Lightninrod Posted February 16, 2006 Posted February 16, 2006 Well, I was wrong about at least one thing; I was the only 'fish scooper' as Robby(American Sport Fish Hatchery Biologist) ran the outboard(4 cycle--very quiet) and the generator/amp foot control from the rear seat of his big jonboat. He filled a bottle with the pond water for later analysis. It was a warm(70's), sunny day and my only regret is I didn't fish any. I stood on the bow deck with a 12'handle/net. He'd press the foot control, sending 3-4 amps into the water from two long, aluminum pipes with steel wires hanging down from the pipe ends. The pipes were pointing straight out the bow from each side. I'd scoop and he controlled the boat/amps. I'd release the fish into the livewell behind me. I'm tired from scooping and stepping down to the livewell, carrying the netted fish and then having to step back up onto the raised deck with the long-handled net. For the first time, I wore a Cabela's life vest provided by him. I don't have the weights/lengths/numbers recorded. That will come from his written report. After shocking/scooping the first pond, he nosed the boat up to the dam and then he'd measure(in MMs) each fish, weighing only the Bass. He'd call out the numbers and I'd write them down on his fish reporting sheet. We'd stop for pics every now and then. We repeated everything in the bigger pond where I fish. You will see a 4-5(?) catfish from the smaller pond and one 3-4 lb Bass. I netted 50 or so bluegills from that one too. You will see a 6, 1 oz Bass netted from the bigger pond. My biggest from that pond is a 6lb, 8 oz Bass. There way less bluegill in the bigger pond and quite a few shellcrackers but no catfish netted or seen. We did see a big(7-8 lbs?) shocked grass carp in the smaller pond but didn't net it. I'll probably remember more as y'all ask questions but that's all for now except the pics: Big Pond 6 lb Bass Same--I think? Same Length Another Bass Bluegill Scale and measuring sheet Small Pond Measuring Catfish--small pond Bass--small pond Measuring He wants the small ones too Robby and the record sheet Still recovering Again Small pond from the dam Another view I'se tired! Dan Quote
Super User 5bass Posted February 16, 2006 Super User Posted February 16, 2006 Thats awesome L-Rod,thanks for showing us the pics.Lots of people will never get a chance to watch the shocking process live.I've seen it live here in Va. and there are more fish in the water around you than you think! Quote
basser89 Posted February 17, 2006 Posted February 17, 2006 Nice pics LR! I've been wondering if its possible to volunteer for one of these surveys before. Quote
Low_Budget_Hooker Posted February 17, 2006 Posted February 17, 2006 Cool pics, thanks for taking the time to post 'em all! Quote
Lightninrod Posted February 17, 2006 Author Posted February 17, 2006 Thanks for the replies y'all. basser89: Do a search for pond management firms and/or hatcheries in your area and ask if you can. This was a "one time deal" for me as those ponds belong to my boss and he asked me if I'd help out. Of course I was glad to since he lets me fish there any time I want to and I wanted a new-to-me experience since at my age, those don't come along very often . Sorry for no really big fish and the pics themselves could have been better but it was a "hurry up" kinda situation. I couldn't take any pics of them in the water as I was too busy dippin' and swingin' . I forgot to mention that is was so :cool: to see the Bluegill as they raced around before getting completely shocked. They reminded me of Piranha that I saw on TV. At one point, they just blossomed up out of an underwater bush; dozens of them racing or floating around. All were released unharmed. I did get a little bit of current thru my body when my bare arm would touch the metal rail placed around the three sides of the front deck. Had a long sleeve shirt on for the first 2 or 3 hours and then I took it off and then some amps went tingling thru my arm. I told Robby about it after we finished and he said he'd have to have it checked out as there wasn't suppose to be any current running thru those rails. Dan Quote
basser89 Posted February 17, 2006 Posted February 17, 2006 Thanks for the insight! I wouldn't think the juice should be running through there either (from a safety stand point!). Quote
alhuff Posted February 17, 2006 Posted February 17, 2006 sounds like you had a blast man, thanks again for all the pics and sharing your experience with us. Alfred Quote
Lightninrod Posted February 17, 2006 Author Posted February 17, 2006 I'll update y'all when my boss get's the written report. Robby said they enter all the lengths and weights into a software program which will analyze them as to their length vs weight and the ratio of the different species to each other for a 'perfect' pond. Btw, he did say that you either have a Crappie pond or you have a Bass pond and not both togeather unless the pond is 20 acres or larger. The Crappie will overcome the Bass as they reproduce in larger numbers and end up eating most of the forage. Dan Quote
fishinfool Posted February 17, 2006 Posted February 17, 2006 THATS AWESOME LR. THANKS FOR TAKING THE TIME TO POST ALL THE PICS AND INFORMATION ABOUT THAT. I'VE SEEN THEM DO IT ON TV A COUPLE OF TIMES BUT NOTHING CAN COMPARE TO THE LIVE THING. I HOPE I GET A CHANCE TO DO THAT SOMETIME! ;D Quote
Hookhead Posted February 17, 2006 Posted February 17, 2006 NICE LR! Thanks for posting those pics. I've seen people shock fish before and it is pretty neat. At lake Davis here in Cali they (scientists) set off underwater explosives in quarter mile runs to get an inventory of how many pike had infested the lake. That was truly a sight to see. After it went off you'd see a long line of fish come floating up. Good stuff. Quote
Tenka Posted February 17, 2006 Posted February 17, 2006 I did get a little bit of current thru my body when my bare arm would touch the metal rail placed around the three sides of the front deck. Had a long sleeve shirt on for the first 2 or 3 hours and then I took it off and then some amps went tingling thru my arm. I told Robby about it after we finished and he said he'd have to have it checked out as there wasn't suppose to be any current running thru those rails. Dan L-ROD DO YOU KNOW THE FREQUENCY HE WAS USING? iF IT IS A dc CURRENT OR A LOW FREQUENCY(LESS THAN 400hz) YOU PROBABLY SHOULD BE CHECKED OUT BY A DOCTOR. I work with electronics all day loang and that is a major concern , high frequency power won't affect much in your system unless the amps get you, but you would of felt that( Burns ETC) Low frequncy power can slightly alter you heart beat pattern and cause ARITHMIA(spelling) I have seen people get hit hit with less than 25 volts have heart murmurs, the only way to fix it to to get shocked again by a machine the docotrs have, that pumpes your heart full of "juice" at the correct freq. Other than that thanks for the pictures and story. Dave 13 year Aviation Electronis Tech Quote
Lightninrod Posted February 18, 2006 Author Posted February 18, 2006 Dave: Thank you for your concern but it was just a tiny tingle and I only felt it a couple of times and since I was quick in moving my arm up, it lasted less than a second. I'm fine now and was fine yesterday too. If I should feel my heart's beat become irregular, I'll certainly get taken to the hospital. And to please Glenn and to make y'all aware of the things that can be done to manage a pond, I will link y'all to these 'in-house' articles. Dan Quote
ball_coach_1 Posted February 19, 2006 Posted February 19, 2006 Thanks for the post LR...great stuff! Quote
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