Pond Observations

[Eric 26]

@Blue Raider Bob You sir have a great attitude and outlook on life as well as incredible vision with the skills to bring it all together 😃

[Swamp Girl]

Otters. Muskrats. Are moose next?

[Blue Raider Bob]

1 hour ago, Eric 26 said:

@Blue Raider Bob You sir have a great attitude and outlook on life as well as incredible vision with the skills to bring it all together 😃

Thanks for the kind words Eric! With age comes wisdom....right?  Well, experience anyway. I've got bigger issues to overcome. My wife has been ill and her peace, health, and comfort are my passions right now. I'll get the pond fixed this spring and post some prettier pictures. If I would have known how much work this would have been, I'd.........well, I'd do it anyway!

[Eric 26]

@Blue Raider Bob Hoping all goes well for your wife 🙏

[TnRiver46]

Praying for your wife Bob! 

[Tennessee Boy]

Thoughts and prayers for you and your wife.

[Swamp Girl]

Me too, Bob, me too. We're all thinking good thoughts for Glenda, you, and your kids.

[Blue Raider Bob]

14 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

Me too, Bob, me too. We're all thinking good thoughts for Glenda, you, and your kids.

You guys are the greatest! Thanks everyone for the support. I never realized that my BR friends would someday become my family. I am truly blessed in so many ways, not the least of which my BR friends that support, encourage, and motivate me daily!

[Blue Raider Bob]

     It's been a while but things are happening at the pond. After the partial draining of the pond to repair the numerous holes located, I have nearly finished the process of re-filling. Thanks to a 7" rain, and daily pumping, I am within a foot of full pool.  The dock has been relocated and secured, and I have resumed loafing.

     Here are the observations I wanted to share.

First, I am amazed by the ability of the fish to adjust to their new surroundings. Just a week ago, this was no more than a 2' deep puddle with the fish vying for survival, and elbow room. Now, just one week and 8' later, they have resumed life as before. I am basing this on the cicada emergence. The fish are really enjoying the emergence and especially the ones that attempt to fly over the pond and come up short. There was no lag time between pond filling and normal feeding behavior. When a cicada lands on the water, it does not last.

 

Second, while still on the subject of cicadas, the gentleness in which the LM take the cicadas is completely surprising to me. We have all witnesses the explosions our addictions have displayed for us in the past, but in my pond, on many occasions, the LM rise to the cicada, and gently takes the meal with no fanfare at all. If you are not watching, you will easily miss the event. Unlike the BG's with their small mouths, the LM's do not make a show of it. It may seem morbid in a way, but I have been collecting live cicadas, (they climb my metal fence T-posts), as well as dead ones on my driveway, and toss into the pond from the vantage point in the picture. Same results, only the dead ones take a little longer. Now would be a great time to break out the fly-rod with a black popping bug.

 

I'm actually wishing the emergence would continue.

Thanks

Bob

[Blue Raider Bob]

BTW, both of these pictures were taken from nearly the same spot. I had to move the dock from its location above the saddle to the right because I needed to inspect and repair the area it used. It is beached in the last photo. After the pond level increased, I was able to tow it back to its permanent location where the water is now 34" deep and will be 43" at full pool. My next adventure will be to locate and move the dock counterweight seen in the last picture, to its place hanging off the left side of the dock in the first picture. The counterweight is a concrete filled white half barrel seen in the middle of the puddle. It weighs 320 lbs. and is under 6' of water. Haven't figured that one out yet!

[Swamp Girl]

Rebirth!

 

It's beautiful, Bob.

 

I would soooo gather and feed cicadas to the fish too.

 

12 minutes ago, Blue Raider Bob said:

The counterweight is a concrete filled white half barrel seen in the middle of the puddle. It weighs 320 lbs. and is under 6' of water. Haven't figured that one out yet!

 

This is just a suggestion, but I once saw this movie about a guy who became green and huge when angered. Have sweet Glenda slap you. You never know: You too might become incredibly strong and then the counterweight will be easy-peasy.

 

 

[Functional]

37 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

This is just a suggestion, but I once saw this movie about a guy who became green and huge when angered. Have sweet Glenda slap you. You never know: You too might become incredibly strong and then the counterweight will be easy-peasy.

 

 

I'm not sure but if those Nutria come back after all the work he just did he might really have to change his name to "Green Raider Bob" 

 

@Blue Raider Bob for that concrete you can get a couple of lift bags if you dont want to drag it. Attached a few and inject some air enough to get it just hovering and push it on over. 

[Blue Raider Bob]

My plan is to swim out there with a marker buoy. Tie the buoy to the chain, and return with my jon boat. Hook a come-along cable to the counterweight chain and winch up over the transom of the boat, scull over to the dock and hook chain to its mooring. That's the plan! I'm waiting for a warm spell 'cause that water is chilly!    🥶😬

 

I had to get into the water to position the dock and attach the grounding cables, and that was not a pleasant experience.

