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Post by hunthard4 on Jan 17, 2016 23:16:29 GMT -5
With it being a cold week will it be cold enough to get ice thick enough to ice fish? Only did it one other time with another guys equipment and I don't recall how how cold it was. Thanks for advice.
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Post by featherduster on Jan 18, 2016 9:34:17 GMT -5
Depends on where you live and the body of water you want to fish.
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Post by onebentarrow on Jan 18, 2016 9:42:08 GMT -5
The safety factor of ice is not just dependant on temp. The size of the lake, small water tends to freeze.first. the depth of the lake.deep water looses heat slower than shallow water thus deep water.will take longer to freeze. The time of year,early in winter a very cold spell will not perticulery make safe ice because the body of water is not cooled down to a depth to allow good ice to form. How long has ice been on the lake.even tho it is cold enough to make ice if there was a.wind and it kept the water open the ice now could still not be safe. If there is any flowing water it can be real treacherous (springs,incoming and out going creeks,or if the lake is part of a river chain). Please be safe. I can not take the cold well any more and have not ice fished for about 15 years. Now I tell people when I see elephant poo on the ice I know it is safe and I will go.
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Post by steiny on Jan 18, 2016 10:15:33 GMT -5
Lot's of people getting on the ice now. Most of the northern portion of state should be safe ice by the weekend, but use caution regardless.
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Post by Woody Williams on Jan 18, 2016 10:25:02 GMT -5
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Post by hunthard4 on Jan 18, 2016 13:42:38 GMT -5
Thanks guys. I'll definitely double check before I go.
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Post by trophyparadise on Jan 18, 2016 14:02:38 GMT -5
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Post by esshup on Jan 18, 2016 16:52:41 GMT -5
Dang. Now I'll have to go out Wed and get fish for dinner from the pond. Either Yellow Perch or Bluegills.
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Post by trophyparadise on Jan 18, 2016 17:09:19 GMT -5
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Post by esshup on Jan 19, 2016 0:34:47 GMT -5
If that's the case, then you need a lot of Largemouth Bass 14" or less to take care of the Young of the Year and that will leave more food for the bigger Bluegills.
OR feed them a good fish food on a 2x day basis. There are directional fish feeders like deer feeders. Solar panel, programmable timer, etc.
I've sold a bunch of feeders and the only brand that I sell now is Texas Hunter. I've had them submerged in a pond, dried them out, changed the battery and timer and they are still working 4 years later. Yes, they aren't cheap, but if you want a reliable feeder, that's the way to go.
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Post by duff on Jan 19, 2016 6:08:27 GMT -5
I know you earn your living taking care of ponds so take this for what it's worth. I was always told to be careful feeding fish. Easy to overfeed and promote algae growth and eventually lead to potential fish kill or other problems.
I'd give the bass a try and some channel cats. Along with removing every small gill caught, but that likely is an impossible task.
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Post by nfalls116 on Jan 19, 2016 7:00:51 GMT -5
Two words: giant blue cats Never mind you want to get rid of the little fish, go with channels
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Post by trophyparadise on Jan 19, 2016 7:03:14 GMT -5
If that's the case, then you need a lot of Largemouth Bass 14" or less to take care of the Young of the Year and that will leave more food for the bigger Bluegills. OR feed them a good fish food on a 2x day basis. There are directional fish feeders like deer feeders. Solar panel, programmable timer, etc. I've sold a bunch of feeders and the only brand that I sell now is Texas Hunter. I've had them submerged in a pond, dried them out, changed the battery and timer and they are still working 4 years later. Yes, they aren't cheap, but if you want a reliable feeder, that's the way to go. The bass that are in there are mostly either really big (5lbs+) or really small..8-10" ...at least from what I've caught Trophy Paradise Habitat Consulting "Trophies are built from the ground up" m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=852914431431752
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Post by MuzzleLoader on Jan 19, 2016 8:07:32 GMT -5
I feed my fish once a day from the dock at about sundown. Fun for the kids and friends to come over and feed the fish. Cant say I am out there every day, but close to it. Just put out enough that they eat it all and it doesn't sink to the bottom. Even the turtles come over to eat.
