Disappearing fish.

[dennismanto]

My problem is with a Red Tail Hawk. It started this past winter, at first we thought it was cool to have a hawk in the backyard. Then one day I by chance saw the hawk fly down to the water, grab a 11" koi and then fly to the back of the yard under some trees and eat the koi. The next few weeks we lost 2 more fish but I was always running outside when I saw it out there.
Than we where gone for the weekend and when we got back I saw that we lost 3 more fish. I had to net the whole pond 25' x 13'. For 2 weeks I would see the hawk and could tell it was happy. It never tried to get another fish. After that it stopped coming by. After 6 - 8 weeks I took the netting off the pond (I hated the look of the netting VERY much) That was 2 weeks ago and still no sign of the hawk and no fish missing. Please cross your fingers for us as we do hate the look of the netting.

 

[fishin4cars]

My problem is with a Red Tail Hawk. It started this past winter, at first we thought it was cool to have a hawk in the backyard. Then one day I by chance saw the hawk fly down to the water, grab a 11" koi and then fly to the back of the yard under some trees and eat the koi. The next few weeks we lost 2 more fish but I was always running outside when I saw it out there.
Than we where gone for the weekend and when we got back I saw that we lost 3 more fish. I had to net the whole pond 25' x 13'. For 2 weeks I would see the hawk and could tell it was happy. It never tried to get another fish. After that it stopped coming by. After 6 - 8 weeks I took the netting off the pond (I hated the look of the netting VERY much) That was 2 weeks ago and still no sign of the hawk and no fish missing. Please cross your fingers for us as we do hate the look of the netting.

I can sure understand what your saying. I tried the black leaf netting first, that seemed to work until the Big Blue Heron found the pond, he learned quickly how to remove the fish out from under the net after he had killed them, Then he would take them to the swimming pool to moisten and eat them. (Actually just sitting here thinking that explains the little sand piles I would get into the pool sometimes!!) now this owl is getting one or two fish and then staying away for a few days and returning.
Update from today: Got the sheetrock fixed in the hallway and found some paint that matched so was able to repair the wall. The alarm Co. came out and found what I did wrong on the wiring, they fixed it all, then were nice enough to rig me up a seperate sensor just for the pond area, it has a way to decrease and increase sensitivety and has a whole different alarm if something triggers it, Not nearly as loud! Also went and got more PVC pipe so I can rebuild my wire covers, YES THEY ARE UGLY! but I really want to keep my fish so it's the best thing I have working so far. I have tried what Addy and looks like Marla did. I ran string back and forth above the pond to also try and keep the birds from coming in in the first place. I've reset the Trail camera and hopefully we can start seeing it not show up.

 

[addy1]

Fishin, I feel you pain, but you had me laughing so hard at your post, imaging your wife going down the hall with a hammer beating on the drywall to kill the alarm!

Hope what you are doing works.
We have three hawks that hang out, but they are the ones that like the birds that come to the bird feeder. And if they can see my fish more power to them, I saw two twice this year, none since lol

 

[mrsclem]

We have 3 pairs of red tailed hawks on our property. They have been here for years. We had a gazebo by the ponds and every year watched the parents perch on the gazebo roof to feed their young and teach them how to fish. Needless to say, we keep netting up all year. I have the fine black plastic mesh suspended over 4" pvc poles surrounding the pond so it's a screened in room for fishes! This year when we moved fish to the stock tanks to sell them the hawk has been going from tanks to pond trying to find an easy meal. I have fiberglass screen over the stock tanks and found a large tear one morning! I had to put metal shelving over the screen to keep the bird out. Luckily, all fish are sold so just the pond to protect. We lost at least 2 12"-14" koi out of the old pond this spring .

 

[addy1]

I have seen the red tails fly over, but never stay around. Also have seen bald eagles do a fly over. Will see what happens once the fish decide to be seen off and on

 

[DrDave]

Works for me. Takes only seconds to remove.

 

[fishin4cars]

Fishin, I feel you pain, but you had me laughing so hard at your post, imaging your wife going down the hall with a hammer beating on the drywall to kill the alarm!

