# Cant catch our redears from our pond



## exide9922 (Aug 9, 2010)

We're on year 3 for my father in laws new pond and we cant seem to catch any of the redears that we put in there, not 1! it's a 3/8 acre pond, not large at all, i can cast anywhere i want. 1st year was minnows only, 2nd year stocked with i believe 50 bass 250 red ear and 12 channel cats plus a lot of minnows, tad poles. For whatever reason no one has caught or even saw a red ear in this pond, alive or dead. now the water is dyed blue, so visibility is extremely poor. not much structure at all, 8-10 feet deepest, clay bottom, rocks along the whole shore but the rocks are not very deep, a dock and a sandy beach area. The bass are no problem at all to catch, they've grown to about 9-10 inches. channel catfish are about the same. i have no problems catching redear on public lakes. heck i've caught them as small as a few inches on pin mins and maggot/wax worm/red worm/gulp minnows/other fake stuff. all kind of things, but I cant catch one out of this pond. which got me to think, maybe they're not there anymore. could the bass have eaten them all? maybe the bass grew quicker than the red ears? So 2 weeks ago we stocked an additional 50 red ears, but larger ones, 4-6 inches. still havent caught/seen one! can a 10 inch bass eat a 4-6 inch red ear? i'm at a ;oss. any ideas? will the red ears be deeper? shallower? all over?


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## CPK (Jan 31, 2015)

Sounds to me like this pond needs some structure drops bad!!


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## jl106112 (Mar 3, 2015)

Throwing a cast net in there a few times might let you know if there are any left.


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## exide9922 (Aug 9, 2010)

yeah tell me about it! I wish there was more structure, but, it was primarily meant as a swimming pond, with fishing as an added bonus. i like the cast net idea...i might try that. need to get one though


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## Salmonid (Apr 14, 2004)

I had the same problem in my similar sized pond and what I found out was a few things now that my pond is 7 years old, first is I bet they are still there as mine were but I would never catch them until...wait for it.. I ice fished, then I caught almost as many as regular gills, its been that way ever since I first put them in there, I wont catch but 1-2 all season then when I go through the ice with waxies and spikes, Ill get a bunch of them. They also are not prolific spawners so you need to stock regular gills in the pond ASAP if you were counting on using them to feed your bass and cats, if that's the case they may have eaten a large number of them, whoever stocked your pond should have told you the redears will not suffice and hold there own at best ( Like Black Crappies and Yellow Perch) with no predation but with predators in the pond counting on them, they will disappear so think about that and you may want to also stock fathead minnows and or golden shiners to help supplement the feed for the cats and bass now that they are big enough to eat yearling panfish.

Good luck,
Salmonid


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## exide9922 (Aug 9, 2010)

Salmonid said:


> I had the same problem in my similar sized pond and what I found out was a few things now that my pond is 7 years old, first is I bet they are still there as mine were but I would never catch them until...wait for it.. I ice fished, then I caught almost as many as regular gills, its been that way ever since I first put them in there, I wont catch but 1-2 all season then when I go through the ice with waxies and spikes, Ill get a bunch of them. They also are not prolific spawners so you need to stock regular gills in the pond ASAP if you were counting on using them to feed your bass and cats, if that's the case they may have eaten a large number of them, whoever stocked your pond should have told you the redears will not suffice and hold there own at best ( Like Black Crappies and Yellow Perch) with no predation but with predators in the pond counting on them, they will disappear so think about that and you may want to also stock fathead minnows and or golden shiners to help supplement the feed for the cats and bass now that they are big enough to eat yearling panfish.
> 
> Good luck,
> Salmonid


huh...well thats interesting! I hope they're still there and will give the ice fishing a try next year. I wish we had standard bluegills but we dont. mother in law doesnt want them because she heard somewhere they will nip at you when swimming in the water. I'm hoping we dont have an imbalance in fish now. if there are no bluegills repopulating as bass food the minnows will disappear which seems to be the case now too. very few minnows left. I think where he bought the fish from said bluegills would be better, but the red ears will still produce enough. we've also stocked the fathead minnows and golden shiners a few times besides the initial stocking.


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## James F (Jul 2, 2005)

You may want to check out of the professional fish stocking sites or the odnr site. Good luck.


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## bountyhunter (Apr 28, 2004)

could have froze out?? yes bass love gills. so do catfish.


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