Restocking The Fish Pond

Out back and down the hill from our home there is a three-acre fresh water fish pond.  Many years ago my husband stocked the pond with the thought in mind of having a nice pond for fishing.  The pond has been stocked a couple of times over a 30 year time span,  because the turtles in the pond eat the fish eggs, and the alligators that come to visit the pond eat the fish.

If you look down the hill between the trees you can see the pond.

Lately when the grandchildren have come to fish they have not been having much luck.  We don't live very far away from the huge Lake Iamonia.  We think that is where the alligators come from when they show up in the pond.  So with those factors in mind my husband decided it was time again to restock the pond.

Photo of the pond taken last week.  As you can see the trees are asleep for the winter.

My husband wanted to restock the pond with Georgia Giant Bream, Blue Gill Bream, Large Mouth Bass and Catfish.  He has had great success with these particular fish enjoying living in this pond.  

In the past and again this time he contacted Ken's Hatchery and Fish Farms, Inc. located in Alapaha, Georgia.  They are known for their Georgia Giant Hybrid Bream, but they have many other types of fish and fishing pond supplies available as well.  They are located about a two hour drive away from us, which makes for quick transportation and comfort for the fish.

They delivered the fish last week.  There were 300 Georgia Giants, 300 Blue Gills and 200 Largemouth  Bass.  The Catfish will not be available until next month. 

As you can see in the below photo when they deliver the fish they dip the fish out of the large carrier containers with a fishnet, put them in a bucket filled with water and then let them swim out of the bucket into the pond.

All of the fish seemed to have transported very well 

and they all seemed happy to swim away on out into the pond.

 One of the baby Largemouth Bass.

One of the baby Georgia Giant Bream.

There are a lot of fishermen in our family, plus the close-by neighborhood children and grandchildren enjoy coming to fish in the pond as well.

In the below photos we will see some of the grandchildren with their prize catches.

Grandson Preston trying his luck.   Grandson Will in the background.

Preston age 12, a little older in this picture,  enjoying a fishing day.

Grandson Will age 15,  with what has to be the prizewinner catch of this year ... A huge catfish!

Grandson Lawson age 9,  trying his luck this year.

Lawson, much younger, thrilled catching his first fish ever.

Grandson Chase now 18, with a huge Largemouth Bass.

Grandsons and brothers Dillon 13 and Chase 10,  thrilled with catching a Georgia Giant Bream.

Dillon's prize Georgia Giant Bream.

                            Grandsons Carter now 12 and Connor now 18 having a good day fishing.

Nathan, age 6 at the time, having fun catching his 'big' fish.

Sydney age 7, one of our 3 granddaughters, trying her luck fishing in the pond.

Sydney again catching a big one.

                                           Grandson Dillon with his big Largemouth Bass.

Grandson Dillon just this January turned 21,  with another big Largemouth Bass he caught,

 mounted as a Christmas Gift.

Grandsons Chase now 18, and his brother Dillon now 21, both with their mounted 

Largemouth Bass Christmas gifts, caught from the pond.

Now that the pond is restocked we hope all of the children and grandchildren 

have many more years of fun fishing.

A photo of the pond last Summer.

I'm not much of a fisherman myself, but I sure do get great joy from seeing my husband,  the children and grandchildren, and the neighbor's children and grandchildren having such a good time fishing down at the pond.

Now that the pond has been restocked I am sure we will be seeing alligators again.  One of our neighbors called one day a couple of months ago to tell us there was an alligator walking down the dirt road not far from our house.  They said it looked like he was headed toward the pond.  We always wondered where the alligators came from; so I guess they just take a walk and come for a visit.

If you would like to see a previous post about Alfred The Alligator In The Pond,  just click on the site below:

http://sweetsoutherndays.blogspot.com/2012/08/alligator-in-pond.html

Wishing you many blessings in this second month of the new year wherever you may be.