[TnRiver46]

Live cicada on a small hook and 4 lb test Saturday Bob, don’t even need a fly rod. Granted I’ve been using fly rod and slaying carp with them too 

[Swamp Girl]

39 minutes ago, Blue Raider Bob said:

My plan is to swim out there with a marker buoy. Tie the buoy to the chain, and return with my jon boat. Hook a come-along cable to the counterweight chain and winch up over the transom of the boat, scull over to the dock and hook chain to its mooring. That's the plan! I'm waiting for a warm spell 'cause that water is chilly!    🥶😬

 

I had to get into the water to position the dock and attach the grounding cables, and that was not a pleasant experience.

 

I am amazed at the things you can do, Bob. 

[Blue Raider Bob]

2 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Live cicada on a small hook and 4 lb test Saturday Bob, don’t even need a fly rod. Granted I’ve been using fly rod and slaying carp with them too 

That bass is fat! Looks like yours wasn't the first cicada she found.

Just got back from visiting the Duck river. Water is still a little high and muddy but a procession of cicadas were moving downstream and nothing was eating them.....NOTHING! Don't understand it.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Glad to see the pond back to being healthy Bob! 

 

 

[Blue Raider Bob]

1 minute ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Glad to see the pond back to being healthy Bob! 

 

 

Thanks....forgot to mention Gigi hatched one chick this year. She sat on eight eggs, but between my daughters puppy harassing her, and my daughters goats trampling her nest, she ended up with only one chick. Yes, the pond is back to physical health, and I am back to mental health.....I think  🙄

[Blue Raider Bob]

     The Cicada buffet is waning, much to the disappointment of the pond critters and the owner. To set up this observation, please let me explain. My pond is within six inches of full pool and I am holding back until my aquatic plantings have established. Meanwhile as seen in the photo, I have a line of mature crabapple trees that have branch tips overhanging the water. I have discovered that Cicadas love crabapple trees. While the Hackberries, Elms, Oaks, ect. are nearly bare, the crabapples and willows are loaded. One real good shake of a low limb sends a cloud of them flying. Another thing is Cicadas are not very strong fliers. OF the cloud that takes to the wing after a limb shake, the majority fly out over the pond and circle back to the Crabapples. Most make it back but there are always several splashdowns. This brings me to my observations about fish behavior that I wanted to share.

     It did not take long for the LM and BG to associate me with mealtime. There is a pack of seven LM about 15" that follow my every move. This group includes several BG and younger bass. If I walk down the bank, the bass follow. If I walk halfway around the pond, the bass follow. If I sit in my pond chair and relax, I have a school of bass and BG staring at me from three feet away. When I toss Cicadas into the pond, the fish react with lightning speed. Two weeks ago only the boldest took a Cicada near my position. Now, I can practically hand feed them, they are so inured to my presence and generosity. How does this help my fellow anglers? I do not know, but it may be of interest to some. Bass are definitely quick learners (and BG), and they stubbornly stick to know food sources.

     One other observation of interest......LM and other fish use visual, as well as vibrational means to locate food sources. In my observations, the vibrational are not as important as I once thought. This is what I mean by that. If a struggling Cicada is within 5' of a visible LM, the Cicada is doomed. Past the 5' radius, the Cicada stands a good change of surviving the LM. In addition, a Cicada that is dead, or too weak to move, will be passed over by the LM every time. The Cicada MUST show movement before it is consumed. Not so with BG. They will investigate all possibilities and readily consume dead and weak insect. This tells me that even though we use lures with vibrations to target LM, we must get within a closer radius with our offering than I once thought. The visual radius could possibly be even smaller.

[Swamp Girl]

3 minutes ago, Blue Raider Bob said:

This tells me that even though we use lures with vibrations to target LM, we must get within a closer radius with our offering than I once thought.

 

Bob, my fishing this last week has shown this to be so. I don't know if you remembered, but last year, I shared my failure to land bass that were surface feeding. I didn't catch a single one.

 

This year, I've done better with a JackAll DriftFry strolling minnow (Thanks to @AlabamaSpothunter.) and a Shimano Flash Boost popper. I catch some of the bug-slurping bass, but nowhere near the majority that I see because, as you've observed at your pond, I have to land a lure with two feet of them in three seconds or less after they feed. They feed and they're gone, looking for another bug. 

 

Still, even though I mostly fail, it's a beautiful sight, to simply look at on the lake and see dozens of bass rising. 

 

Thanks for today's post, Bob. I really enjoyed it and love the fact of your fish following you. You're the goose and they're your goslings. 

