More pond notes, and a new visitor emerges

Joey with one of our Pond Bass

My ponds continue to produce, frustrate, try my patience, and make me smile - sometimes all in the same day. I sometimes get a little too cocky on these small waters, and think I have them all figured out. Then a front blows through, the pressure drops, the bass get lockjaw, and the 'gills move offshore. Or, the pond that has the rainbow trout will have the trout rising to something, and I can't buy a hit! Oh well - that's what keeps us coming back.

Joey with a Pond Walleye

I did get a good afternoon in with some nice bass, including one of my best from the smaller pond - a pre-spawn female that had to be a little north of 5 pounds. Some good 'gills from areas that usually only have smaller ones. the crappies seem to be a little more common, too, but that concerns me. For the past 10 years, crappies in the ponds were pretty uncommon, but big. Now they seem to have taken hold, but the bigger ones seem harder to find. I don't want to let them overpopulate the pond, which they are known to do. Time for a bunch of crappie dinners! One of the unusual species for the pond, along with the trout, are walleyes. These have been stocked a little at a time over the past 10 years or so. I catch smallish ones (8' - 10") pretty frequently, and have caught them up to 17". A nice distraction when they feel like biting.

We have new companions on the ponds, too - the water snakes have come out. These are common Northern Water Snakes, and there are a lot of them in these ponds. Some pretty big ones, too, as evidenced by the picture from Monday.

With our local river near flood level from the excessive rains we've had, the ponds have saved my spring!