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Post by mnfish on May 14, 2017 19:14:53 GMT -6
Culling out some bullheads and put up a camera to catch some coon pictures...I don't believe this is a racoon  free photo sharing link |
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Post by riggs on May 14, 2017 19:41:28 GMT -6
Cool pic. I'm freaking out about all the bullheads in my pond, any words of wisdom you could share would be greatly appreciated. I honestly don't know where to go from here other than not screwing up my new pond.
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Post by mnfish on May 14, 2017 21:49:57 GMT -6
I feel your pain!! I have been down the bullhead road a few times now and failed numerous times. Drawing down and using rotenone was one of my biggest f'ups. They are persistent SOB's. If they are in there now, they are going to reinfest at some point if you kill the entire population of fish, IMHO. Not saying it's the best, and for some it's a last resort, but I like using largemouth bass in combination with trapping and hook and like.
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Post by Catscratch on May 15, 2017 6:14:31 GMT -6
I can't really add a whole lot to the discussion other than; some ponds seem be overrun with them, some don't seem to have any, and some have a few but aren't overrun. I suspect the ponds that have them but aren't overrun are due to good bass population's (with good sized bass). I truly don't know how to develop that population though.
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Post by smsmith on May 15, 2017 6:38:56 GMT -6
I used to run a little fishing jig/rig shop for fun and a few bucks. One guy who guided on the Wolf River system (WI) stopped every year and ordered a couple hundred purple hair jigs. He had specific requirements for what shade of purple bucktail (some suppliers provide different colors, I always had at least two different purple bucktails on hand). He wanted a small section of white bucktail on the belly side (opposite of the hook eye) of half, and yellow on the other half of his order (usually 100 each).
Why? He had developed a pattern of walleyes eating small bullheads in relatively shallow (2-6') water in post-spawn conditions.
Long story without much help...but if you got a decent walleye population in there maybe they'd help with the bullheads.
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Post by riggs on May 15, 2017 7:23:44 GMT -6
I have quite a few walleyes in there and some(6) big bass and one northern. I might try and run my fyke net continuously to remove as many as I can. The bullheads are very aggressive biters so I'm struggling catching other fish which kind of sucks. I think any future recruitment of my other fish will be severely affected by this. Oh well, I had a good few years anyway.
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Post by Bwoods11 on May 15, 2017 9:22:47 GMT -6
I used to run a little fishing jig/rig shop for fun and a few bucks. One guy who guided on the Wolf River system (WI) stopped every year and ordered a couple hundred purple hair jigs. He had specific requirements for what shade of purple bucktail (some suppliers provide different colors, I always had at least two different purple bucktails on hand). He wanted a small section of white bucktail on the belly side (opposite of the hook eye) of half, and yellow on the other half of his order (usually 100 each). Why? He had developed a pattern of walleyes eating small bullheads in relatively shallow (2-6') water in post-spawn conditions. Long story without much help...but if you got a decent walleye population in there maybe they'd help with the bullheads. I have seen that too Stu, small lake south of Alexandria, has a lot of bullheads. Walleyes would come in shallow and rip into the school of baby bullheads. We would throw black jig with fathead into the shallows and hammer the walleyes. |
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Post by Sandbur on May 15, 2017 11:12:46 GMT -6
Do catfish eat bullheads?
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Post by Catscratch on May 15, 2017 11:18:37 GMT -6
Do catfish eat bullheads? Two of my favorite baits when targeting large flatheads are bullheads and carp. I imagine channel cats and blue cats would both eat them too. |
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Post by mnfish on May 15, 2017 20:17:13 GMT -6
I have quite a few walleyes in there and some(6) big bass and one northern. I might try and run my fyke net continuously to remove as many as I can. The bullheads are very aggressive biters so I'm struggling catching other fish which kind of sucks. I think any future recruitment of my other fish will be severely affected by this. Oh well, I had a good few years anyway. What size are u catching Ryan? Black or brown bullies? This time of year they are very aggressive in my experience. U already know this but for others here, a largemouth will target 30% of its length to eat. So if u have 12-15" bass and ur catching 5" or bigger bullheads chances are their recruitment is under control. Hook and line along with baited traps mid summer should lead to controling those bastards Believe it or not, if u have brown bullheads, they can be kind of fun to catch once they get 1.5-2lbs |
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Post by mnfish on May 15, 2017 20:37:23 GMT -6
Do catfish eat bullheads? Channels will most certainly take down the bullhead. One difficulty using channels is the gape of their mouth will limit the size of bullhead. It takes a little longer but it has proven to work |
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Post by riggs on May 15, 2017 20:54:33 GMT -6
The bullheads are black and yellow and every one is the same size 4-6 inches. I have not seen or caught any big ones and had no clue they were there until I saw them this winter with the aqua vu. One question I did have for you is what time of year they spawn or when I can look for the schools of young in the shallows? I have always hand sorted my stockings with the exception of fatheads from John Chalmers.
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Post by mnfish on May 15, 2017 21:11:57 GMT -6
The bullheads are black and yellow and every one is the same size 4-6 inches. I have not seen or caught any big ones and had no clue they were there until I saw them this winter with the aqua vu. One question I did have for you is what time of year they spawn or when I can look for the schools of young in the shallows? I have always hand sorted my stockings with the exception of fatheads from John Chalmers. They will be on bed very shortly. Some may be on bed already. Look for the pods around the middle of June. U say u stocked largemouths? Have they recuited? |
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Post by riggs on May 15, 2017 22:05:11 GMT -6
I thought I some schools last year but now I'm not sure. I haven't seen any young bass in my net. I will be doing more trapping to figure shit out better. Thanks and sorry to steal your thread.
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Post by mnfish on May 16, 2017 7:10:00 GMT -6
No worries on the hijak. Dont get to discouraged if ur not seeing bass in the traps. They dont trap very well.
FwIW-I suspect with the size and numbers of bullheads, u will need more bass. If possible, i would stock 12-20 bigger largemouth bass. In the 12-15" range.
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