Pond Observations

[Swamp Girl]

14 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Rural beautiful property, a pond, and perhaps most important a tractor....that's paradise!   

 

If I never drive another tractor before I die, I'll be sad. Every time I see a neighbor's tractor, I sigh with longing.

 

15 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

I wanna see feed trained 5lbers eating out of your hands 😎

 

ME TOO!

 

[TnRiver46]

330 conibear is the ticket, I’m guessing I posted that already somewhere on here. There is a season for fur trapping but if you tell the game warden they are killing your fish, he will probably green light year round permission to trap . It’s not like a mouse or raccoon where you put food in a trap and it will just walk right in. You’ve got to get the trap set underwater and somehow funnel the otter into it , placement is key. I would try that wet conveyance if possible, if not some sort of culvert/inflow/outflow would be best. They make stands for conibears that you can set in the water and slide the trap onto 

 

trapping otters is hard work with lots of coming up empty handed but not impossible, it not something I tried often in my former career but I’ve went with the real veterans many times, guys that wear overalls everyday and chew twist 

[Swamp Girl]

39 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

but I’ve went with the real veterans many times, guys that wear overalls everyday and chew twist 

 

I'll finish your sentence. Clearly, it was an unfinished thought. I'm guessing you ran out of time to finish your pro-grade advice: "...but I’ve went with the real veterans many times, guys that wear overalls everyday and chew twist and who know that strapping torpedo tubes to bass and loading those tubes with nuclear warheads is the prudent solution."

[Eric 26]

20 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

 

I'll finish your sentence. Clearly, it was an unfinished thought. I'm guessing you ran out of time to finish your pro-grade advice: "...but I’ve went with the real veterans many times, guys that wear overalls everyday and chew twist and who know that strapping torpedo tubes to bass and loading those tubes with nuclear warheads is the prudent solution."

Im in total agreement with @AlabamaSpothunter on this thread in not only are the photos and videos my absolute dream but the comments such as the one I quoted above will help me get through my work day tomorrow 😃 Please let’s keep this thread going as I need to know what happens 😬

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Out of reactions, but Amen Eric!!!  @Eric 26

 

We're here for the full paradise experience 😀

[Swamp Girl]

1 hour ago, Eric 26 said:

Im in total agreement with @AlabamaSpothunter on this thread in not only are the photos and videos my absolute dream but the comments such as the one I quoted above will help me get through my work day tomorrow 😃

 

In a perfect world, we'd all get to borrow Bob for one summer and we'd get to pick one thing for Bob to build and while he was doing that, we'd be in Tennessee, wrestling otters and stocking his pond with five-pounders.

 

1 hour ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Out of reactions, but Amen Eric!!!  @Eric 26

 

We're here for the full paradise experience 😀

 

I'm always running out of reactions too. I wish we could buy some more. Calling @Glenn, calling @Glenn.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

I'm back in the game Katie, I just dropped one on your post......good thing they seem to refill after a few hours 🤣

[Swamp Girl]

37 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

I'm back in the game Katie, I just dropped one on your post......good thing they seem to refill after a few hours 🤣

 

I kid you not: I actually had a BR member PM me and asked me why I didn't give his post a reaction when I'd given all the prior posts reactions. I had simply run out of gas, i.e. reactions!

[Glenn]

2 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

I'm always running out of reactions too. I wish we could buy some more.

 

Uh...ok, so I admit they're a bit hidden, but when you reply to a post, there's a little smiley face on the top bar.  Click it and then scroll all the way to the bottom.  Reactions galore!  And I mean A LOT!

 

I put those there many, many years ago.

[Swamp Girl]

11 minutes ago, Glenn said:

 

Uh...ok, so I admit they're a bit hidden, but when you reply to a post, there's a little smiley face on the top bar.  Click it and then scroll all the way to the bottom.  Reactions galore!  And I mean A LOT!

 

I put those there many, many years ago.

 

🥰

[Glenn]

      

 

There's 838 of 'em

[Blue Raider Bob]

12 hours ago, Eric 26 said:

Im in total agreement with @AlabamaSpothunter on this thread in not only are the photos and videos my absolute dream but the comments such as the one I quoted above will help me get through my work day tomorrow 😃 Please let’s keep this thread going as I need to know what happens 😬

     Eric, in all fairness, those videos are several years old. I though it was incredibly awesome that my manmade pond could attract such exotic animals such as otters. They were living under my dock in the space between deckboards and floor joists. I have a octagon viewing hole in the middle of my floor that the otters would use to access their lairs, as well as the dock surface. Not only Otters, but I've had two Beavers stop by for a day, and you guys know about the Muskrat invasion. The piles of bluegill scales on the dock were upsetting, but I thought that's a small price to pay for this relationship. Attitude changed when I started finding bass skulls on the dock and bank. Then my dog brought the jaws of my 5-3 Largemouth up to the house and my soul collapsed. Something had to be done.

     I had to pull up the deckboards to frame in all the access points to the former living spaces, which were covered with scales and heads. Now the otters have to live somewhere else. This is only a problem during the wet months of the year when the creek is flowing. They spend the dry months at the Stones River.

[Eric 26]

@Blue Raider Bob Sadly I remember you posting about that earlier in this thread ☹️ It’s unfortunate that animals can be so fascinating to watch and enjoy but so destructive to your efforts at the same time. 

