Unwelcome Pond Visitor removal advice.

Peter Drouin · January 03, 2025, 10:10:05 PM

Quote from: WV Sawmiller on January 03, 2025, 03:43:15 PM

Howard, have you ever heard the expression "You have to read the room before you speak?"

Ya Howard, The room wants to kill everything and it will be better. [payattention]

I on the other hand would live trap it and bring it to that big lake. Probably find a mate and have more.

It's funny that all the animals were there first, and then a man showed up and found the animals were not part of his plane.

I didn't know you liked eating frogs, Boss.

beenthere · January 04, 2025, 12:16:08 AM

Just watched a Mississippi trapper video of setting trap for beaver but catching an otter holding a good size bass in the trap.

At 20:58 minutes in this trappers video. Interesting character and also a usual watch for me.

SwampDonkey · January 04, 2025, 05:23:49 AM

That's quite something for sure.

But man is he ever polluted with beavers. Otter will kill beaver, but he likes fish better.

WV Sawmiller · January 04, 2025, 10:26:42 AM

Donkey,

That's pretty amazing.

I lose a catfish on my lines to an otter every trip or two and sometimes I have a bushhook pulled up on the bank with the bait gone where a mink stole the little bream I had on it for bait. I just write it off to paying my dues. They are just doing what otters and minks do and it is their home I'm fishing in.

In the past I have had beavers chew off the end of a willow limb including the bushhook I had tied on it. Beavers won't eat fish so that is the only damage I ever got from them.

I have caught an occasional blue heron stealing my bait in shallow water. They are a pain to get off a hook. Once I watched a big water snake tail walking with my bait in his mouth. He was not hooked but was just trying to get the little dead bream off.

I sure wish I had a pet mink to catch pesky the frogs out of my pond for me.

Jeff · January 04, 2025, 10:40:04 AM

Problem is Howard, he won't stop at frogs. If you would like to drive up and donate some catfish fillets, ill trade a few bluegills to the mink and let you play with him.

WV Sawmiller · January 04, 2025, 11:06:46 AM

I sure wish I could come up that way. I'd be glad to bring you 40-50 lbs of catfish fillets. Let me know when you are passing through this way and we'll fix you up with a years supply and Rocky can keep working on his frog control project.

Jeff · May 06, 2025, 06:23:56 AM

Well, the Mink is dead. I dont know how, but he is dead. So far i have not seen a live blegill, but have found 3 long dead ones over the last 10 days. I hope there are some left. Minnows are not near as fun to feed. I made a short video of the events of finding out of it's demise. It'd been dead awhile.

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/191xuPyiZw/

YellowHammer · May 06, 2025, 07:26:35 AM

Wow. What's fast enough to kill a mink hut not strong enough to carry him off?

Jeff · May 06, 2025, 09:00:19 AM

Here iswhat I surmise. This is the last we saw of the mink on camera. I think the Coyote found him, and gravely injured him but it escaped into the pond and died under the ice and sunk to the bottom. I think as the water warms, decomposition excelerated, bringing the carcass to the top, and the scaveger birds drug him up out of the water. I hope parts of him fed whatever fish he had not killed while he was down there. Fair guess ya think?

YellowHammer · May 06, 2025, 09:28:24 AM

Sounds good. Why are you finding dead bream? Did they freeze? Or do they have teeth marks where he was eating them?

Are the bullhead catfish still there, or did he get them too?

SwampDonkey · May 06, 2025, 09:29:27 AM

Certainly possible, might even have been a barred owl to.

Jeff · May 06, 2025, 09:39:57 AM

Ive found 6 dead bluegills so far, 4 of them only partially there, 2 whole, and 2 of them just now. Floating, and shredded. We have so many predators and it was a hard winter so I don't know. The ice has only been gone a couple weeks. Ive not seen any of the bass. I checked water temp uesterday and it was up to 56°

Time will tell I guess. I sure hope some fish survived to give me incentive to add more. I'm sure the bullhead catfish made it just fine. I'll know for sure when I start seeing the swimming black circles of yunguns.

Resonator · May 06, 2025, 10:34:25 AM

Well at least there's one less predator poachin' in your ocean!

aigheadish · May 07, 2025, 07:09:53 AM

Jeff, do you have anywhere for the fish to hide from critters like the mink? I don't remember seeing any christmas trees tossed in or anything and I guess I'm not sure what a mink can hunt through underwater. Makes me think maybe some deeper water (which is likely not likely) or some good underbrush to snag your fishing hooks on.

Jeff · May 07, 2025, 07:41:54 AM

The pond bottom has a couple big boulders and a craggy bottom. I am working on some structure to add to the deeper part, but really, it won't be of much deterrence to a warm blooded killing machine designed to do what it does to cold blooded lethargic fish in a U.P. winter. I knew this going in that defending this pond from predators would be a constant.

Niw that spring is here, we get a whole new set of infiltrarors, mostly airborne.

YellowHammer · May 07, 2025, 08:24:03 AM

Between all the predators and the cold, those fish have a pretty hard life, but hopefully, they made it. If even a few did, they will spawn and repopulate quickly.