Lake Joseph story...

[JoeW]

Many years ago I put a lake in my backyard! Yep, a 10 ft X 5 ft plastic “tub” lake! Called it Lake Joseph, of course. At various times, it’s held Bluegills, Bullhead, Sunfish, chubs, etc. Amazing how quickly they learn to come to me for their handout of hamburger, cheese, bread, etc. I catch them out and return them to their original habitat each Fall as I don’t think they’d survive the Western NY winters!




I have had one permanent inhabitant, though, for the past three summers! A young male Bullfrog! Named him “Jeremiah”, of course! Lord of Lake Joseph!



Then one day last spring, there was a funny chattering chirping noise coming from the pond- not like Jeremiah’s usual croaking. Looked around- dang! A new visitor- Toady the toad!

/


Few days later- TWO toads! Uh oh! Renamed “Toady” to “Romeo”.




Result a week later! I gave up trying to name them all as they wouldn’t sit still!




Jeremiah seemed a bit annoyed by the sudden crowd in his Lake! Can you picture the little tadpoles saying “Daddy! Daddy! Daddy?”.




The toadpoles grew larger, then slowly disappeared over the course of the summer, but my wife kept complaining about the increasing number of “little tiny crawly things” scaring her when she went to work in her garden! Can’t wait for this summer to roll around! I’ll probably be catching them to relocate them!

Hope you enjoyed. Best---- Joe Walkowski (WNY)

PS- Just to keep this within the realm of tackle collecting- look at this pic of Jeremiah. Does his color remind you of any Creek Chub catalog color?

[Midway Tommy D]

Great story, Joe!

[john elder]

Neat idea! Thanks for the story!

[JoeW]

Thanks, gentlemen! Still no guesses on the Creek Chub color that I think they took from Jeremiah's coloration? Maybe need a lure collector, eh? Have fun! Best--- Joe Walkowski (WNY)

[Mike N]

Great natural addition to your back yard, Joe. I'll bet the croaking of the frogs and chirping of the crickets is like a little symphony on a spring night.

When I built a small pond years ago I called Zetts Fish Farm in Drifting, Pa. to order some giant bullfrogs. The little old lady at Zetts told me that I should order the tadpoles instead, because the bullfrogs had a homing instinct and would likely hop back home to Drifting. I kid you not.

[Reel Geezer]

I also built a pond in my backyard. Our Boykins first Bert and now Fudge really like the pond. Each spring we are greeted by the call of the tiny tree toads as well as regular toads and frogs. As summer approaches we too are greeted with hundreds of tadpoles.

This is a photo of Fudge checking out one of the smallmouth bass that occupied the pond for a few months. I have also had bluegill, crappie, and a rainbow trout that I caught and released in the pond. Like Joe, I have released these fish each fall. I never thought of feeding them hamburger, and grew tired of digging worms for the fish, even though they would take them from my fingers.

[jimbofish]

Cute story! Mrs. Joseph has a 'reelly' green thumb.




Speaking of green, I'm pretty sure Jeremiah is actually a Green Frog rather than a young Bullfrog.

[JoeW]

[quote="Mike N"]Great natural addition to your back yard, Joe. I'll bet the croaking of the frogs and chirping of the crickets is like a little symphony on a spring night."

-----More than the frogs and crickets! The toads make rapid "chattering" sounds, peepfrogs peeping, Katydid's, Cicada screaming- yea, real symphony! And I live in the middle of a suburban residential area!

[quote="Mike N"]"When I built a small pond years ago I called Zetts Fish Farm in Drifting, Pa. to order some giant bullfrogs. The little old lady at Zetts told me that I should order the tadpoles instead, because the bullfrogs had a homing instinct and would likely hop back home to Drifting. I kid you not."

