Pat, it is a tough call whether to cull out the unwanted fish in the spring or fall.
In the fall there are still plants around for the little b------ to hide in, and catching them is difficult.
Like it is easy at any time!!:-(

In the spring, the fish, having just come through a long winter, are very susceptible to disease.
Stressing out the "main herd",whilst attempting to corral the unwanted ones, can be hard on them,possibly weakening their ability to cope with parasites etc.
As I said it is a tough call!
"Horton"

I for one and TIRED of this "abstinence only" approach to fish. Clearly something must be done. It is YOUR responsiblity to properly educate your fish in ALL methods of control. Cold water, making sure they don't get "too close" in the pond, and a comprehensive discussion of other methods.

Condoms are out of the question however. For obvious reasons one of which is that fish don't have arms. And you don't want to be running out to the pond all night putting them on. Trust me. It's tiring.

Any chance your fish are from Alaska?

"Any chance your fish are from Alaska?"
Good one Groundbeef! lol

I use "spawning mops" made from hanks of wool, as a means of birth control for the fish.
Just cut the hank of wool at one end and tie it around at the middle, so it is like a mop head.
Hang it in the water and the fish will spawn into it.
Each morning, when the fish are actively "Flashing", take the mops out and dip them into boiling water, to sterilize the roe/eggs.
You will see the roe turns white after being in the boiling water.
Put the spawning mops back into the pond and your fish will suck the cooked roe off the wool strands.
Between what you sterilize on the spawning mops and the amount of fresh roe the fish eat normally, you can help keep the population explosion, down in your pond.

There will still be some fry that survive of course, but not as many as you may have without using any type of control.
"Horton"

I guess I have responsible fish. I have about 30 breeding age fish and I do not have any population explosion. At least I got rid of the bluegills. That was the only population explosion I ever had. From about 10 to over 70 in one summer. This summer I had 3 babies from this years spawn. Last summer even with the bluegills I had about 10 goldfish babies. Also most all were comets. I had two fancy fantails, with the rest being comets. I have shubunkins that I see cavorting more than the others and I have never had a shubunkin baby. I want shubunkin babies. I also want wakin babies. Maybe next summer I'll separate the wakins from all the rest and see what happens. Hubby won't like it because that means another tank or pond and filters and pump. Oh, well he'll get over it. Glenda

I would try to remove the extra fish now. As winter approaches, the colder temperatures are going to reduce the beneficial effect of bacteria and plants. IMO you would be better off with a smaller amount of fish polluting your pond when bacteria levels are low.

I hope you are able to find new homes for the fish. I recently seen a sign posted on a grocery store bulletin board offering free goldfish. It might be a good method to connect the people who have extra fish with those who are in need of fish.

My fish must have stopped using birth control also! I have had a pond with goldfish for 6 years and never had any survivers till this year or maybe it was the hornwort I added. I now have three adults and now 10-15 little ones in that small pond.It's tough counting with all the hornwort.

You must have made an error with your plant purchase. You must have bought "hornywort". That might be your problem.

LMAO @ groundbeef! I have more than usual this year too, usually only have 2 or 3 babies survive, this year ther are about 7. 4 are pretty 3 are black. I will wait till spring to see what they have turned out to be and share with my ponding buddies then. It will be a good fish load but the babies dont do much damage. I lost a 6 or 7 incher this spring so I am pretty sure the babies wont be more of a load than that large fish was.

What I do is offer my excess goldies to people who had a visit from a heron. That way I move them out a dozen or so at a time. Our goldfish are multiplying exponentially so I have lots and lots to give away.
Sharon (one town over) and I have tried golden orfes, we shared a half dozen, but they all ended up dying within two years from one reason or another. We are going to try it again next spring though. With a half dozen each.

My favorite idea on goldfish birth control is, I don't remember her name, she posted that her DH gets a few young trout every spring from his area county agent or whatever, and they fatten up on the fish spawn and tadpoles. When the water warms up in summer they are easy to catch - and then he puts them on the grill...

I really want to try that some year! *giggle*

:) Mary

Get a few Orfes. They are the population control in our pond. Very few fry can survive the fast and furious orfes.

As a matter of fact the eggs won't even survive.
In order for us to get young-ins' we have to be home to immediately scoop up the plants that have the eggs attached. We've raised our young koi fry in aquarium tanks outside until they were big enough to take the big dip.

Joann

Ground beef cracks me up!! LOL!! Hahaha...

birth control for fish. Too funny. I have seen babies in my pond this year but they seem to get eaten pretty fast. I have that one koi that I think should call Miss Piggy as is always the first one at feeding and probably has helped with overpopulation. Never had more than 7 babies make it through my short season. I am going to be cruel and not even look for them this year before pond shut down-if they make it through the winter they make it. Fish are probably coming indoors within the next two weeks as temps are dropping fast here. Old man winter again. That's good population control too--ice.

I was very surprised the fry that survived last fall made it through the winter. I could tell because of their markings they were the same ones. I had no real submerged plants in the pond, only thick, long, floating, plastic ones but they took shelter in the thickest part where it would be hard for anything to go after them. (Don't laugh at my plastic plants. They are the only submerged foliage that isn't destroyed by the koi in short order. After a few weeks, they develop a nice coat of algae that keeps the little ones fed.) It seems the same thing happened this year only there are more of them since the water has been murky from the plant pots the raccoons have been dumping in the pond. Sandy

Sandy Says: "It seems the same thing happened this year only there are more of them..."

Thats generally how reproduction happens Sandy. Maybe you and your fish are ready for a long overdue talk about "the birds and the bees"

Last fall I only saw about 4 or 5 babies so I thought "How cute!" but in the spring in actuality we had over 30! Yikes. We drain our pond each spring and all the fish are easy to catch at that point. As the water level drops they all swim to the middle of the pond and you can net them out and take a closer look at them. You may decide to keep some of the more interesting ones. There's no harm in leaving them in your pond until spring. They'll just get marginally bigger.