I am just completing a 4 acre pond on a creek. About 400 yards above the new pond is a long deep hole of water that has a lot of fish in it. Some bass lots of sunfish and bream a lot of carp, gar, some big flatheads and channel catfish. These are all native fish. I want to manage the new pond a but if the creek runs big enough some of these fish will make their way down to it. Should I rotenone it? Pump it down and take out all of the undisirable fish, ie big catfish & roughfish. If I rotenone it can the larger bass be saved if taken at once from the water a put in fresh water? I have to do something pretty quick whatever I do.

Yeah man I dont know...hope someone who does know chimes in here, i am curious to know too. My GUESS is, that no matter what you did in that one hole, that all of those species of fish will end up in your tank anyways... they are surley not 100% soley located in that 400 yards of the creek, they would come in from somewhere upstream anyhow if the water ran high. Still, would not hurt to get rid of the ones you can now I supppose. I would be glad to help in catching them on rod reel if you need, just let me know. Good luck... your own pond.... thats like a dream for me.

Once affected by rotenone, they are finished. No saving them.

Your best long term bet is to establish a desirable population of fish in the new pond as quickly as possible. This filling up available niches. Undesirable species will eventually get into the pond, but not establish themselves if there is no room and predators are big enough to eat them or their offspring.

Thanks for the info Fishbreeder. I am thinking about just roteone the big hole directly above anyway. It is only about 400 yards and the creek will run at least once this year. There are not any more holes that hold fish for about 2 miles above this hole so maybe the fish I put in the new pond will have a fighting chance to get established.
Thanks again.

If it's all your water, then you can do what you want, but
I didn't see any fish named that I would call 'undesireable'. They've already established a working ecosystem in the creek and would no doubt do the same in your pond. But, hey, beauty and desireablity is in the eye of the beholder. Have fun with your pond!

Lots of carp and gar. But mostly some big flatheads that I am afraid would keep the gamefish populations eaten down. Those things are eating machines.

Flatheads can destroy a population of anything if enough of them and big enough. I would never stock them unless thats what you want to catch. I saw a report on the missisippi where they stocked them where they were catching some kind of big perch and was a favorite hole for these perch for many people. Once the flatheads took hold there in a matter of a cpl years thats the only thing they could catch in there and they decimated the perch population to extiction. Flatheads love live bait. Channels and blues arent too bad but still would not stock them if i didnt want to fish for them. Ive seen people in the past that when they knew the area would flood they staked up fences around the area so fish couldnt get in or out of their pond, not sure how yours is located if you could do that or not thou.
You can also ask meadowlark on here since he has several of his own tanks he has built so he may chime in here on this as well.

9094,


You're probably not going to like my opinion on this...but here goes anyway...

First, what are you objectives for the pond?

If you are after a quality bass pond, then you need to consider making some radical changes. If you get even one flathead in there you will pay dearly in lost bass, lost forage, and lost opportunity for years and years.

I don't care how established you get them, the bass can not and will not outcompete those flatheads. Nature controls that one.

You can do the rotenone but its only a temporary fix...no way you are going to eliminate all the fish entirely from that creek all the way back to its source.

If it were me, and I'm after bass fishing, I would try to find a way to re-route that creek around the pond. I personally don't know of any fool-proof means to trap/screen all the fish out before entering your pond...but there may be a way...all it takes is one or two flatheads getting through and you will pay dearly. That's why I would consider re-routing the creek.

Sorry to say, but don't know any other way to say it.


On the other hand, left alone, it may make a very interesting diverse fishery in which you can catch a variety of fish and have a lot of fun doing so...but regardless even then those flatheads should be removed each and every opportunity.

Meadowlark, I completely agree with your assessment I have been faced with a similar problem in the past and the way we dealt with it was not cheap. We didn't reroute the creek but we built up a couple of barriers above the high water mark and had wire screens over the openings to the culverts. We had to do this in a couple of spots bc it acted as a redneck fish filtration system. Clearly we had to start with larger holes then smaller holes in the wire screens. This has worked so far (for a few years), but i am convinced it is far from foolproof and will eventually prove ineffective.

Thanks for your comments James. It sounds like you have taken an ingenious approach which is working for you....and that's what its all about.

It isn't fun to convey bad news to a poster, like 9094 in this case, but then it would be dishonest and/or not true to your own experience to do otherwise.

Thanks again for your comments.