On a side note, if you shoot a snapping turtle in the head with a 75gr 5.56 handload, it sinks. (That's the good news)
Bad news is it comes back in a few days. The smell of a rotting snapping turtle is hard to explain. It's unforgettable.
We've discussed building a trout pond at our place in W. Jefferson. Now I am thinking of just sitting on the deck with a cold drink.
From what I've learned so far, trout are very high maintenance. Common theme is folks build a trout pond and it quickly becomes a catfish/bass/bluegill pond.
Snapping turtles you say?
We have hauled 16 out of the pond here in the last month, the biggest was a little over 3', the smallest was a little bigger than a dinner plate. The water clarity has substantially improved with out those nasty things stirring everything up.
I am more than slightly creeped out thinking of all the swimming and fishing we did last summer and never saw a thing.
I have had decent success with #4 hook with chicken gizzards on either a bush line or jug line. It is time to build a trap though, cause there must be a hoard of little ones with that many big ones.
Had one spit a hook at the waters edge while hauling it in in the dark 2 weeks ago. Managed to get 2 shots off with suppressed .22 pistol, I was pretty sure I got it but of course it disappeared only to do the bloat float a few days later. I was able to net it from shore and put it in a small clearing on the opposite side of the property, the buzzards had it stripped clean in 2 days. I now have a nice clean shell with 2 .22 holes in it. I kind of impressed myself with the fast draw on that one considering it had the can on it.
The snappers along with the otters have given me something new to obsess on, so I've got that going for me.
Bloat float...yea, that's exactly what it was.
So gross.
@Professor Chaos helped me with the last one, 3 gun shotty, slug to the melon.
We got that one out but this most recent one was a temporary loss.
Knock on wood, no otters yet.
I've heard they can decimate a pond in no time flat.
Yeah, but then you have awesome pet otters, which are waaaay cooler than bluegills.
Those numbers are surprisingly good. Ammonia kills by burning the gills, Nitrate limits growth through a mechanism I don’t understand, it just does. I could go for a few bluegill for breakfast!
Depends on bioload. Sounds like you’re keeping yours pretty low so I wouldn’t expect it to be too bad. If your ammonia starts to climb you’ll need to reduce feed or build a filter. Filters require pumps, but can greatly increase capacity...and you can float them.While I'm not willing to try it for the sake of science, it would be interesting to see how much and how fast the readings would change if I stopped aeration.
Depends on bioload. Sounds like you’re keeping yours pretty low so I wouldn’t expect it to be too bad. If your ammonia starts to climb you’ll need to reduce feed or build a filter. Filters require pumps, but can greatly increase capacity...and you can float them.
Speaking of which, how are the June bug feeders working?
Yeah, have never seen a filter on a farm pond, but they are used for high-density aquaculture and could be adapted to increase your pond capacity. One really cool filter is simply a screen installed in a water channel at an angle so particulates get pushed up the screen, it is virtually unpluggable, the output is then sent to a large biofilter to ensure O2 saturation. None of this matters as long as the load is relatively light.No Japanese Beatles have shown up.
I have never heard of anyone using a filter in a farm pond. My guess is the water would clog it in no time flat.
I think they are used more in aquariums and fish farm tanks.
From what I read, simple water exchange, controlling/reducing nitrogen load and aeration are the primary methods used.
I'm sure reduction of biomass is the preferred method, since that's the source.
Yeah, have never seen a filter on a farm pond, but they are used for high-density aquaculture and could be adapted to increase your pond capacity. One really cool filter is simply a screen installed in a water channel at an angle so particulates get pushed up the screen, it is virtually unpluggable, the output is then sent to a large biofilter to ensure O2 saturation. None of this matters as long as the load is relatively light.
Have you figured out what the price of your channel cat is going to be as compared to say fresh salmon or tuna steaks?
I need to go fish my little neighborhood pond and see if I have bluegill or greenies, I’m afraid greenies.
Why eradicate the Greens? No love for a Green/Bluegill hybrid?
Ah hah. Did not know that. Didn't realize there were so many differences between the sunfish species.
Dead on....size of head and jaw do not match size of torso.....that fish could easily be 1.5 pounds heavier if it waa eating better.Generally, the bluegill and red ear sunfish are desirable. They eat bugs & snails so no competition with bass (small mouth gape.)
They also spawn 1x (sometimes 2) per year and lay a reasonable amount of eggs.
The green sunfish lays 10,000 eggs x5 per year and can survive in horrible water conditions.
The predator prey relationship is extremely important in a small pond to avoid stunting and maintain a balance.
Rule of thumb: If you look down on the top of a bass' back, and its gill plates are wider than its torso, the fish is underweight. This is likely from too many mouths and not enough forage.
Green sunfish are often to blame by eating fry and eggs of the prey species (bluegill.)
Underweight:
(All its needs is a fly to crawl in its eye and Sally fields to lay on the guilt)
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With the extended belly I think that one is female.It took some time but I finally caught & culled a green sunfish. I don't know how to tell the sex. I hope it's a female though.
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