Fish missing inside my pond.

[jaxler]

So, my pond has had little trouble in the line of predators. The sides of the pond as a straight 2-5 foot drop, and we keep a net over about 90% of the pond except for the waterfall and sides near the waterfall. Just recently within the last 2 weeks, two of our three big fish disappeared. Just today I woke up and found the second fish missing, and the last one having it's fins torn up and a few cuts on it. I got the fish out of the pond and inside, but right now I'm trying to figure out what to do and what killed the other fish. I can't find any bits of the missing fish

I live in Indiana in the middle of the state, and it's winter here. I live near a lake. I'm not sure what killed my fish, or what to do.

 

[Big Lou]

Raccoons?

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Could it be otters? I understand that they have become a problem in parts of Indiana.

 

[Faebinder]

It's always the big fish that goes first it seems, its hard for them to hide. Racoons are good swimmers.

Time for a professional trap. They arent expensive and you can get them on ebay.

 

[Smaug]

Mink are the most common pond predator that no one thinks to blame. I have a mounted one I shot years ago and he would have been more then able to swim to depth and catch a big koi. I have never seen raccoons go into submarine mode but mink do it all the time just as good as an otter. The bad news is that of its a mink you will play hell catching him in a live trap.

 

[Lisak1]

If not a raccoon, I was going to suggest a mink or a fisher as well. They are elusive and will empty a pond in a matter of minutes - even going under the ice to get the fish.

 

[mitzi56]

So, my pond has had little trouble in the line of predators. The sides of the pond as a straight 2-5 foot drop, and we keep a net over about 90% of the pond except for the waterfall and sides near the waterfall. Just recently within the last 2 weeks, two of our three big fish disappeared. Just today I woke up and found the second fish missing, and the last one having it's fins torn up and a few cuts on it. I got the fish out of the pond and inside, but right now I'm trying to figure out what to do and what killed the other fish. I can't find any bits of the missing fish

I live in Indiana in the middle of the state, and it's winter here. I live near a lake. I'm not sure what killed my fish, or what to do.

i know you said you have netting, is it possible that some heron may have still tried to pick at you're fish through the net by stabbing at them? can you go out during early evening or morning hours to catch the culprit/ i had an issue with my new small oranges disappearing and didn't realize that i had a young bullfrog in the pond still and I'm almost sure it was the culprit as i caught it jumping towards the babies while they came to the surface to feed. little bugger, can't seem to catch him, but saw him once wit my night vison scope!