I have been having a hard time keeping fish alive. I have been collecting Bluegill and P-Seed and I think the fish I am collecting are just too big, so I am curious what sizes to you typically aim for? I imagine the smaller fish are easier to acclimate, only a lot harder to catch on rod and reel.
What size fish to you try to target when collecting
- Thread starter davdev
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Go to a fly shop and buy some really tiny flies, that's what I use. Of course, I'm a fly fisherman so you might have to add a wieght farther up or something. But if the fish are close to the shore and the water is clear then you might not need a wieght
Will look into the fly, but still not sure what size to target. Should I go under 2", under 4"? I find anything approaching 6" gets real stressed out. I added a 6" Bluegill this weekend, and it went nuts ramming everything, eventually killing 3 smaller fish that had been doing fine and then itself by crashing head first into a rock.
when i started my native tank of bluegill and red breasted sun fish i targeted them under 4 inch. I used menow for bait on a hook that was tiny. lol the bait was bigger then the hook. This seam to work great for me.
My buddy used a castnet to catch his stock
My buddy used a castnet to catch his stock
make sure when you transport your fish you have lots of aeration. try to keep it dark so they dont get stressed and when you acclimatize them and put them in the tank never have the lights on because it will cause them more stress. just a few things i've found that helped.
The pond I collect them from is only about a mile from my house, so they are not in the transport bucket very long, and I have been keeping the lights out. The first batch I caught went fairly well, but this last batch was a disaster.
yeah i also collect close so its not a huge worry. try adding prime to your tank and the water in the bucket before adding water to acclimate them. i lost a few minnows and couldnt figure out why, i started using prime (to make both the water from the collection spot, and the water in the tank non toxic for the fish) and i havent had any deaths since. get the small bottle and follow the instructions it works great.. low oxygen and ammonia spikes are the biggest killers while trying to acclimatize i'd say