a wild predator in my pond

[jgiberson@callaccounting.]

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I have a 10 X 10 X 13 back yard pond in Souther California with 4 Koi and 3 large goldfish. I had 4 goldfish yesterday!
I have a secure net over the pond to keep the herons/cranes away.
About 3 years ago my grandson caught a 1" minnow in a net in a pond in a park close by and we put him in my pond.
That cute little minnow is now a 7" predator that eats all the mosquito fish we have put in and I think killed one of my goldfish.
He is slender with a subtle dark stripe down his side.
He is very aggressive toward the KOI but I have not been able to catch him.
Any ideas what it is and how do I get rid of him?
Thanks,
New member Jon :help:

EDITED BY Hobbs.........please do not post long links in titles

[Lady Hobbs]

Welcome to AC.

[sailor]

Welcome to a great forum and community. Drain a bunch of water out of your pond & try using a long handled fishing net. This is one of the reasons it is not recomended to transfer wild fish to home settings and vise versa.

[Sasquatch]

Ever try fishing him out?

Other than that, Sailors idea is a good one too.

Do you have any pics of the fish? Maybe we could identify it for you.

[Ellen4God]

Welcome to the AC!! thumbs2:

[Wild Turkey]

Depending on the depth of ur pond, u may have to drain it some to try this, maybe not. Take a large net ( the largest you have ) and sit the net end down flat on the bottom with some bread or other treat the fish likes, worms, whatever inside of it. sit very still holding the handle of the net and when he is feeding on the food, scoop him out real fast. This tactic is much easier than chasing him around the pond with the net. We used to catch minnows dozens at a time with our hands as children with this tactic, works excellent.

[OscarFan]

A goodol hook and worm should do the trick. If it works you might want to put him back in and do it multiple times.

[Ryuu]

Hook and worm is the best way, And welcome to the AC

[Nick_Pavlovski]

Or use a bait trap (for small fish, crustaceans, etc) that you can leave overnight.

[country_boy454]

Welcome to the forum! I'm going along with the drain the pond some and catch theory. Always easier with less water.

[Wild Turkey]

A goodol hook and worm should do the trick. If it works you might want to put him back in and do it multiple times.

Lol ! Is it too late to change my recommendation?

[sandy_n]

Hi and welcome to the forum! I agree with a partial drain too. :4:

[jbeining75]

Good luck with catching him... A really big net and alot of patience. Time to get the scuba gear out lol.... Welcome to the forum.....

[NickFish]

Welcome to AC!

Sounds like a bass, but I really can't be sure.
Like sailor said, drain a bit of the pond, and it should be much easier to net him out.

Although it is technically illegal to release fish that have spent time in aquaria into the wild......

[gem]

Bass was my first thought too. I would partially drain the pond as well. Your pond is large enough that chasing him around with a net without draining it is going to do nothing but drive you nuts and stress your koi. Using hook and worm....you could end up catching your koi. If your Koi were anything like the ones we had in our pond ....you don't want to hook them and chance injury. Drianing the pond is the safest for everyone.

[Vee]

A goodol hook and worm should do the trick. If it works you might want to put him back in and do it multiple times.


I don't care whoyar.....dat's funny rite dere!

Welcome to the forums!

[rageybug]

If possible, take the Koi and goldfish out first so you have an easier time finding and netting the predator minnow.

[Treerat]

Hi... sounds like we're going fishing hehehe

[sunray]

Take the goldfish and Koi out, should be easy to net them, then throw in a stick of dynamite :hmm3grin2orange: :hmm3grin2orange:

[Treerat]

Take the goldfish and Koi out, should be easy to net them, then throw in a stick of dynamite :hmm3grin2orange: :hmm3grin2orange:
Good way to get a bigger pond too :19:

[hobbit]

my thought is a big cat that you've taught how to fish lol

[Wild Turkey]

Good way to get a bigger pond too :19:

haha exactly what i was thinking, a little remodeling in a fraction of the time. lol

[Wild Turkey]

On a more serious note: how big is this pond and where do you live? Those are gonna me important factors for both your course of action, and identifying the fish type. Does sound like a bass though, if it is a bass and ur gonna fish it out, use a jig instead of a worm, hopefully this will attract the bass more and the koi less, since they were bred in captivity and pretty much just get fed pellets their whole life. If you dont know how to use a jig: Put the jig in the water and let it sink to the bottom, give it short tugs and let it sink again, this gives the appearance of a warm or wounded fish. Use the smallest hook you can, the smaller the hook the less likley it is to hurt a koi if it snatches it. For the same reason, when u get a bite, tug the line hard by raising ur rod up instead of just realing it in. its called "setting the hook" and it will make sure u get the fish in the lip instead of having to get a hook out of its throat/belly which can really hurt a fish, and it usually dies.

[tangyman]

Welcome to AC
Had had a pond with 4 koi (small ones) one day while fishing I caught a 5" large mouth bass , I decided to add it to the pond.
Big Mistake , the bass ate the Koi.A week later I had to re catch the bass on a worm and a hook to get it from the pond. HeHe I think i knew this would happen but I had to try.

[siymdapolio]

Welcome to the aquatic community!! Great to have new members! Woot!!!
:thumb:
Glad you are getting great advice!

[aquarius56]

It sounds to me like you've got lots of advice on catching the "predator", so I will just extend a big welcome :19: and say hello :) and of course...good luck!