Building the World's Most Advanced Fish Tracking System!

Folks at home welcome back to the

Crimson Oak Pond and if you're new to

this series we built this 5 acre Pond

over the past year and it took us

several months to get all of the dirt

excavated and we had to bring in several

truckloads of clay and we also built an

island a dock and got all the structure

in place and then it took a couple of

months to get it full of water after

that we stocked it with a bunch of bait

fish including bluegills and thread fin

shad and not long after that we stocked

it with these little 2-in aggressive

bass and we're going to be giving you an

update on them here in just a minute and

showing you how big they've gotten but

first I'm excited to show you guys a

project we've been working on for months

now our underwater fish tracking system

we're going to be installing antennas

sending data back to the control panel

and data loggers and even watching it

happen real time on a graph so the

concept of this idea originated over a

year ago when we started tagging all the

bass in the pond so each time we catch a

fish we'd inject a pit tag which is a

unique 12-digit number and then we would

assign that fish a name we even tagged

our two pet bass Bonnie and Clyde that

we raised for seven years so now we've

got dozens of tagged fish including our

pets and I wanted to be able to interact

with these fish and collect data without

having to catch them every time so our

plan is to put underwater antennas at

each of the main structure points

throughout the pond and if you guys

recall that incredible table build Nate

did for us it gives us a perfect

detailed look at a lot of those

structure points we're going to be

targeting we've got the oak Throne

Alcatraz Island the feed trough The

Dugout and even the green lights right

here at the dock but we've been working

with a company called uid and they've

got a ton of knowledge and background on

Building Systems to track animals across

the country so we're going to start off

by installing two of these antennas and

wiring them back to the control panel

that we're going to mount right here on

the fish feeder so let's jump right into

it all right so step number one we need

a qualified electrician to connect the

AC oh hi nice to meet you

you and you know we had to bring in Nate

makes he's been with us since the

beginning of the pond build and has

engineered some incredible products

including the table I showed you as well

as the duck house so he's a perfect fit

for this project so the next step will

be routing the conduit into the bottom

of the panel and we're going to separate

our antenna cables from the power source

which will be landing right up here all

right we're going to get the antenna

cable ran in this flex pipe but it's key

not to allow water to get down there in

that cable connection so Nate's going to

silicone

it we're going to let that dry and then

add that

Flex all right so we're having trouble

getting our antenna cable routed through

the flex but our buddy Stanley gave us a

good tip hook up some paracord with a

bag on the end and a vacuum on the other

end and suction it right

through

there we go and then you just tie your

antenna cable right there and pull it

back through all right so we're going to

do a little live test on land we got a

temporary power connection there in the

top right 120 volts got the two antennas

hooked up we're going to take a pit tag

and run it through these to test them

make sure that it

works all right got everything hooked

up sounds good we got

lights

green green lights over

here things checking out we'll add some

USB storage right there in the data

collectors all right we got one of our

pit tags here let's go ahead and scan it

it's

9887 now we're going to pretend that a

fish passed through the

antenna same thing with this

one all right we just checked it we got

live data on the USB so we're ready to

permanently install them out here what

we're going to do is just tie some

bricks down to the bottom and use a

float up to the top so that way it'll

stand up and Float out there and the

fish can swim in and out of them the

fish doesn't necessarily have to swim

through the square it can also just get

around the edges you can see where the

antenna is built in right there all

right on a scale of 1 to 10 how cold is

55° it's cold I'm going to go eight I'm

going to go eight it's pretty cold eight

out of 10 he didn't know he was coming

out here to do a Polar

Plunge we're almost there we got the

bricks attached with enough slack in

there to float got the float attached so

here's a live look from the inside the

Crimson Oak Pond here's where we wired

our pipes up the water is freezing cold

but we're going to come in here and here

with our two antennas and then wire that

directly into the box you can also see

the live scope pole we have we'll be

talking more about that here in just a

little bit but we're about to drop these

antennas off going to put one right over

here by the green lights cuz I know a

lot of fish hang out there at night and

then one out here by the oak

Throne that's pretty wild the feeder

went off while I'm down here in the

water these fish are actually sitting

here eating right out in front of

[Applause]

me it's a different few of them for

[Applause]