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Post by salt on Jan 19, 2016 8:17:14 GMT -5
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Post by trophyparadise on Jan 19, 2016 10:10:38 GMT -5
Two words: giant blue cats Never mind you want to get rid of the little fish, go with channels You missed a finger;D Trophy Paradise Habitat Consulting "Trophies are built from the ground up" m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=852914431431752
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Post by throbak on Jan 19, 2016 10:11:43 GMT -5
The 2 words would be "One Flathead"
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Post by nfalls116 on Jan 19, 2016 15:09:19 GMT -5
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Post by esshup on Jan 19, 2016 15:36:29 GMT -5
Duff: You are correct, you can overfeed. That's why it's important to listen to the fish. There's two ways to look at feeding. 1) supplementally feed the fish, meaning that they are still eating a lot of natural forage in the pond or 2) using the feed as a primary food source for the fish. In any case, you don't want to have food floating uneaten in the pond. A rule of thumb is to not feed more than the fish can clean up in 15 minutes. I know of a few ponds where they can feed roughly 20 pounds of feed per day and that will be cleaned up in less than 15 minutes. You are also correct about the food creating algae problems. Food is the same as fertilizer once it passes through a fish. There are ways to minimize the algae problems. 1) Have a phytoplankton bloom that limits light transmission to the pond bottom, ideally you want a secchi disk reading of 18"-36". Even at that level of bloom, you will still get Filamentous Algae growing along the shore if you don't have wave action. 2) If it's legal in your state (it's not legal in Illinois) you can stock Tilapia when water temps are above 60°F. I've found when they are stocked at the rate of 40# per surface acre they do a very good job of controlling the Filamentous Algae. 3) You can use chemicals to minimize the algae. My preference? Either dye the pond or get a bloom going, and stock Tilapia. As many times as I've tried, I've never gotten fish that I've stocked to eat only the fish that I want them to eat. Stocking Blues, Channels, Flatheads, and other fish like Muskies or Pike work to an extent, but as they grow larger they tend to target larger and larger prey. It's all related to mouth gape (how big their mouth is). This fall I had a large Channel Cat die in my pond. It's mouth was large enough that it could eat a Bluegill that was between 5" and 6" tall............. If the goal is to grow large Bluegill, have an overabundance of Largemouth Bass no larger than 14"-16". They will absolutely hammer the 1/2"-5" Bluegills and whatever Bluegills survive will be to large for them to eat, and they will grow larger fast. Especially if you feed them. Here's some pictures from ponds where the goal is to grow large Bluegills. They have an overabundance of small LMB, and feed the BG. New pond, 8 months old, stocked at 1", it weighs 6 ounces. This is a Coppernose Bluegill from a pond in Texas. 9.5", one pound 3.5 ounces. This pond is in Freedom, Indiana. Hybrid Bluegill It's very difficult to have large Bluegills and large Bass in the same pond.
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Post by esshup on Jan 19, 2016 15:50:18 GMT -5
Growing large fish in a pond is a balancing act. It really is all about the carrying capacity of the pond. Just like grazing cattle, there are different amounts of fish you can have in the pond depending on what steps you take to keep water quality good. Just like you can have different amounts of cattle on an open range or a feed lot.
In a one acre pond (8'-10' deep) where the fish are not fed, nor is there a properly designed aeration system you can have roughly 250-300 pounds of fish and not have to worry about a fish kill due to low O2 levels.
In an aerated pond of the same size, you can push that pounds of fish to 500-600.
In a pond that is aerated and you are supplementally feeding the fish, you can push that number to 800-900 pounds of fish.
In heavily managed aquaculture facilities, where they are growing fish for sale, they continually monitor water quality, etc., they can hit 3,000 - 6,000 pounds of fish (or more) with the same water volume as in that example that I gave.
Rough rule of thumb, depending on the quality of the food and the type of fish, a fish that eats live fish needs to eat 10# of fish to gain one pound of weight. That same fish could gain that same weight on as little as 2# of a good quality fish food.
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