Thread: 1 Acre 28.5 feet deep pond help?

Originally Posted by Lowellhturner

Once fish are introduced electro shocking or poisoning the pond is the ONLY `sure fire` 100% method of eradicating them. However, pike like other fish are cannibals and will often eat the biggest prey they can mouth. And pike DO eat many carp, particular juveniles. You might have a monster pike fishery going there...

If they are still alive, I can't catch the pike with a spoon or a minnow.

The pike have so much natural food, most likely swimming right to their mouth that you will not catch them on a spoon. There are ponds/small lakes here in Illinois that DNR nets tons of large walleye out but you only hear of one or two being caught, why the lakes are loaded with shad. All the walleye have got to do is stay still and the shad will swim to them.

Originally Posted by jaxsprat

The pike have so much natural food, most likely swimming right to their mouth that you will not catch them on a spoon. There are ponds/small lakes here in Illinois that DNR nets tons of large walleye out but you only hear of one or two being caught, why the lakes are loaded with shad. All the walleye have got to do is stay still and the shad will swim to them.

So how do I catch them.

Catch a good size pan fish and run a good size hook through its back and fish under a big float. If artificial won't work because of the large amount of natural forage for the pike, then go with the natural forage. An injured pan fish may draw them in.CF

A 6-8" chub would be the `ideal bait. They are fairly tough and so long as you are careful to miss the spinal column should work. Rig a treble hook in the top lip and a `stinger` treble in the tail and sit back and watch the float. It might take a minute and make CERTAIN you have a stout rig and STRONG line...

trot line with live gills for bait. make sure you eat those pike, they are gggggrrrrrrrrreat! fillet season and bake. when baked you can plunk the y-bones rite out(they will be sticking up from the fillet) and chow down. they are as good as walleye to most. jacks/pickerel are just as tasty too.

channel cats are a great predator for small ponds. take some corn and a few kids, and get them carp out. chum some corn and sit back and enjoy the action. lol

Originally Posted by pondfisher

Also I keep catching 5 inch crappie, why?

Stunted

Very likely sir...