[Applause]

sure all right we got everything piped

in antennas ran through the flex so the

last thing we have to do is move the

antennas out to the their location and

what we're doing is we routed it through

some blocks there so that as we put that

in that Flex will stay on the bottom and

not get in the way of any fishermen in

the future but that's pretty much what

the rig looks like and I like how it has

the float because that makes it

adjustable so we can move it around out

there put it out deeper if we want to

and check out all the fish swimming

around us right here while we're

installing that

antenna all right we got the antennas

installed I was going to put one closer

to those thrown them but once we saw

that Fish Feeding activity when we were

in the water right there I decided to

put it halfway out there and you can

already see the fish swimming right

there through the antennas so all those

white dots are individual fish like some

of these smaller ones are probably

bluegills but that's a bass right there

swimming and he's about to swim right at

the base of that

antenna so we should start collecting

data but there's one thing for sure

right here at night when the green light

comes on it's going to be easy to spot

them so I'm probably the first person to

ever mount a Liv scope to a dock but

I'll have to admit this company's Summit

made it a lot easier because they've

basically built a portable setup that

allows you to deploy this technology

anywhere but the reason we're getting it

installed out here today is because I

want to watch those fish interact around

these antennas and it'll help us set

them up because anytime you're dealing

with antennas you have to fine-tune that

signal strength and our goal today is to

tune the antennas but we also want to

see how far away from it it'll still

track them and that's going to help us

whenever we install them at other pieces

of structure in the pond but I have to

admit there was a really big added

benefit of adding this Liv scope to the

dock that I wasn't expecting so if

you've watched over the past year we do

all of our Fish Feeding at night because

the underwater green lights allow us to

see where those fish are at and we can

toss the bait into them well now that we

have this new technology I wanted to try

some Daytime feedings and it's really

cool because I can look right here on

the graph and see where the fish are in

relation to the dock and I noticed there

was a nice School of them over here to

the left right out in front of the dock

so I started dropping some golden

shiners in and we created a Fish Feeding

Frenzy and if you missed the last video

our biggest pet bass Bonnie came up

during a nighttime feeding and so now if

that happens again in the future these

new antennas will scan or tag and it's

just an extra confirmation that it's her

and I'd love to start hand feeding them

again like we used to in the backyard

pond and check out those really big beds

out there those are way too big to be

bluegill beds so my best guess is those

are tilapia beds you can even see the

cinder block we added earlier and the

fish swimming right over it so the one

thing I've learned in just a few minutes

is the bass control this area right here

out in front of the dock all the trout

and bluegills are staged out there in

that deeper water just waiting on the

feeders to go off as you you can see all

these bigger fish right here these big

white blobs are bass swimming right here

in this area and all those little

slender specks out there are going to be

the trout and the feeder's going to go

off here in a minute and I have a

feeling we're going to see all that

stuff from out there shoot up

here

so now that we got the data rolling in

let's check it out so the next part of

this project is developing software to

read the pit tag identify the fish's

name and the goal is going to be to

display that on an overhead map of the

pond so you can see the exact location

or structure piece the fish is swimming

at and we want to make this data live so

that any of you can get online and see

where the fish are hanging out in the

pond and for an example you may see that

there's six fish fish swimming at the

Oak Throne on a Tuesday at 8:00 a.m. now

today we're going to be working with a

product called Sunday to help improve

the lawn around our backyard pond as

well as out at the farm now our backyard

is in pretty good shape overall but we

have a couple of trouble areas you can

see here we've got some dead grass and

also a few spots with weeds so the first

thing I like about Sunday is their

product selection not only do they have

the long fertilizers but they also carry

bug repellants and even seeds for those

dead spots all right so let's get

started with the first treatment

seems very simple to

use now hooking it up to the water hose

so the good thing about my yard is

everything slopes down from the pond so

I can apply this right here and we don't

have to worry about anything running off

