In this video, I am out at the new ponds explaining what happened to the bass and bluegill in the new ponds. I also feed the pet mallard ducks and alligator gar. Thanks for watching!!
Sorry for your loss. Cormorants are insatiable. About the only chance your fish have is cover. That is nature’s best answer to your problem. Your old pond was well established, and had generations of fish. New ponds like yours can be very hard to establish, and most of the commercial type answers to the predator problem just wouldn’t fit with your idea of a natural environment. Good luck on trying again.
I think Craig is correct, before you restock put several brush piles in the pond’s. There will probably be an abundance of Christmas trees after the 1st and any other structures like cinder blocks. If you have access to some concrete culvert pipes etc etc, anything that can be submerged for hiding spots for the fish! No matter what I hope you are very successful with these pond’s
Hey Craig I just tagged you in my comment because you're absolutely right these birds are no joke when it comes to hunting. I included a link to another video talking about the birds and would could be possibly the fix to help save the fish in the long game.
I thought about this immediately. How do wild fish protect themselves? Cover? I’m sure lots of things could be placed in the bottom of the pond to give them cover wile the plants grow and get established. Great idea!
Bamabass has been building a 5 acre pond on his farmland YT channel. I applaud your attempts Mr Fish Whisperer, but I also strongly recommend viewing Bamabass pond videos for a few pointers. With a little imagination, $$ and sponcerships you could make a fish paradise .
You could try some floating pond weed for cover that way its easy enough to move around, reduce or let it grow out. Left unkept it will grow over the entire pond unless the wildlife are eating it, where I'm from fishing lakes use it and segment it off to a side of a lake with floating barriers so it cant take over
Hey man, I'm really sorry this happened. But hopefully I can offer some advice. My hubby really struggled to get his pond going, it actually started off looking just how yours did. We struggled a lot with fishing birds, but we did eventually find a solution. You can't fully stop them without a pond cover, which is fine for small garden ponds but near impossible for big ponds. So, we eventually just started adding more and more hiding places for the fish. Try to make big elaborate branch piles, the birds struggle to get in between the sticks but the fish can easily get in and out. So branches, bushes, plants, and rocks. ESPECIALLY rocks. Creating rock piles also has the same effect as the branches. My observation is the ponds are just too bare since they're still at the beginning and it's a free meal for these birds. I wish you the best of luck in the future, really really hoping you can build yourself back up again
This was the same solution I came up with looking at the pond. It doesn't look natural because it isn't and that means there's no cover above or below the water. Putting in some big rocks that will pile up and have gaps is a great idea, as well as just hauling some dead trees in. These things will also discourage fishermen but I don't know if that would be a problem here. Probably also some plants so smaller fish have cover from the larger ones. Cat tails, lily pads, that sort of thing. Of course it's winter now so a lot of that will have to wait but it's a good time to start putting together a plan.
I watch a successful garden RU-vid channel. She’s has big losses and ups and downs. People watch bc she’s genuine. The same is true for why I watch you. There will be ups and downs, this one is a major suck but you’ll build back, I know you will.
So glad to see you back at the ponds! This is one of my favorite channels. I appreciate your work with the animals. Thank you for sharing. Please don't get discouraged by the setbacks. You make a difference for many people in many different ways! :)
I believe the ducks are getting to the age where they might not want to hang around family members. When animals mature, they often feel the urge to fly off and make their own family.
What age is that? I have a brood of kids I fed from early on and they stop by my house every morning. The mother recently stopped coming by, not sure if anything happened to her.
There's these smart water sprays that you place on the ground and has a sensor. The sensor detects movement and on sight that triggers their spray in an angle. I seen people use these because they have bird problems. Hope you can get one of those!
@@6root91 You are absolutely right, but normally ducks don't get skittish if they recognize you and or feed them. However and correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe any predator bird for some reason get very skittish when they get a jump scared and flee on something that spooks them.