-----I have read that about not only Bullfrogs, but all frogs. They may "explore" up to 2 miles away from their "home" pond, but eventually make their way back (unless they find a better home?)! When we first noticed Jeremiah, some mornings I'd find him 20-30 feet away from the pond in the grass! I moved him back a few times, and then decided to watch and see if he could get back on his own. As soon as the morning sun got up over the trees, sure enough, he'd make a bee-line back to Lake Joseph!

I've also seen what seems to be mass migrations of frogs, maybe to disperse all the young frogs from the Spring hatching? One drizzly summer evening we were driving to our fishing camp in Canada. Road surrounded by swampy land. Kept seeing things sitting on the road and trying to hop across it-- literally hundreds of these things! Impossible to avoid them with the car. We pulled over and as suspected, they were young frogs! We continued, grimacing as we kept hearing the little "pops" as we drove on.

As you might have suspected, I have a degree in Biology and taught High School Biology for 35 years before retiring. Great way to spend a career, telling kids about wildlife and nature. Hey- thanks for the post! Best--- Joe Walkowski (WNY)

[Midway Tommy D]

I've also seen what seems to be mass migrations of frogs, maybe to disperse all the young frogs from the Spring hatching? One drizzly summer evening we were driving to our fishing camp in Canada. Road surrounded by swampy land. Kept seeing things sitting on the road and trying to hop across it-- literally hundreds of these things! Impossible to avoid them with the car. We pulled over and as suspected, they were young frogs! We continued, grimacing as we kept hearing the little "pops" as we drove on.

Before they nearly became extinct in MN & WI you would see mass migrations like that in the fall around mid to late October. They were headed to bury themselves in the mud bottom areas of some of the deeper water for winter hibernation. Live leopard frogs were great walleye bait in late fall from the first of October until freeze up. Roads could almost get slick with pancake squished frogs. It may happen again one of these days considering their comeback.

[JoeW]

Tom: Frogs nearly extinct in MN and WI? What could cause something like that? Lack of habitat? And I was afraid to post it for fear of sounding a bit unbelievable, but yes- there were so many pancaked frogs on the road I think it WAS getting slippery!

Phil: Great pond! And great fish- Rainbow and Smallmouth! That looks like a pretty nice Smallie that Fudge has spotted. Looks like he's ready to pounce!

And... Last spring when I first spotted Jeremiah after he broke hibernation, he looked kinda thin. I saw him sitting in his favorite spot for a couple days and never saw him catch a bug. Decided to help! I took a light spinning rod with 6 lb line, tied a knot right at the end of the line. Then took a piece of ham or cheese and poked it onto the line just up past the knot. Took a little patience, but I got it to dangle right on front of him and Bang! He gulped it! Looked a little confused when I twitched the line to get it out of his mouth, though. After doing this several times, he actually learned to pull the line out himself! After that, anyone that came to visit Lake Joseph had to go frog fishing! That's the way we used to catch frogs around a pond to use for bait, but with a hook.

And, BTW- the fish seem to prefer ham lunchmeat (smoky/salty flavor or smell?) and Swiss cheese over American. Seriously! One more trick- during the summer, I put a piece of fruit on the edge of the pond. That attracts fruitflies and other bugs. Jeremiah sets up shop right next to the fruit when I do that!

Glad to see the interest in this thread. Tell ya, if you can put a Micro-pond in your yard, do it! Loads of enjoyment and there are things you can learn! Have fun! Best---- Joe Walkowski (WNYTC)

[Midway Tommy D]

Tom: Frogs nearly extinct in MN and WI? What could cause something like that? Lack of habitat? And I was afraid to post it for fear of sounding a bit unbelievable, but yes- there were so many pancaked frogs on the road I think it WAS getting slippery!

Glad to see the interest in this thread. Tell ya, if you can put a Micro-pond in your yard, do it! Loads of enjoyment and there are things you can learn! Have fun! Best---- Joe Walkowski (WNYTC)

Started in the 1970's per National Geographic It is likely a combination of ecological factors: pollution, deforestation, and water acidity.