into the pond because even though you

can't see it really good we got a really

good slope here we go it's got pretty

good range on it Sunday works as a

subscription service and you start out

by using the tools they give you to take

a so sample of the backyard and you send

that off to their experts and based on

your soil and climate they'll send you

back the exact mix of fertilizer you

need to keep your yard looking great

throughout the year so Sunday takes all

the guest work out of it and make it

extremely easy to use with these pouches

that attach to your water hose so do me

a favor folks and head over to gets

sunday.com

bamabass and get 20% off a full year of

customized lawn plans but now let's

check in on some of the other projects

and if you missed our last video we

introduced a new strain of bass that

were 95% Florida strain and we're going

to slowly start adding them in to

improve our genetics for the future

generations of bass in this Pond but me

and Liz named the first two and I asked

you all to name the rest so the final

four were hurricane Everglade Walt and

okobe so you guys have now been entered

into the fishing contest so I've been

seeing something very strange at the

pond and i' noticed that as I walked

along the banks I was seeing these

little 2-in bass everywhere and I

initially thought no way that those are

large mouth so I set up a GoPro

underwater and and sure enough there's

2in bass swimming around everywhere

which means we had to have had a second

spawn last year late in the fall so

after a bass gets out of the fry stage

they typically start growing about 1 in

a month which means the bass may have

spawned around last November so I'm

going to talk to the biologist about

this and I'll keep you guys posted I was

just setting up a camera right there I

no a BL in here that got knocked up on

the mat I think he's still

alive

yep he was running from the bass I guess

a little bass chased him up there he was

just taking a break so now let's check

in on some Wildlife activity got the two

Eagles up there in their Tower and some

geese flying in there's never a lack of

wildlife activity out here at the pond

but the two newest members that are

becoming permanent residents are the

bald eagles and I love watching them

hunt they basically got the timing on

the fish feeders dialed in they get

three easy meals a day because every

time the feeders go off they swoop down

grab either a bluegill or rainbow trout

and bring it right back up here to the

Tower and that brings me to another

Point we've named every animal out here

at the pond so we have to name the two

bald eagles we've also got some

juveniles that show up sometimes but

let's go ahead and name the two adults

so leave me a name down in the comments

below and if I select yours I'll send

you out a prize package but the accuracy

on these guys is definitely improving

check out this Eagle swoop down and snag

this small fish which I think is either

one of those 2in large mouths or

possibly a thread fin

shad and it still holds true that adult

Eagles do not like

sharing but this Eagle's going to add

enjoy long walks on the beach at Cedar

Falls to its

profile and the whistling ducks have

showed back up about a dozen of of those

hatched here at the pond last year and

hopefully that's some of them returning

and so far everybody's been getting

along we got big flocks of geese that'll

come through and the Eagles don't seem

to mind them I thought we may have some

tur

Wars and here's a good shot of the

little king

fisher taking a

bath and last week we added four baby

turtles to Cedar Falls and I stopped by

to check on them from time to time they

all seem to be doing good and are still

hanging around but they're a little bit

shy and I asked you to help us name them

and the overwhelming response was that

since it was four turtles we had to name

them the Ninja Turtles so this will be

the second time around of having baby

Ninja Turtles but it's that time of year

again to start fertilizing the pond and

if you're a pond owner I highly

recommend you doing this every spring

it's free to do and you just grab a

sample of water out of your pond and you

can take it up to your local pool store

and they'll give you a print out but the

key number we want to look at is the

total alkalinity so in order for the

fertilizer to actually work in a pond

your alkalinity needs to be over 20

parts per million and if it's not you'll

have to add lime to bring those numbers

up but in my case we're good to go all

right now we're going to catch a few

bass and scan them to see if they've

been tagged if they hadn't we'll use

this to insert a new pit tag in them but

the main thing we're doing out here is

trying to get some weights on them to

see how good they're growing and it

should be pre-spawn conditions out here

so it's tough to beat a ChatterBait all

right we're going to see how good this

technology works I'm going to try to

catch that one right out in front of the

dock 20 ft

out got

him

[Music]