Yeah the ducks and the fact that the pond is probably too big for the spray to reach far. He could raise the bass and catfish to a big enough size, OR offer a whole lot of cover by planting a bunch of plants like cattails, water grass, Lilly pads, et.
Looks like you’re going to have to make some fish caves out of milk crate or something maybe even a cinder block fish cave. Also vegetation for sure. Trees like buttonbush, and cypresses could help offer some protection. Also herbaceous plants like pickerelweed, water lilies, and wet grass species are good (Cladium mariscus) and cut grass
Hey man, Sorry about all this, I know the passion and love you put into these things. But, I also konw the respect you have for life, and animals are just doing their thing. I've been wondering what's been up, and was worried there was some fish kill or something. Keep doing what you do man, we love it. Cheers.
I'm so sorry for what happened. I can hear the sadness in your voice. I hope you're able to recover from this. And I hope there's a solution to your bird problem that will keep your fish alive. Thank you for making the content that you do. We'd all understand if you need a break to deal with everything. I hope you have a good Christmas at the least.
A temporary solution occurred to me. At a nearby junior college, a large ponderosa pine next to the lake died and the powers-that-be felled it directly into the water. The branches poked down, providing hiding places for fish. It became a favorite haul-out spot for the turtles, too. A large dead tree may not look pretty, but if you could get a hold of a few, they could provide a lot of cover in a very short period of time. Once you feel there's enough living cover, you could remove the dead trees if you wanted, although the dead pine in the lake at the college looks like it fits right in at this point. Ironically, a juvenile double-crested cormorant also found the dead pine tree to his liking for a while, but he probably had a tougher time catching the fish amongst all those branches than he would have without it in the way. Or maybe he knew the fish would try to hide there? Who knows? Thinking of all the work and love you put into the ponds, I'm sure you're not terribly happy with cormorants right now, but they were just doing what cormorants do. Raccoons ate my mother's pond fish. Despite our precautions, we knew there was a good chance this would happen, but it still hurt. Being angry at a raccoon (or a cormorant) for eating fish is a bit like being angry at a volcano for spewing lava, but because I'd cared for the fish, it took me a while to get over it, even though I like raccoons and raised them as a youngster. I still like raccoons, but it's almost impossible to have successful small fish ponds because of them. Without cover, it's going to be hard to keep the cormorants from destroying your efforts. Again: I'm VERY sorry for your loss. From watching your videos, I can tell this was your passion.
Oh No I was excited to see how big they got over the winter. All My Beautiful BABIES are gone. I'm Sending Unconditional Love to you and your Beautiful Family ‼️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🌹🥰😘👋🏽
In my opinion, you should have started the ponds with vegetation first. This would have made a more stable and healthy ecosystem for all species you put in, and also what would have come naturally. Then adding the fish would have given them cover to hide and better places for egg layers to keep their frye safe. Having an open area with no cover or structure is like leaving your front door open to thieves. Work on this while the water is low and the plants have time to root. Then try again stocking in the early Spring. I was afraid this would happen the way you set the ponds up.
You need more vegetation. For hiding places for the fish and to keep that water oxygenated. Maybe take silt from the other pond to help kickstart the growth in a few areas around the ponds.
This was an eventuality. I love watching this series, so don’t take offense to my comment, but you’ve completely neglected providing hiding spots, artificially built or natural, to allow your fish to hide from predators. Plus you condition them to feed on the shore making them easy targets for herons and egrets. Cormorants are their own problem because they are a fish eating divers but I got ideas for content: “Watch me haul this big ass tree and toss it into the ponds” “Watch me plant a shit ton of reeds and water lilies” If your focus are the gar then no worries. If you’d like having other smaller fish, you NEED to prioritize making hiding spots and cover. Like your catfish and bass get at your older pond.
@@Eire_Aontaithe The fish in wild ponds find a way to hide or they would be all gone as well. As humans, our Achille’s heel is pride, thinking we know enough to recreate a natural setting. We have no clue. But being humble and learning from your mistakes will get you far. Find out how the wild fish find cover and do your best to mimic it.
