Blue herons

[tee1172]

Ok, its only march and two days ago my daughter seen a blue heron at the pond already. Any suggestions on what to do besides cover the pond with netting? I do have the back of the pknd about 3-4 feet deep where the fish can hide but any suggestions welcomed.

 

[fishin4cars]

If you have seen one and it's seen the fish, I highly suggest getting the net cover. There are all kinds of things people have tried, music, radio talk shows, fake heron, ( I don't recommend at all, seems to make them come instead of running off), fake gator, water squirting scare crow, flashing windmills, and anything that reflects light, etc, etc. All may help some, but aren't 100% effective. Blue Herons look for easy food, a bright colored fish is a easy target, and they are very patient at waiting for the precise moment to strike. I've seen them grab a 20" fish out of 3' of water, NOT A PROBLEM! Netting is cheap, and it doesn't have to be left over the pond all the time, but if you know there is a heron that is visiting your pond, 9 out of 10 will agree, the safest way to protect you babies is cover it!
BTW, it's coming into breeding season, they get really hungry as spring starts, I've seen a single Blue Heron eat 30- 10" to 20" koi out of a pond in one weekend! Not something I want anyone else to have to go through!

 

[sissy]

You can do like colleen does put strings over your pond with rags tied to it .Screening works on a pvc frame also .

 

[pondlover]

In the last ten days a Heron has emptied my pond of every Koi we had. I'm heartbroken. I have ordered a net to cover the pond and from now on it will be covered by something. We dug our pond nearly 4 ft deep with 2 different places for the fish to hide, but they are gone. My husband saw the thing and he said he was huge!

So my feeling is.... cover it if you want to save your fish.

 

[addy1]

Saw our first heron fly over.............time to pull out the net, after the possible massive snow storm coming.

Once the come, they come every day, and keep trying trying trying to get some sushi.

 

[texmaster]

I actually bought a blue heron net online today and will be installing it this weekend hopefully. There is a clear one that is hard to see.

 

[addy1]

Neat post a link to it, if you don't mind. With the one I use and the way my pond is, my black net does not show much. After this snow event I need to get it back up for the summer, saw a heron yesterday flying low.

 

[texmaster]

Neat post a link to it, if you don't mind. With the one I use and the way my pond is, my black net does not show much. After this snow event I need to get it back up for the summer, saw a heron yesterday flying low.

Not a problem

http://vps2836.inmotionhosting.com/...gory_id=10&Itemid=10010&vmcchk=1&Itemid=10010

 

[addy1]

That looks like what I bought, from a fish net company. Mine has a 5 inch weave, too big if the net was low on the water. I keep the net 4 feet plus above the water, I can walk into the pond or net it with no issues.

It does work great, and hard to see. I picked up one that was 100 feet by 8, wove a few runs together to cover the width of my pond with fishing line.
I have it so all I need to do is remove clips to move it if need be. I can't tell what kind of edging that net has, I wove some poly rope though the net edge to give it some structure and ease of attaching and removing. (recommendation of the net company)

 

[nancyp]

Not sure what you mean that it is 4' above your water. What about the area under that? Is the netting hanging down the sides? And how is it staying 4' above, on some kind of frame? Those hungry herons are just waiting for their chance to get another one of my koi.

 

[sissy]

I saw a heron fly over and he kept going north so hoping he is never coming back my way

 

[addy1]

Not sure what you mean that it is 4' above your water. What about the area under that? Is the netting hanging down the sides? And how is it staying 4' above, on some kind of frame? Those hungry herons are just waiting for their chance to get another one of my koi.

The net is stuff they use for fishing, i.e. ocean, lakes, etc. 5 inch weave. I wove a rope through the edge, per what the company suggested, with the rope you can pull the net tight. I have 4 fence posts one on each corner of the pond, with some fiberglass rods in the bog. The fence posts let me pull it tight, the fiberglass rods in the bog let me drape some of it over the rods to keep the heron from attacking from the bog.
The net is from 3-4 feet over the water with the edges draping down to the ground, sort of. Some places it touches the ground other places it does not.

The main place the heron has attacked, hours of video watching the sucker, is the walk out area, the bog, one place on the upslope of the pond. The heron likes to stalk up to the pond, curl its neck and strike, the net does not allow the heron to do a full strike and reach the fish or water. I have never seen the heron put its head down to push up netting etc to strike. It has flown over the fencing (previous chicken wire) land in the pond, floating and try to get a fish, it failed.

Once the heron comes to visit it comes every day, never stopping. I have filmed it giving up and eating crickets out of the garden..........it is welcome to all that it can eat. Here you just never know when it will decide it is time to stop by. One year January, one year july, this year, not yet.

This is a view from the deep end, it is a little lower here, the upslope is 4 feet higher than the pond, to keep the heron from walking down the slope and reaching the pond i have it a little lower. The walk out area I have it high enough to walk under it into the pond. I have it on clips, easy to remove if I want. When it snows it is drug down into the water, I have it removed during the winter. I float a piece of liner in the 5 foot area, the fish hang out there barely moving when it is cold, heron safe.



This is the netting without the black uv coating, also the black makes it less visible

 

[nancyp]

Oh, OK.. now I get it. Thanks!

 

[nancyp]

Got my new net from Memphis net yesterday... It was a real bugger untangling it, but it's on now and it looks great! Large openings so no critters or birds get stuck. It's really nice - I'm glad I got it. No more heron worries either. :claphands:

 

[Mmathis]

Got my new net from Memphis net yesterday... It was a real bugger untangling it, but it's on now and it looks great! Large openings so no critters or birds get stuck. It's really nice - I'm glad I got it. No more heron worries either. :claphands:

Can you post some pics?