Hope what you are doing works.
We have three hawks that hang out, but they are the ones that like the birds that come to the bird feeder. And if they can see my fish more power to them, I saw two twice this year, none since lol

Addy, no hammer used, lol She ripped it out of the wall!!! Don't feel bad, you should have seen how hard the Alarm guy was laughing. I guess when she grabbed it and it came loose from the wall she thought it had just came off, so that's when she gave it a extra tug. OOOOOPPS. the wiring was still connected, so when she jerked it of course the wiring just ripped through the sheetrock. Wasn't pretty but it's all fixed and back working now. Last night was better, the alarm went off once. was still kind of early. ( We were both still awake!) I went and checked and the only thing we saw was our cat walking along the back side of the stream. That's her normal spot to get some water and come to the window to tell us she is ready to come in That made us feel better as we now know it works for most of the pond area and it let us know there was something moving out there. Looks like the screen wire covers are going to have to be a must. I am reading more and more about redtail hawks and I know there are some in the area, None that have stopped by yet that I know of but I'm not taking any chances in inviting them either.
Going to go work on the wire tops and wait for the replacement koi to arrive. Going to be a intresting ponding day. At least the temp. is a pleasent 77 partly cloudy and a nice breeze. great day to spend by the pond.

 

[fishin4cars]

Well the new fish arrived, the new covers got built and now just need to do some tuch ups. It's not 100% covered but trying to cover a odd shaped pond with tall plants is a ???? Whats the word? lol Fed-ex calls at 11;00 we have a box that's leaking water, do you want to add some or you want to come get them. Off I go to get them, Not to far luckily and it saved about a hour of time for them to get here. 1 hour and they would have been DEAD. 8 koi and large shubunkin. maybe a cup and a half of water! I'm serious! One of the koi got it's fin through two bags and poked a hole in the bag and ripped it's pectoral fin off! But, they all arrived alive and that was at noon when I took the pics. They are all swimming with the group and seem to be doing well except the one with the lost fin. He's in the hospital. Got two of the covers completed and painted today. It's still ugly but I think the fish will be safer for now.

 

[marla]

looks good, hope it works and the new fish stay safe
I have shepard hooks that are about 24" high around the pond, I hang my nets from thos and then they hang to the ground and are secured there with rocks. This way the heron can stand there but can not stand on the net or bend over and stab through the net and skewr a fish. It also keeps the nets off all tall plants, the cattails will grow right through the holes. The nets on the lily pond are ground level and secured with rocks, as of yet this has worked well on that pond.

 

[marla]

here are a couple pics of what I see every year

 

[fishin4cars]

I hate those things! I had one in the winter that figured out how to catch the fish then get them over to the side and pulled them through the rocks, I kept finding rocks pulled out and netting torn, then the boys spotted it. sly dude! Ended up getting over 20 10"-18" fish in a two week period right at Christmas. Got rid of that one and now the owl. I really don't think I had problems in the past with predators nearly as bad as I have here. two know Blue heron attacks, one owl, and one snake. I also suspect a VERY LARGE bullfrog of getting one of my comets. It appeared for about three days, the comet came up missing and it disappeared the next day. Guess he figured my pond was a drive thru.

 

[stroppy]

ive been thinking a lot about this, i know you have seen an owl on your pond and about the garden but are you sure its the owl that's catching the fish ? only the fish that have gone missing are pretty big and i am not sure if an owls beak is that big ...mind you i have know idea how big your owls are, only ones i know are barn owls and they only catch small mice and voles

 

[addy1]

They use their feet to snag whatever they are wanting to eat. I have not seen an owl fish, but they do have some claws, I have watched them dive on rabbits, mice etc.

With the fish, the owl might have been able to see it and did a fly down and grab.

here is a utube of an own fishing

[ame]

 

[addy1]

It would seem with a screen over the pond the owl would not be able to snag a fish. And this pond looks shallow the owls looks like it lands in the water.

 

[stroppy]

good video addy thank youi hadn't thought about them using there claws (senior moment ) but still a puzzle as most of fishins pond is covered with a frame ..