@@lindalumae I agree with you. But you forget that in the wild not all fish are still in growth age like they are in Kyle's ponds. You see, the adult fish won't be eaten by cormorants because they are big enough like the gars. That's why we don't run out of fish in the wild, because there are enough adults to keep the species going.
As sad as it is to lose the bass and catfish, I am relieved to hear that the gar are still ok. You have put so much time, money, and effort into those fish!
I’m gutted for you, just seen a comment from a guy suggesting logs and rocks and plants to give the fish some protection. Seems like a sensible option.
Waterfoul scares may be your only choice. Placing fakes and decoys of their natural predators such as hawks, eagles, owls, fox and coyotes will help deter them (I find using a flying osprey decoy located at angled parts of ponds with jointed wing movements very effective). If you plan on using fox or coyote decoys, you'll need to move them from time to time around the pond in different locations. Using bird shines and reflective foil can also help prevent the birds from choosing to land there, as the movement and reflective light startles most birds. Only downside to them is they may spook any other creatures away from the pond, like ducks. Placing fishing line with reflective tape tied in 1 foot pieces every 10 feet across the top of the pond in zigzag patterns may also help. Should be at least 8 feet above waterline. Had some luck with that in the past. If I were you, get your ponds balanced and fully planted. Plants and downed trees in your pond will create a much better biome to what you have currently. It's too sparse right now. Once you have a better balance of flora, then consider adding more fauna. I'm so sorry about the fish, that's a really sad loss...hope I can help by sharing a few of my own tips.
In Idaho they recycle cut Christmas trees into the bottoms of lakes and reservoirs to provide fry cover. I think I saw a comment along those lines already but you've got the Holidays coming up so there's hope you can collect some throwaway trees and utilize them. Best of luck!
YOU NEED MORE PROTECTION FOR THE FISH! It starts with making sure that at least a third of the pond is covered with lily pads and has plenty of places at the bottom the hide, which can be accomplished by sinking some cinder blocks attached a big large pipes and tubes, but also just a whole lot of natural debris that's been tied down in big masses. The ponds are simply too exposed and should have some kind of decoy Birds to try and scare off other flying Predators who would try to pick your ponds clean.
To all the ppl saying structures, he put multiple trees and stuff in it but I just don’t think it was enough. Those birds are ruthless, if you’ve ever seen them hunt you know what im talking about
Hey bud, sorry about the fish being eaten by the cormorants. Need to add lots of structure now. Big water lilies also help and vegetation. All basic stuff as you know but sometimes we forget about it because it’s basic! Good luck!
So sorry to see this! Love this channel, and following your pond construction has been one of my highlights every week. Hope this doesn’t deter you. If it were me, I’d go at it again with more pads, more sunken brush, and I might do some hunting when that time of year comes around. Still love your channel! Stay motivated 💪🏼
Talk to local biologist and fish and game office. They may have ideas to detour them or worst case they could issue you deprivation tags to thin them out.
Also talking to a buddy that goes to some ice fishing only trophy ponds in the sandhills of Nebraska. They take extreme measures to protect the fish. They have netting over the ponds any time there is open water. For them though when you got people paying to come and fish for world class pike perch.... you do what you have to.
Just throwing this out there. Just got back from Galapagos and saw so many mangrove trees. They seem to protect all sorts of wildlife. I’m sure it’ll take awhile to grow but it could be a long term solution. So sad the fish are gone. Hang in there and good luck!
Wow. Just the other day I realized how long it's been since you last uploaded, and now you're back! By the way, I'm sorry for what happened to your fish. After reading the comments, I think you should put in some rocks and caves in the pond, anything to make it difficult for cormorants to reach.
RIP those beautiful blue gill. And no worries. This is life sometimes and we thank you and will still be there with you through the good and the bad times. Im hoping it rains out there so the pond can fill a bit more too. Thanks for this content and thank you for still showing us what nature can do. You are Braver than many on RU-vid, that is a for sure thing.
