A friend of mine has a dock spider in her pond which actually is grabbing her goldfish! How can she get it out? Every time she goes near it, it dives under the plants and she cannot find it. I know it has an air bubble and has to resurface eventually, but she has so many plants, it can come up anywhere.
Lesley

I looked around the internet. The dock spider or fishing spider is kind of like a small tarantuala that feeds on small fish and other animals in ponds. When scared, they can submerge in an air bubble for 15 minutes.

I think catching it would require fast reflexes, probably getting in the pond, and perhaps removing some of the plants to see better. Try using a pond net that has depth to it (like a fish "sock") or perhaps some sort of bucket. It would probably be easier with two people.

Am always reading and learning on this site; your question intrigued me.....what does a "dock spider" look like, and is it only in warm climate zones? curious

Here's some links with photos:

http://www.ontariostorms.com/gallery/wildl...13-1397_IMG.jpg

http://www.ottertooth.com/Temagami/Nature/fishingspider.htm

http://images.google.com/images?q=dock+spider&ie=UTF-8&hl=en (first two rows, not the spider mans under that!)

It is pretty common in parts of Canada so it's definitely not a warm climate animal.