Deterring a blue heron taking pond fish?

[cat_fish_lady]

Hi, I dont have a pond myself but am posting this question for my mom. She has a large outdoor pond fed by an artesian well. She keeps many large koi in the pond and I have also seen turtles from a nearby river in her pond.

Recently she has had a problem with a blue heron sniping her koi. She already has a decoy heron by the pond but apparently it hasnt deterred it. Is there anything else she can do

[jeffs99dime]

http://upstateponddoctor.blogspot.com/2010/08/stop-blue-herons-eating-koi-fish.html
Just one link I found. There's a vid. too.

"http://forum.aquascapeinc.com/showthread.php?t=10561.html

[smaug]

I'm afraid that once a heron targets fish in a small pond then there is nothing short of netting the pond that will stop it. I built my pond to be very hard for a heron or other predator to hunt. I did this by not having any water more shallow the 18 inches with deeply shouldered sides. In this way a heron cannot easily stand and stalk. It is too deep on the sides for coons to wade in and grab something. I also have it planted with tall plants around the edge to obscure the koi from view to land predators.

[cat_fish_lady]

Thanks all for the feedback... I'll let her know.

[Knightia]

We put a low wire around the pond (about 8-10 inches from the ground). This seemed to stop our local heron as it couldn't land in the middle of the pond, and if it landed in the garden and walked over to the pond it couldn't get within striking distance. It never worked out how to step over the wire so it stayed just out of reach.

This worked well for us but I think it will depend on the structure of your pond.

[smaug]

That wire trick also depneds on the iq of your local herons! My aunt tried that and it just simply stepped over the wire.

[Knightia]

True. I think ours was just high enough that it couldn't be stepped over without a jump. Lazy heron!

[Crispy]

run like 4 wires around the perimeter of the pond. fishing line works great. havn't had experience with herons in our pond, but have seen this done.