I hate when bad things happen to good people. I have been wondering where you've been. That explains it. So sorry for your loss. We all feel your pain. ✌️❤️
I'm so sorry about the loss. The only suggestion I have is to provide more hiding places for the fish to hide. Plants, logs, rocks, etc. The loss of another duck broke my heart. I'm hoping they'll reproduce. It would be lovely to see little ducklings.💕🦆💕
I'm really sorry to hear about this, the bluegills were my favorite and I loved seeing them follow you around. I have no experience with building a pond, but the other comments suggest adding more flora and structures before adding new fish and that sounds like a great idea to me. Aside from the shelter it provides for the fish, I enjoyed watching you add more plants and branches and such to the ponds and seems like lots of other people would like that too.
In the MS delta there’s a lot of catfish farming and we deal with this problem all the time, the best tactics that have worked have been netting across the aquaculture ponds and these sound devices that put off a loud boom or a cackle/high pitch kind of sound when cormorants trigger them, these have both been successful deterrents, doesn’t mean there aren’t others. Just some tips
I would love to see you take on more projects to make these ponds into functioning ecosystems. You could go out and harvest plants for the ponds, introduce more fish diversity, build underwater fish habitats and different enrichment for the turtles on shore.. Don't rush things either, just DIY replanting the ponds would bring interesting content for months. If feeding the fish is the content, then feeding them at the old pond was better content. When doing content for the new ponds, I'd love to see you switch the focus from the fish into the environment itself, making the pond an ideal place to live for all sorts of different species, in water and on land. Once that's done, you could switch the focus back into feeding and it'd be on par with the old pond feeding. Just throwing my ideas out there since I'd love to see more content from you.
@jordy already told you about the motion sensors and I can tell you they work! We may not have a big pond like you but it made all our problems go away after installing 3 of those. You really need to take a loot at that. I know it's costly but it's beyond efficient
Oh wow, that definitely sucks. My husband and i love your channel and are very sorry to hear this. We hope this isn't going to make you want to stop with your pond's. We're praying for you.
The best thing to deter cormorants other than providing cover for your fish are bird deterrents like netting, sirens, owl statues and eye balloons around the body of water. The problem is though is this will also drive away your ducks. You may have to spend a year just cultivating cover plants before trying again.
I'm so sorry for the huge loss! Aweful situation, so much hardwork lost to birds who don't know any better. Keep your chin up, hope someone has a idea 🤞🤞 Glad to see a video again!!
Sorry about the loss, may take a minute to get them established without them getting eaten but you will get there. Gald your doing well, hope you have a great Christmas and New Years!!
Just a quick note to let you know we're still out here and hoping everything's good for you. You suffered a big loss. A lot of time and effort and energy went into getting the fish into the ponds and creating the ponds in fact. Looking forward to more content. Praying that everything goes well going forward
I would suggest maybe setting up a camera out there that you can live stream it to your phone so that when those birds show up you can trigger something to scare them away? Or just go out there and shoot them all. I didn’t figure those birds would wipe that many fish out
That’s why cover and structure are so important to keeping fish. If you want to see how to build a pond go check out the 5 acre pond build on Bama bass channel.
To be fair, unless bamabass puts some kind of protector/natural filtering system-- his pond will look as it has been, covered with algae that will bloom with the runoff from his yields-- and eventually poison the pond. We have it here in florida, it kills all the wildlife in the ponds-- and it's looking like that will happen at bama unless he spends a lot of time and resources to create natural barriers. There is no getting that fertilizer run off out once it enters, and will spread and destroy those 5 acres in no time.
our small lake get 200+ Cormorants in the spring, they definitely take their toll. creating good cover is about the only solution I could offer. Good Luck!
You'll want some type of ecologically neutral hiding locales that birds can't reach. That's a tall order. Otherwise you're going to have to do a fundraising drive twice a year to re-stock those ponds in between migrations!
In my Pond , the colder water has ALL of my Catfish and all but a couple of my Bass in the DEEP water . None of them have come up to eat in weeks . A few of my Bluegill ARE coming up for pinches of Bread , worth a shot .