[TnRiver46]

“If you build it, they will come”

 

-otter field of dreams 

[Blue Raider Bob]

     Just an observation from Super Bowl Sunday. I went to the Stones River Sunday morning and froze my fingers. Got skunked and only fished for an hour or so, but I did manage to net a couple dozen small Shad for the pond. Here is what I observed. When the Shad are released, the healthy ones scatter, only to regroup in small pelagic schools. The weaker Shad swim weakly with no intended direction, often on their backs. The extremely weak Shad swim weakly to the pond bottom and unintentionally bury themselves into the bottom vegetation. The largemouth become super aggressive when the shad are discovered and don't mind at all coming right up to the bank where I am standing to feed. The clear water allows me to observe everything. What I have always wondered, until now, is how bass remove and consume prey that inhabit the pond bottom. Here is how it goes. The LM will notice movement, move in for inspection, hover over movement, creep close, then inhale movement, vegetation, leaf debris, sticks, everything! The LM will then slowly back off, and gradually work the debris away and separate debris from prey. This takes several seconds to complete. I do not know how prey is retained while debris is expelled but I witnessed it several times Sunday. When satisfied, the LM will slowly search the targeted area then move on.

     Don't know if this info may help those that like to Texas Rig, or Carolina Rig, but maybe somehow it will. 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

That's really cool info Bob!

 

One thing I thought about reading that is the clarity of the pond.    It might be worth checking the clarity with a Secchi Disc.  

 

Might be able to protect those fish and also train them easier if you add a little less clarity to water.    Biologists that manage ponds will use a Secchi Disc religiously.  This time of year can be tougher to achieve that, but in the warm water months a little fertilizing can really help, not to mention grow those Shad.  

[Swamp Girl]

37 minutes ago, Blue Raider Bob said:

The LM will notice movement, move in for inspection, hover over movement, creep close, then inhale movement, vegetation, leaf debris, sticks, everything! The LM will then slowly back off, and gradually work the debris away and separate debris from prey.

 

Oh, that is sooo cool, Bob!

[Blue Raider Bob]

20 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

That's really cool info Bob!

 

One thing I thought about reading that is the clarity of the pond.    It might be worth checking the clarity with a Secchi Disc.  

 

Might be able to protect those fish and also train them easier if you add a little less clarity to water.    Biologists that manage ponds will use a Secchi Disc religiously.  This time of year can be tougher to achieve that, but in the warm water months a little fertilizing can really help, not to mention grow those Shad.  

Thanks Alex!       

     A little history about the pond clarity......when new, the pond was regularly fertilized with a product called Bass Buster from my local CO-OP. This created beneficial algae blooms which colored the water green and provided an 18" clarity using my Secchi disk. When the water cooled in the winter, the bloom disappeared and the water became tap water clear. The fertilization began the next year ect. After a few years the water was so fertile that harmful algae became a problem so fertilization ceased.. The filamentous and Chara algae took over the pond during the warm months and have continued to plague me since. Still, when the water cools in the winter, the clarity becomes tap-water clear. The issue now is to remove the nutrient rich water so the algae can be controlled. I have attempted to reduce the fish population, and reduced the feed offered. Also I have added dozens of nutrient absorbing plants to the pond such as Pickerel Weed, (Thanks Katie)! Even with this I am already starting to see Chara cover the pond bottom in 45 deg. water. The Chara will grow to the surface and ruin the pond aesthetically, but support a nursery and haven for the fry. Copper algae control products work well but copper does not dissolve so it is a forever metal that I prefer not to use. With that said, I enjoy the clear water this time of year because I can observe behaviors. Later in the year, I can only get glimpses of my pets but I can get in there with them!  The BG become somewhat fearless and wait for me to handfeed them the cutworms found on the Lotus leaves.

[Swamp Girl]

Boy, Bob, you sure are pond-smart! A pond's a tricky critter, isn't it?

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Great information Bob, and your thread serves as a testament to just how complex and difficult it is to manage a pond.   

 

The fact people try and can't grow a WR Bass in a managed pond or small lake with unlimited resources and funds reminds me once again that God is the grand architect.    Only God and Mother Nature can grow a WR Bass it seems.   

[Blue Raider Bob]

1 minute ago, Swamp Girl said:

Boy, Bob, you sure are pond-smart! A pond's a tricky critter, isn't it?

     Yes it is. I naively thought it would be easier in the beginning. After so many years of digging with my tractor and pond scoop, I thought I'd relax in a bankside chair and enjoy the harvest of my efforts. While I do the relax thing, there is also the unending anxiety, and frustration. I would still do it again as it gives me so much pleasure. Glad to share the journey, and really glad so many of my BR friends show an interest. The knowledge obtained from the almost daily visits excites me and has unlocked a hidden, mysterious path that I otherwise would not have travelled.

[Swamp Girl]

1 hour ago, Blue Raider Bob said:

Glad to share the journey, and really glad so many of my BR friends show an interest.

 

You're living our dream, Bob. So many of us have long pined for our own pond.

 

1 hour ago, Blue Raider Bob said:

The knowledge obtained from the almost daily visits excites me and has unlocked a hidden, mysterious path that I otherwise would not have travelled.

 

Beautiful, Bob.

[Blue Raider Bob]

19 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

 

You're living our dream, Bob. So many of us have long pined for our own pond.

 

 

Beautiful, Bob.

Thanks Katie!    We both have our own ponds but yours is a LAKE!!!  A 100 acre waterbody in Maine may be considered a POND to you guys, but its a downright Huron to us moisture deficient hill folk! I love that you have it though and can share the six pound bass.........I'm not jealous......

[Swamp Girl]

8 minutes ago, Blue Raider Bob said:

Thanks Katie!    We both have our own ponds but yours is a LAKE!!!  A 100 acre waterbody in Maine may be considered a POND to you guys, but its a downright Huron to us moisture deficient hill folk! I love that you have it though and can share the six pound bass.........I'm not jealous......

 

169 acres. I know, I know, I'm a lucky duck.