[JoeW]

OK, March 14th and we're getting socked with snow again! Decided I needed to look at something green, and growing and water not covered by ice! Pulled this pic up of Lake Joseph (story at beginning of this thread) taken summer 2015. Now, the lake has taught me a bunch of things, but one thing was an amazement to me- may be for you too?

That green leafy floating stuff was called "Water Hyacinth" at the Aquarium Supply House. Most of the plants in Lake Joseph are native to this area, but this Water Hyacinth floated, looked nice, flowered, and was guaranteed to help keep the water clear and "grow quickly"! I bot three little clumps, each about the size of a softball. Some of you must be nodding your head and and down by now? Geez, a couple weeks later, there were 8 clumps, then 20, then so many I was throwing it out in trash cans at the curb!

Then a memory cell clicked in, and I recalled Water Hyacinth really causing havoc down south! Clogging up ponds and Lakes like crazy! I can see why! Fortunately, it doesn't survive the winters here. But you people that live and fish where it grows year 'round, how the devil do you keep it from overgrowing everything! Amazing!

Best--- Joe Walkowski

[Reel Geezer]

Joe, is that pond just laid on the surface of your lawn, or did you dig down into the lawn and set it below the surface? I've given the thought of adding a tub like that up against my deck.

One story about my pond. I brought home a bucket of "sunny's" one day, along with a rainbow trout that I caught. I dumped them into the pond. I have an upper pond that is connected by a short "stream" to the pond pictured in the photo. A pump runs the water from the lower pond to the upper pond and then down the stream back to the lower pond.

A few days later the trout had disappeared from the lower pond. After searching everywhere in the lower pond, I found the wandering rainbow in the upper pond. The fish had swam upstream from one pond to the other, even though the "stream" is only a few inches deep and full of rocks.

[JoeW]

Hi Phil-- Answering your questions, trout are known for being wanderers. Depending on water temps, available habit, food supplies, numbers, access, time of year, etc. they may move upstream or down. Rainbows in particular are known for not staying at home. Brown trout are more likely to find a spot and stay put. Geez- that would be great to be able to keep trout in Lake Joseph! Summer's are just too warm here!

I had some advice when a guy down the street was showing me his "Lake Brian". He had taken the time and effort to down down so the rim of the pond was flush with the ground. Problems: Every time he mows the lawn, he has to skim out the grass clippings, and his dog tend to fall into it! He was worried about the dog, but more so his young kids so he put in a low fence just a couple feet high around it. Kids are older (and dog is wiser) now so he's taking out the fence this Spring.

OK- not being one to do a lot of unnecessary labor, and thinking that "raising" the pond up would not only look nicer against the deck, and would avoid the problems above, I did the following:

first just dug out the sod roughly in the shape of the tub's bottom
then loosened all the dirt, added a bag of sand (just because I had it laying around)
then made a "tamper" out of a post with a 2' piece of 2" X 10" nailed to the end and tamped the heck out of the
dirt/sand, keeping it level!
sat the tub in place
then built up a rock wall of loose, flat rocks that mysteriously would appear in my trunk every time I went trout fishing! I lined the
inside of the wall with heavy black plastic to keep the dirt from washing out to badly.
then back filled the area from the wall to the tub, again tamping it tight against the tub.
filled the pond... great, not perfectly level but the growth kinda hides that.

Result was the top of the pond about 20" high than the yard, with space to add plantings. The rock wall blends in with the rock walls around my wife's gardens (those flat rocks just kept jumping into my trunk!). I put a fountain in the middle to help with circulation.

I've been trying to figure out a way of putting a "crick" in with the pond, too, but can't find the room!

Really enjoy that lake! Like hand feeding the Sunnies in the summer! Interesting watch their habits! Hope Jeremiah came through OK. Hey-- Post some pics here of your new pond when you get started! Best---- Joe Walkowski (ORCA)