith Thomas, biologist with ODWC and his technician, Jeromy, unloaded the shock boat at the Piedmont pond around 8:30 AM. They immediately went to work harvesting sunfish for transfer to the Hinton Lake. They shocked for approximately 1 hour and returned to the shore with some surprises. The first surprise was a carp weighing around 12-14 pounds. The livewell also contained 6 12" white and black crappie and 9 green sunfish. The redears and bluegills were pretty much evenly split at around 40 each. There were also several LMB of various lengths. The sunfish were loaded into transfer tanks for moving to the 10 acre Hinton Lake. What did this electro fishing survey tell us? Well 1) the pond is a trophy sunfish pond. 2) The LMB have little recruitment because the sunfish are preying on the bass eggs and there is little cover to protect the fry. 3) The crappie do not have a good gravel bottom to spawn on. Therefore we did not find any small crappie.
Now what do we do? 1) We will add coontail and try to get it established to provide cover for the bass and any crappie fry. 2) Transfer as many LMB into the pond to restart the bass population 3) Add some gravel piles or tires filled with pea gravel for spawning beds 4) Remove more sunfish. we have removed almost 200 so far this spring. More are planned to be removed by fishing. Stay tuned for a newspaper article on Spring Bream Fishing.
We moved the approx 80 sunfish to the Hinton Lake. These were mature fish and had not spawned. The visibility in the lake was approx 8 feet and 66 degs. surface temp. The shock boat was launched into the lake and the electricity was turned on. We immediately noticed that the coppernose spawn from last year had grown. I located a redear that I had stocked last year that was almost 11". We found numerous small bass of varying lengths. 2 dozen black crappie measuring 13+ inches came up too.
We eased into a floating pile of several cedar trees and hit a school of crappie and a submarine. I was stunned. What the ,@##$ was this? The fish was so big that we could not even begin to get it into the net. The head and some of the shoulders fit in the net. If we tried to lift it we knew the net handle would break. It took 2 people straining to roll the fish into the boat. The fish measured 43" long and a 34" girth. It was the largest grass carp I had ever seen. The weight was estimated at 50 pounds. Gee, how about hooking that on a long pole? Leland you got a rod that will handle that? Since the carp was way past its efficiency it was left sunbathing. We took some pictures straining to lift it. There were the makings of alot of fine fish cakes.
A total of 29 LMB were harvested for tranfer back to the Piedmont pond. More bass would have been harvested, in our opinion, had we shocked earlier in the day or late in the evening because the water clarity was such the fish were typically found around 10'. We will have to remove more by fishing and transporting. It appears that the bass have not spawned yet as no beds were observed.
The years plan will be to trap or catch more sunfish and transfer into this lake and watch for spawning activity. We will also remove another 200 bass by fishing.
This brings to a close the electrofishing of these two lakes. The results tell us what we need to know and a plan has been established to correct the respective concerns. We have a plan and we just need to follow the plan.
Next Spring another electrofishing project may be in the works on a 22 acre lake near the H E Bailey turnpike gate.
CG-
We finally caught some perch for our pond. My husband caught 4 and I caught 2. He loved that he caught more than I. For someone who doesn't like to fish, he sure had fun showing me up! We had an aerator in a 5 gallon bucket and they did just fine. After 3 hours of fishing, we took them home and put them in our pond. We got some floating fish food, but I am not sure how much food to put in the pond.
No crappie caught in our pond yet, so they may be gone. When we have a heavy rain, our pond bank lets a lot of water out. We need to put a pipe in there for overflow, I guess.
Ok, how do we stop the perch from swallowing the hook? It was very difficult to get the hooks out without hurting the fish. Thanks!
Peke
Peke - Set the hook quicker and you will get them. The longer you wait the higher the probability of them swallowing them.
You do not need to add any fish food to the pond for the perch. there is sufficient food in the pond already. Save your money.
I would recommend a long shanked hook to reduce the swallowing ratio as well.
Certainly a long shank hook would help reduce the problem. I use #6 or #8 carlisle light wire hook. Typically sold as a cricket hook.
The perch had taken the cork under before we even noticed. So try to set the hook before they take it under?? And use a longer shank.
Could it be that we are also using too small of a hook? What size do you suggest?
Thanks,
Peke
Hey CG,
Do you remember when I told you that a blue heron was doing some wading in my small pond and eating all my small fish? I think you were the one who told me to find a decoy because only one heron would stay at the pond. We found one and it worked. We now see the heron fly over, but not stop. The funny thing is that the decoy turns slightly in the wind so it looks like it has moved throughout the day. We even have neighbors (city folks) who drive really slow to see the "blue heron". :D I guess we fooled the people and the herons.
Thanks again for your help.
Peke
Quote:
Originally Posted by peke
Slighest move of bobber or line movin id set hook to reduce swallowin ratio.
I perfer #6 long shank....but other perfers #8 long shank.....i would buy a pack of 25 each maybe a couple dollars & try them & see which suites your fishin habits. GL & ~tight lines~
Thanks, Bluegill. I will try them.
Peke