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Post by Greenedog on May 18, 2021 21:17:20 GMT -5
Anyone ever try this? I've wanted to try stocking them ever since I first heard that wipers do really well in ponds. Some friends down the road ordered some in a pond stocking package from a hatchery out of Cincinnati and we were talking about adding some to their order to put in our ponds. I googled "fish hatchery near me" and up popped a hatchery in Martinsville, IN that had stripers. We gave them a call then went and picked some up the next day. We bought 40 and put 20 in each pond. These are supposed to do really good on pellet feed and I bought a 50# bag from the hatchery of the same stuff they feed. I've been throwing a solo cup into each pond every day but so far the only things coming up to feed are channel cats. There's at least 3 catfish in the old pond and 10+ in the newer pond. Might have to thin them out some. There are some decent largemouth in these ponds so it is possible that my baby stripers have been wiped out already as they were only around 4 inches. Let's hope not at $2.50 per fish! I'm really looking forward to see how these do. They say they can reach 12 inches in a year and keeper size in 2 years. I'll keep you updated!
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Post by strippitman on May 19, 2021 7:56:46 GMT -5
That's interesting. I would've never thought stripers would do well in a pond. They usually only seem to be found on bigger lakes so I assumed they were a "big water" fish. I'll be staying tuned to see how this turns out. I hope it works!
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wtl
Full Member
Posts: 130
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Post by wtl on May 24, 2021 7:37:25 GMT -5
Hopefully they aren’t a snack for the cats 😳. I’ve stock some perch is one pond , probably close to 100 of them in the 7”-13” range 3-5 years ago & haven’t caught one yet .
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Post by Greenedog on May 24, 2021 22:18:55 GMT -5
Hopefully they aren’t a snack for the cats 😳. I’ve stock some perch is one pond , probably close to 100 of them in the 7”-13” range 3-5 years ago & haven’t caught one yet . That's what I'm afraid of. So far I haven't seen a wiper since we stocked them but the channel cats seem to be coming out of the woodwork.
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Post by Greenedog on Jun 27, 2021 14:16:00 GMT -5
Gail saw one of our baby wipers when she was dipping water for her plants recently. She said it had grown some. At least one has survived!
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Post by Greenedog on Mar 16, 2023 5:33:44 GMT -5
No sign of the wipers. I’m guessing they were a meal for the bass, cats, and crappie. If I try it again they’re gonna have to be bigger. Here’s the new price list for this year at the Martinsville hatchery.
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Post by bbloon on Apr 1, 2023 20:47:28 GMT -5
Troy, a guy that owns a couple ponds that I am fortunate enough to fish quite often, stocked a bunch of wipers several years ago. His ponds are over 20 feet deep and located between Martinsville and Morgantown in Morgan County. We still catch one occasionally, so it can work. He ordered most of his fish from Clear Creek also, but the wipers he stocked were larger than 4-6 inches if I remember correctly. Maybe they didn't come from there. The last time I caught one was ice fishing with Hilly the winter before last and it was probably 16 inches.
When they were first stocked they were very aggressive feeders. I'm not sure how many are left, but I'm guessing there are still a few around. It is likely, that with the established mature bass and catfish populations that you have, the ones you put in did become an early step in the food chain.
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Post by bbloon on Apr 1, 2023 20:58:17 GMT -5
Here's a pic of the one I was speaking of. Maybe it was a little bigger than 16 inches. 😉
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Post by Greenedog on May 19, 2023 7:01:04 GMT -5
Striper update! Gail let a friend of hers dad come out and fish the ponds. She asked her friend if her dad caught anything and she said a “striper bass” and some bluegill. She was on speakerphone and stopped me in my tracks lol. After more questioning it sounds like he did indeed catch one. The other day I was feeding the fish and watching these big bluegills sneaking a bite amongst the catfish feeding frenzy when a striper swooped in for a bite! It wasn’t very big, I’d say 10-12”, but it definitely had stripes!
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Post by strippitman on May 19, 2023 8:24:51 GMT -5
Good deal! That means there are some survivors.
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Post by Greenedog on May 20, 2023 11:29:32 GMT -5
It's funny, a couple weeks before Gail let her friends dad fish the ponds, I had mentioned putting up a $50 reward for the first documented catch of a wiper from the ponds. His wouldn't have counted though because I want photo and/or video proof!
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Post by bbloon on Jun 2, 2023 21:10:10 GMT -5
Glad to hear some of them made it!!
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