that's almost too easy fish don't have

any secrets

anymore I mean I pinpointed him right

there saw exactly where she was laying

at but this's got a big belly let's see

if it's been tagged yep

57601 and she

weighs 2.27 lb that's a nice

one

and this fish is named Quasimoto and is

a frog eater and it's the third time

we've caught it and it's had some good

weight gains all right I'm not going to

catch any more of these right here

they're kind of like my pets the ones

that hang out right here around the dock

but Nate wanted to get out in the boat

let's see if he can catch a couple you

see we got a big group of thread pins

right there so the nice thing about that

Summit portable rig is you can put it

either over there on the dock where we

got it mounted there or you can put

something right off the front of the

boat that's perspective Ive mode or you

can swap it over to live mode but having

that portable set up is really nice it's

right in front of the fish you got two

or three right there there you go

they're getting close to the boat

they're right in front of the

boat one

up he ran yeah they both ran away

see I want to hit that one right there

mhm is that bait yeah and there's a

really cool shot of Terry's

tunnels that big stack of tunnels we

built before filling the pond up and

here's a good shot of the diffuser you

can see all those bubbles coming up

through that water

column y there goes your back right on

top of it right

there one at the bottom

yeah got him first last scope and it's a

room first Liv SC fish all right Nate

hooked

up we got a

runner little

guy all right this fish has been caught

1111 all right this one weighs 1.67

lb got another one that's a good

one all right this fish has not been

caught all right this fish is going to

be

57193

1.76

lb so you should have been able to see

it

fight yeah there's the fish right there

m all right this fish is

9984 I thought I recognized that number

and this fish is named the pond guy so

if you recall Greg from mosskate caught

a bass back during our last Pond build

and named it the Pond Guy pond guy so as

I mentioned earlier the Eagles have

dialed in on the

feeders and here's a good closeup shot

of one trying to catch

breakfast but they're not the only

hungry ones the bass are chasing those

bluegills around

too so the wildlife are starting to get

more com able around the new Pond build

this is the first time we've seen deer

out there on the beach area and it's

been a while since we've seen a Cody but

they're making their rounds again and

I'm going to need some help figuring out

what this is my guess is a raccoon that

lost its

tail but I don't know what do you guys

think and for an update we've still got

the snails hanging around in the shallow

areas of the pond we're going to be

adding shell crackers later this spring

to help keep that population under

control and it's Main season for the

frogs but I would hop the other way

little guy you're probably not going to

last too long in the water so one of my

personal goals is to dedicate at least

one day every year to planting trees

last year we planted about 2,000

Longleaf Pines this year we're going to

be planting more Cypress and oak trees

right here around the pond but the

biggest Improvement I made during the

off seon is I ran irrigation to every

tree out here on the property because in

the past we lost a couple of trees to

Summer drought and we're going to try

not to let that happen again you can see

we're starting to get quite the

collection of Oaks which the deer are

going to love and we've also got this

Cypress starting to Bud

out but I had something I wanted to ask

you all about a couple of our trees have

this Mossy looking growth on them that

may be considered a Lykan but I don't

know if that's a good or bad sign for

the tree the trees seem to be healthy

and in good shape but maybe one of you

Tree Experts can give me some info on

that so we got the whole dug for one of

our 45 gallon trees and last year we had

success with putting a little bit of

that black cow fertilizer in the hole

before we put the tree in and speaking

of fertilizer we do like to fertilize

the new trees we plant but for most

trees you need a controlled released

fertilizer because you can do more harm

than good if you just dump all those

nutrients on the tree at once so that

delayed release worked out good for us

last year and we basically just add the

mulch around the tree and then put the

fertilizer in a big circle and you want

to make sure to get it outside of the

root system and what that does is

encourage those roots to start growing

outward which will give the tree a good

base and I'm no spider expert but

anytime you see black with red dots

probably don't want to mess around with

that guy fertilizing last of the trees

got a couple of White Oaks down here in

the bottom but for all of you that tell

me all the time I should plant wild

flowers you'd love it this time of year

we got a lot of good clover growing up

but all of our food plots are budding

right now pretty cool looking sight this

time of year and it's been a little

while since we updated you on the 300

gallon aquarium with our pet bass we

called tiger because he was the first

Tiger Bass we C out of the Crimson Oak

Pond so it's time to do a little

feeding

now

all right folks that's going to wrap up

this video make sure to hit that

subscribe button because we got a lot of

cool features coming up with our new

underwater tracking system that we're

going to show you in the next video but

we hope youall enjoyed this one and we

will see you all next

[Music]

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