How to Get Sunfish Out of Pond?

[itrebebag99]

Being a dummy, I released a small 2 inch longear sunfish into a small, but heavily weeded backyard goldfish pond. At the end of fall I dig around in the pond to remove all the goldfish to transport them inside. It is very difficult to net the brightly colored and slower moving goldfish, so I think it is going to be almost impossible to remove the sunfish. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to do this?

 

[J. H.]

Take two soda bottles and cut them and sew them together with wire to make a minnow trap with a large mouth.
Weigh it down with a rock, put in some food, and maybe you'll be lucky.

 

[Deadliestviper7]

Fish trap,u can make or buy them

 

[Itsadeepbluesea]

Are there any other fish species in there you want to keep? If not, after you remove your goldfish you could always Rotenone the pond.

 

[itrebebag99]

Are there any other fish species in there you want to keep? If not, after you remove your goldfish you could always Rotenone the pond.

Lol, Yeah, its not a big enough problem that I need to poison the pond. I mean, if I might as well just drain the pond and dig through the weeds.

 

[big54bob]

Worm and a Size 8 hook

 

[itrebebag99]

Worm and a Size 8 hook

I'm gonna catch a goldfish, though if I go that method. Same problem with the traps; most methods that will work on the sunfish will also work on the goldfish.

 

[amazonfishman]

The longear should be able to overwinter in there assuming the pond doesn't freeze solid in the winter. Otherwise if it's small I'd just drain it down and retrieve it that way.

 

[divemaster99]

If you can see it, sight fish with a barbless size 16-20 hook and piece of earthworm.

 

[itrebebag99]

I got it last night. The water was ice cold, and I think it was sleeping or something, because I was just feeling around through the weeds, and I caught it by hand blindly. The thing at least doubled in length from when I put it in a couple of months ago, which is really surprising, because the pond is pretty small, and I never fed on any of the food for the goldfish. Also, I never even saw it since I put it in, so I was really surprised to see it so big. Anyone out there happen to want a longear?