That’s interesting. I have seen fish in ponds or more accurately puddles that had no way of fish being washed in. These were puddles that dried up in the summer. I always wondered how in the hell they got in there. That might explain it.
My goodness, Mike, that is just paradise! Thank you for sharing your lovely photos!
Wow, what an enchanting place you have!
Thanks for taking time to share your pictures and knowledge.
Mike, if I lived there, I’d never leave home from spring through fall . I wouldn’t care what the inside looked like because I’d be outside all the time.
Nice! Do you get to harvest any of the trout? Your pond must be deep than I take it. Trout need cold oxygenated water from what I’ve read. Do you have to run a bubbler? It sounds like you need lots of fish food. I bet it’s not hard to catch a limit! It must be fun to feed them and see them come up to eat.
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the pond is 15 feet deep at one end. In the summer I use an aerator pump.
I keep them just as pets not so much to harvest.
If I could get the browns and rainbows to breed it would be a different story. But, the bass don’t allow for that as all fry are murdered.
My brother in law jokes that I keep them only as a lure for the Blue Herons 
Mike
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We have blue herons too. I like it when they come back in the spring and ride the air lifts cirling making their mating calls. They are about a couple miles up and I hear them before I see them. They look like Pterodactyls!
Actually, I was being sarcastic. They are vicious in taking the pond fish.
The worst part is that they don’t seem to discriminate as to the size of fish they go after. They will stab at a fish even if it is too large for them to eat which just results in a dead trout.
I have lost too many trout to appreciate any aspect of their beauty
Pond keepers feel the same about Herons as we feel about squirrels, rabbits & and plum Curculio.
Mike
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Oh I see, those pesky herons! Ya. I don’t have water front so I don’t see that aspect. I see them in the swampy sides of the lakes in the shallows when I drive to town. We have lots of surrounding lakes with them but didn’t realize their habits. We just look forward to seeing the wildlife as we drive around. We have sand hill cranes and egrets too.
Personally I love the blue herons and they were here eating trout before humans could walk on two feet- at least they look like dinosaurs.
You got me searching for info on the level of predation of blue herons on trout and it seems they are mainly a problem at hatcheries. They don’t consume more than about 2.5% of the trout annually in any part of their general range, from what I gather.
At your own pond maybe you could set up a motion detector attached to a hose and noisy sprinkler as one of my customers does to protect his poi. Scares the hell out of me every time I walk by that pond.
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Alan
During the first three years I had the pond I lost 25%. My pond is an artificial construct out in the open with the trout being trapped in a (relatively) confined space as are those in hatcheries.
Pondkeepers don’t hate Herons because of the wild trout they get but rather because of OUR trout, koi, bass etc. they take.
Wild trout live mostly in streams or deeper natural lakes. Those trout are less vulnerable.
But, I solved my problem in a different way. I learned that Herons will cannot climb over or under an obstruction . I constructed a fishing line fence aroundfthe pond. I sank 3 foot rebar a foot into the ground and ran 30 lb. fishing at aroud 12 inches abd at 18 inches. As the Herons approach and contact the fishing line they back off. I don’t think they see the line until they hit the line get surprised and leave.
And the fishing line is not visible to meeither until I am practically on top of it and vegetation grows up around the rebar hiding it as well.
This works in my setting. Might not work asthetically in a small backyard pond.
Haven’t lost trout to Herons in the last 2 years.
Mike
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Wow, what a great solution to your heron issue. Here we have cold springs and some people keep trout, king fishers seem to be the bigger problem. They will spear a trout many times their own size like the heron and it will later die. I sometimes jump to more leathal solutions, it’s nice to see one that works well and doesn’t compromise the view.
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That’s a good trick. I’ve used it with some success with deer, especially if there is also a low fence behind it. Got to be stronger than 30lb though.
You’ve quite a nice weekend spot for yourself. Do you hunt as well as fish?
Alan,
Thanx.
I don’t hunt except for squirrels and rabbits on my own property with my 25 cal. air-rifle.
Fishing limited to taking bass out of my own pond.
Mike
Down the road we have a lake. A guy I know got tired of the geese pooping on his dock and shoreline. He did the same thing to his shoreline but he used electric fence! He shoots bottle rockets at them too. The clutter up the ground with poop in a couple days. He only did that once in the spring because he was fed up. He has electric fencing around his garden in the back yard so it was easy for him to run a line down to the front for a while.
J…
I usually only get onepair of geese and they pick the far end of the property. I don’t know if it is because they are territorial or what.
A few years ago I had a problem that was corrected with lead poisoning.
Mike
I have to say this picture blow my mind.
Fruit tree can be bent and flatten like this way.
You would be surprised at how flexible they are and how you can manipulate the shape.
Try google and utube the following search terms . Espalier fruit trees, trellis fruit trees, Belgian fence.
Happy discoveries.
Mike
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