I just gave in and made a jail out of mine. I had this 3 inch expanded metal
sheets laser cut and welded to form to the top of the pool with
reinforcements. It sits on a ledge I built all around the inside 4 inches
under the water. The small fish come and go through the metal. I cut several
holes for large flower pots to sit in and found that they worked great for
larger fish to come up to surface so now use shallow pots for plants and
leave the holes open. About a month ago a blue heron paid us a call and i
watched as he walked around on the metal but couldn't figure out how to get
the fish. He left and to my knowledge has never been back.
"FBCS" wrote in message
...
I looked out my window this morning just in time to see this big grey
ready
to dine. I scared him off but I think he scared me more. He took off down
the road and looked twice as big as when he was sitting. Ugly thing! I
tried
to count my fish but they are in hiding. I have preforms (18" depth) so
they
can't go deep to escape. I have plants and rocks built up for hiding,
this
as a precaution because I had previously lost 9 fish about a month ago. I
thought it was a raccoon since I live in the woods, but I caught the beast
red handed this morning. I immediately covered the ponds with netting I
had
around to keep birds out of my grapes. The problem now is he knows where
we
are now. I want to enjoy the ponds not make a fortress out of it. I have
read that one can clean you out in one visit. I have determined to go to
rubber liner and dig to at least 3 ft straight down. I did not have this
in
the first place because I have a water dog (Chesapeake Bay Retriever) with
long claws.

Any suggestions?
Joann