Hello whisper, I had dealt with the same issue with my grandpa. We started using artificial hard cover (honeycombs/artifical tree types) Lets the fish hide somewhere. Depending on how often they show up, we had to stick them in the deeper ends for the best results. We figured the bird was under more water pressure/ traveled further/ had less air and it made the difference we needed.
Well it’s been long time no see never see your video all time perhaps all those precious we’re hibernating For the winter and waiting till spring time and maybe you need to pray for heavenly father will give you a rain just like we always pray for the rain.
I think you should build structures and such to sink into your pond, sorta like how they revive coral reefs, they put structures on the bottom and attach growing coral to it so it repollinates the area, but instead of coral you could put freshwater plants and things like that.
I'm not gonna sit here and act like I know everything there is to know about ponds...but the ponds seem very "empty" try to maybe add more hiding places more sticks and branches and definitely more aquatic plants. Also to help reduce water evaporation add some trees along the side of the pond to eventually provide the pond with shade (this might also help give the ducks cover)
Someone mentioned bird deterrents such as netting. Two nearby ponds have solved their bird problems with not netting but cordage or wire of some sort strung a few times across the ponds from one side to the other. For some reason this works. Unfortunately, it will keep wanted birds like ducks away too.
for your ducks, it sounds like they're being caught when they're asleep because they don't have anywhere to hide when they sleep. the best thing for them would be a shelter at the waterline, where the only way in is from the water. Make sure to make the run long enough so it's well into the water but they still has ample dry space on land inside. If you're up to it, you can also make a floating house for them, there're ideas and instructions all over the internet. even with these ideas, it'd still be best to plant reeds along one side or corner where they can always get to. It'd help while you build (if you decide to), since they'll sleep in the reeds where the hawks can't get them.
You might look into getting some geese. And putting in natural hidey holes for the fish. There should be a lot more like dead tree limbs, small tubes and rocks with holes and stuff like that for them to hide under or between. Floating flora to hide under and between. Like the pond where you used to feed bass and turtles.
Sorry to hear the cormorant got many of your fish! If cormorants are anything like egrets, then putting some silvery, reflecting balls on the ponds will keep them away. Apparently it looks to the birds like a predator watching. At least it‘s been working for me and my garden pond. Hope that might help you!
Pre-dawn visits to the pond with a shotgun is the only solution. Creating fish shelter by collecting a bunch of Christmas trees and chucking them in the pond, or sinking other structure will help a little, but you really need to take out the predators as a starting point.
Oh no. What a shame. There are still some fry left in the pond and the gar are doing great so there is some hope. The ponds are pretty big so I think that putting some rocks in will help. I don't know how much they cost but maybe some really big concrete pipe sections will provide some decent cover if you roll them into the middle of the pond. Floaing things on the surface will only provide a perch for those damn cormorants. Maybe get an underwater picture of whats down there and also get a drone looking down from above might reveal how visible the fish are. Good luck and hope to see more great videos soon.
I wish you nothing but the best, and I agree with most of these suggestions. my uncle once has a pond and he had to add man made hollowed logs to his pond so the fish has a change to hid and not be eaten. wish you nothing but the best! I love your content. just one set back to a future of two big beautiful ponds!
I'M SO sory this happend to you my friend, This is nature and sometimes it is brutal. My advice is keep your spirits up, Life happends, and the best thing you can do is look forward to what the future will bring. Love you wish you the best!!!
Alas it’s how nature works sometimes unfortunately. Don’t give up on these ponds! We love your content and are wishing you the happiest of holidays :) Much love from Virginia
The main options that I could suggest would be to provide coverage and hiding places for the fish. While your plants are getting established you could cover the ponds with a netting, this would help to keep the birds out, the ducks would need to be trained to access the pond via the side rather than flying straight in.
you could try firing off blank rounds (or live by preference) in the birds direction to scare them off when u see them and they will eventually stop coming around, or getting a propane cannon to scare them away, also decoy gators might working ( aquascape sells one)