[Team9nine]

1 hour ago, Blue Raider Bob said:

One other observation of interest......LM and other fish use visual, as well as vibrational means to locate food sources. In my observations, the vibrational are not as important as I once thought. This is what I mean by that. If a struggling Cicada is within 5' of a visible LM, the Cicada is doomed. Past the 5' radius, the Cicada stands a good change of surviving the LM. In addition, a Cicada that is dead, or too weak to move, will be passed over by the LM every time. The Cicada MUST show movement before it is consumed. Not so with BG. They will investigate all possibilities and readily consume dead and weak insect. This tells me that even though we use lures with vibrations to target LM, we must get within a closer radius with our offering than I once thought. The visual radius could possibly be even smaller.

So this is also tied to your comment about their ability to learn or associate with very specific food items, but it’s not absolute, and sometimes works in reverse.
 

I lived at a small reservoir with a marina that sold bait, including minnows. Twice a day, they’d gather all the dead ones in a pail, walk out to the dock, stomp their feet a couple times and then toss the dead minnows into the water. An immediate gorging by the bass that lived under the dock ensued. The catch being, these bass wouldn’t touch a live minnow unless it was tossed in during the immediate feeding frenzy and not given a chance. After about 30 seconds, the only minnows the bass would come back and eat were the dead minnows that drifted off. You toss a live one in and he’d just swim away unscathed. Toss a dead one in, and a bass would rise up to just underneath, inspect it for a few seconds, then slurp it under. Zero movement by the minnow was important.
 

All kinds of anglers would fish there during closed hours trying to catch these bass, but they rarely bit. I figured out how to trick one or two every once in a while by fishing a weightless fluke or similar style bait wacky rigged…but the key was toss it in, and never move it. Give it slack line immediately and just wait while it slowly sank to the bottom. Often you had to wait until it reached bottom and just sat there for a while. These bass learned that anything that moved even the slightest wasn’t a hand fed dead minnow - lol. It was pretty fascinating.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Great stuff Bob, and you should check out some of Shiner Sam's videos on youtube.   Dude hand feeds teener sized Bass with Shiners.    Crazy stuff.   I have no doubt Bass learn faster than most anglers realize.  I've observed this with baits no doubt.   I'll hammer them on a particular bait for a month or so, and sometimes I can never get them to eat that bait again in any significant manner.   The more violent the action of the bait, the easier it is for the Bass to learn it.  This is why I think things like a Whacky Rig, or a Free Rig work so well time after time.  Very subtle action that's hard for the fish to remember.  

 

Your observations are correct based on the biologists I listen to in regard to sense usage.

 

According to the info I've learned, Bass are primarily sight feeders, and use their secondary senses like lateral line detection, and smell as a final decider in whether to strike or not.   

[Blue Raider Bob]

     Well it's time for a pond update. I am losing around 3/4" of water level daily to evaporation, and multiple small holes in liner caused by gremlins. According to info on the net, you can expect 1/4" loss daily from evaporation. I stapled a score of the quarter sized holes this spring when I nearly drained pond, but now I have resigned myself to the reality of extreme water loss that just needs to be overcome. Here is the plan so far. I have a 4" Solar well pump that gains 1/4" daily on seepage. This cuts down my loss to a little over 1/2" daily. I have gone on top of the solar pump with a 3" 110V submersible and tied the plumbing together so now I gain 1-1/2" every 24 hours. This gives me a net gain of 3/4" daily. The pump runs continuously on household current obtained from a new pole and barn wire. At this rate I will be at full pool by this weekend and can go on a timing system to maintain level.

     Never thought the pond maintenance would be this tough. Thought the digging was the hard part. Anyway, the aquatic plants are doing well in spite of the nightly turtle attacks. I am in the process of making a homemade humane turtle trap from you tube videos. My goal is to create a Maine Bog in middle Tennessee. Katie's pictures she posts made me crazy enough to try. Anyway, it's another excuse to play in the water. I will be filling more pots this weekend. The fish love the plants. Every pot is claimed by bluegills. I have over 25 and growing.

     Another thing that Katie mentioned in an article she posted a while back, was the relationship we can secure with the aquatic life we enjoy if we slow down long enough to try. When I'm wading in the pond, I am surrounded by fish almost at once as long as I move slowly with no sudden movement. The BG bite at my pants, legs, feet, anything submerged. Bass swim by looking me right in the eye. When the feeder sprays food, I can stand in the middle of it and enjoy the frenzy with the critters, including Molly, the Red-eared Slider who is back for her fifth year.

     Anyway, pond live is good.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Gives you a whole new appreciation for God and Mother Nature doesn't it, the complexity of nature is incredible.    I'm always reminded of this when I read about another failed attempt to grow the world record LMB.   

 

Great stuff Bob, you work so hard on that pond, so it's nice that you take the time to really enjoy the critters in the home you've built them.  

[Swamp Girl]

Thanks for the update, Bob. I laughed when I read that you want a Maine bog in Tennessee! If that's the way you're playing it, then I'm going to build my own Nashville here! I'm warming up by building my own Dollywood. 

 

Seriously, the pond looks great and I enjoyed your pics and anecdotes.