Gotta love it.

[taxid]

Like most of us here I pride myself on being able to pretty much catch fish just about anywhere at anytime of the species I'm after. But not so to catch one solitary fish in one of my little 1/10th acre ponds.  Let me explain…

I produce perch fry in one of my hatchery ponds, which consists of placing a floating cage with male and female yellow perch tethered to a pier, and allowing them to spawn in the cage. The eggs consist of a gelatinous ribbon, which stays on the bottom of the cage. Once the eggs hatch the almost microscopic fry swim out of the cage, and the brood stock in the cage are removed. This way they don't stay in the pond and feed on their offspring if a cage is not used.

This year things didn't go as planned… One of the males flipped himself out of the cage as I was removing the brood stock so I now have a 11 inch male perch swimming in the pond potentially feeding on the perch fry and fingerlings.

I've tried to catch him with a red worm and a minnow, but fishing for just one fish in a pond -- even a small pond -- is harder than you think.

At night I can see him cruise by 8 or 10 feet from the light I have set up over a belt feeder -- that drops powder size feed in the water -- for the fry to get them to feed on artificial feed. Apparently I'm quite visible above in the light as he's skittish and refuses to take any bait. He cruises through every 10 minutes or so.

The other night I left a red worm dangled off the pier with loose line and a closed bail on the spinning reel with hopes he'd swallow the bait, take out the loose line and then hook himself when the line tightened up. The next morning I found the line tangled around one of the pier posts and the hook baitless in the weeds.  

I guess I'll have to drag out the seine, which fortunately has mesh large enough for the fry to pass through.

BTW here is picture of just some of the thousands of fry that congregate under the light at night. The picture was taken a few days ago. The fry are phototactic up to a certain size, which means they are attracted to light. Of course so are the zooplankton they feed on initially, so I'm sure that attracts the fish too. They are about 3/8's to a half an inch in the photo.




Here is the belt feeder mounted to the end of the pier and a clamp on light above it, which slowly drops feed into the water via a belt and a wind up clock spring. No electricity needed. This one slowly unwinds over a 12 hour period.


 

[taxid]

Ran a seine through the pond three times and didn't get the little @#^%$@!.  Apparently the seine is riding over the Chara and he's hunkering down in the Chara. May have to remove the pier as it may be allowing him to escape as the seine has go around the pier and allows an opening. The seine had big enough openings to allow the fry through but small enough to capture the perch.

I spend a couple of hours with a crappie size minnow yesterday with no luck.

[Mac Attack]

I guess I'll have to drag out the seine, which fortunately has mesh large enough for the fry to pass through.
 

Exactly what I was going to recommend.
Good luck.

Mac

[taxid]

Exactly what I was going to recommend.
Good luck.

Mac

Seine didn't work but may remove the pier to get it to work better.

Left a crappie size minnow out below a float overnight and the minnow was gone this morning. Was hoping he's swallow and hook himself but no dice yet.

[Mac Attack]

A bow?

 

[stripernut]

My father had 1 small bass in a small pond that he was setting up for Koe. He did everything he could think of and could not catch that fish. I came down with a size 12 hook a fat worm and injected it with air and put it out on a light sliding rig, 20 minutes later, 1 less bass... Bet it would work on your perch... You could also do the same trick you used before with a worm at night, but use a circle hook, bet he will still be on in the morning...

[taxid]

My father had 1 small bass in a small pond that he was setting up for Koe. He did everything he could think of and could not catch that fish. I came down with a size 12 hook a fat worm and injected it with air and put it out on a light sliding rig, 20 minutes later, 1 less bass... Bet it would work on your perch... You could also do the same trick you used before with a worm at night, but use a circle hook, bet he will still be on in the morning...

Thanks I may give that a shot.

[seamonkey84]

That is an awesome read, the epic hunt for the one that got away. Your very own moby dick. That said, if other rigs fail, maybe try a drop shot rig with a minnow (or gulp minnows which are my favorite) and stand back a bit and just make it dance. Either that or the slip rig mentioned should work, but would require you to be there to set the hook and not let him spit it.

[taxid]

A bow?

 

Are you kidding? I can't even hit the side of a barn let alone a 10 inch perch! 

[taxid]

That is an awesome read, the epic hunt for the one that got away. Your very own moby dick. That said, if other rigs fail, maybe try a drop shot rig with a minnow (or gulp minnows which are my favorite) and stand back a bit and just make it dance. Either that or the slip rig mentioned should work, but would require you to be there to set the hook and not let him spit it.

A dancing minnow has no effect.

I am pulling the pier out today and will be seining the ****censored word**** out of the pond.

This reminds me of back when I had a serious issue with a Great Blue Heron spearing my large fish and just letting them lay, and I got a federal permit to take him out. My usual non lethal way to keep him out of the pond was't working. I think he was the Einstein of Great Blue Herons.

1. He seemed to know the range of my shotgun and stood just out of range.

2. He only showed up at last light and I'm convinced he was on the pond at night when I was fast asleep. (West Noble High School is lit up like a carnival at night for security reasons and lights up the back of my property.)

3. I set up a blind and waited for him. (Put some slots in a privacy fence.) Just when I was ready to give up for the evening, he lands on the other side of the fence and curls his head around staring right at me! I thought, "I've got you now you SOB." The shotgun just went "click" as I didn't have the shell in the chamber! By the time I engaged the shell he was flying opposite of the neighbors house so I didn't shoot.

I finally got some 3 1/2 inch shells with buckshot to "reach out and touch someone."  You know the rest of the story.

I'm tellin' ya I felt like wily coyote and the roadrunner!

[Mac Attack]

Are you kidding? I can't even hit the side of a barn let alone a 10 inch perch! 

lol

[Mac Attack]

I'm tellin' ya I felt like wily coyote and the roadrunner!

 beep beep 

[hunts2long]

Here is how we get rid of herons here....h2l

[Fat Boy]

I was going to suggest a fish trap or perhaps set a line of baited hooks across the pond over night to cover more water than with just one hook.

[seamonkey84]

So did you end up catching him?